Pittsburgh Ballet
| Pittsburgh Ballet | |
|---|---|
 |
|
| General information | |
| Name | Pittsburgh Ballet |
| Year founded | November 19, 1969 |
| Founders | Nicolas Petrov, Frederic Franklin |
| Principal venue | Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, USA 
|
| Website | [1] |
| Artistic staff | |
| Ballet Master in Chief | Terrence S. Orr |
| Ballet Mistress | Marianna Tcherkassky |
| Other | |
| Associated schools | Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School |
| Formation | Principal Dancer Soloist Corps de Ballet |
The Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre is an American professional ballet company based in the Strip District of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, United States.
1969: THE FOUNDING
Nearly 50 years ago, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre began when a charismatic Yugoslavian choreographer and a forward-thinking arts advocate joined forces around a shared conviction that a professional ballet company belonged in Pittsburgh. In the infancy of the city’s dance scene, Founding Artistic Director Nicolas Petrov and Founding Board Chair Loti Falk connected over an outdoor ballet performance featuring Petrov’s Pittsburgh Playhouse dancers. Both believed that ballet would enrich the city's cultural community and satisfy a thirst for diverse performing arts opportunities on par with other major metro areas. Despite ballet’s novelty in Pittsburgh, the movement resonated with onlookers. It also secured a pledge of support from Falk. According to Petrov, “the development of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre pivoted on that promise.” Together, they went on to found Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre in 1969 in affiliation with Point Park College. As founding artistic director, Petrov brought artistic connections, a rich choreographic background and a corps of young talents from the dance programs he developed at the Pittsburgh Playhouse and Point Park College. As founding chair, benefactor and full-time volunteer, Falk gave wings to the company with the irrepressible energy and ambition that continue to define the PBT work ethic. The legacy was born.
1970S
In the 1970s, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre proved its staying power. Following its 1969 stage debut at the Pittsburgh Playhouse, PBT sold out its inaugural 1970-71 subscription season, featuring Petrov’s The Nutcracker and Swan Lake. In 1971 Loti and Leon Falk purchased PBT’s first studio space on the Boulevard of the Allies. In these formative years, the founders flexed their connections in the elite circles of American ballet to bring seminal performers of the era, including Natalia Makarova, Edward Villella and Violette Verdy, to guest star in PBT productions. Luminaries like Leonide Massine and Frederic Franklin came to Pittsburgh to stage ballets, instruct master classes and help shape the fledgling company. By the end of the decade, PBT had cleared fiscal hurdles, become independent of Point Park College and withstood an artistic transition. When Petrov stepped down to focus on the Point Park program, John Gilpin, of London’s Festival Ballet, briefly led the company until Patrick Franz, a former Paris Opera Ballet dancer, took the helm in 1978. The Company closed the decade with a symbol of the future: the establishment of Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School in 1979.
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