Ballet Technique Class With American Ballet Theatre

Join American Ballet Theatre (ABT) Regisseur Susan Jones to elevate your ballet technique and learn an excerpt from ABT’s upcoming performance of Giselle at Northrop. Class is open to intermediate/advanced dancers and available to participants thanks to a partnership between Northrop and Minnesota Dance Theatre (MDT).

Cost: $20. The class is free for University of Minnesota students, faculty, and staff. This class has a capacity of 40 students and registration is required. Upon registering for class, participants will receive a 50% off discount code to attend the Giselle performance on either Fri, Apr 18 or Sat, Apr 19.

About Susan Jones

Susan Jones was born in York, PA, and began her early dance training there. She continued her studies with Lucille Hood at the Rockville School of Ballet in Rockville, MD, and with Mary Day at the Washington School of Ballet in Washington, DC. In 1969, Jones made her professional debut with the New York City Opera with Robert Joffrey as choreographic director, and she was an original member of Joffrey II.

Jones joined ABT in 1971 and danced with the company for eight successive seasons. Among her roles were the Cowgirl in Rodeo and The Accused as a Child in Fall River Legend. Her transition from dancer to staff member began in 1976 when, as Assistant Ballet Mistress, she assisted Twyla Tharp with Push Comes to Shove. She was appointed Ballet Mistress in 1980 and Regisseur in 1982.

During a three-year hiatus after the birth of her daughter, Jones mounted Natalia Makarova’s full-length La Bayadère for the Ballet del Teatro Colón in Buenos Aires (1992) and Mikhail Baryshnikov’s production of Don Quixote (Kitri’s Wedding) for The Royal Ballet (1995). In 1995, she staged ABT’s most recent production of Don Quixote in collaboration with Kevin McKenzie. Shortly after, she returned to ABT as Ballet Mistress. Her ABT stagings include George Balanchine’s Symphonie Concertante (2006) and Agnes de Mille’s Fall River Legend (2007), as well as Twyla Tharp’s Push Comes to Shove (1999), Bach Partita (2013), and The Brahms-Haydn Variations (2015). Other international stagings include Frederick Ashton’s Sylvia at the Mariinsky Ballet (2014) and Teatro Colón’s Sylvia (2015), and Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet (2018). She staged Ashton’s The Dream (2017) and Michel Fokine’s Les Sylphides (2017) for The Washington Ballet.

In addition to her duties as Regisseur, Jones performs the role of the Dacha Dweller in The Bright Stream, Berthe in Giselle, the Nurse in Onegin, and the Nurse in Romeo and Juliet. She is an ABT certified teacher of the ABT National Training Curriculum. Jan 11, 2021 marked 50 years since Jones joined ABT.

This activity is made possible by the voters of Minnesota through a Minnesota State Arts Board Operating Support grant, thanks to a legislative appropriation from the Arts and Cultural Heritage Fund.

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