Gwinnett Ballet theatre announces Wade Walthall as Artistic Director
GWINNETT COUNTY, Ga., (February 1, 2012) - The Board of Directors of Gwinnett Ballet Theatre announces the hiring of Wade Walthall as the
 Artistic Director for this pre-professional non-profit dance organization. Founded in 1977, GBT has served the Gwinnett and surrounding metro Atlanta communities with dance education and performance, sending many students to professional dance careers.
Carrying forward this tradition of excellence, Mr. Walthall comes to GBT with an extensive resume. A former principal dancer with the National Ballet of Holland, National Ballet of Spain, and Pacific Northwest Ballet, he has also been a featured guest artist with numerous national and international companies and artists and has performed hundred of roles. He performed with Rudolph Nureyev’s Nureyev and Friends international tours. He was featured as the Principal male role in the film Nutcracker: the Motion Picture. He also holds a Bachelor’s Degree in Dance from the University of Washington and a Master’s of Fine Arts Degree in Dance from the University of Arizona.
His impressive experience also extends to the world of pre-professional ballet companies. From 1994 until 2008 he served as Artistic Director for Evergreen City Ballet, an academy and pre-professional non-profit company in Seattle, WA. While there, his duties included establishing curriculum, teaching, choreography, and administration. Evergreen City Ballet, under Walthall’s guidance, produced many young dancers who continued to professional dance careers nationally.
How Walthall came to Gwinnett involved another dancer who had once been a pupil of GBT’s previous Artistic Director, Lisa Sheppard Robson.”I had heard about GBT,” Walthall explains. “I went to graduate school with a friend from Snellville, GA. whose original ballet training was at GBT and Ms Robson.” While visiting his friend in Snellville last summer upon completion of their Masters Degrees, Walthall reconnected with Lisa Robson who had danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet during the time Walthall was their Principal male dancer. When the vacancy at GBT became open, Walthall accepted the position.
“Teaching is one of my greatest passions and most rewarding experiences. I like being an Artistic Director. I like choreographing productions and the training of young people,” Walthall says. “The most rewarding periods of my life were when I was training young dancers and developing productions for them. I also enjoy developing a public following and reputation for my companies. I thought I wanted to be in the University system, so I got an MFA in Dance. But, I think I am more suited to being an Artistic Director.”
In Walthall, GBT dancers will be receiving instruction from someone who has a rich history and international experience of performance, choreography and teaching. They will also benefit from the knowledge passed on to Walthall from some of the dance world’s most prestigious names.
Walthall’s first training was at the School of American Ballet in New York City where he studied with teachers of great reputation in the dance field such as Stanley Williams, Muriel Stuart, Richard Rapp, Suki Schorer, Alexandria Danilova and Felia Droubrovska. A Ford Foundation Scholar, upon graduation he went to the National Ballet of Holland, a major international company. There he danced as Principal Soloist from 1975-1982.
“It is from my years in Amsterdam that much of my artistic inclination was developed,” Walthall states. “I learned a wide range of featured roles and developed a command of the technique required to become an accomplished professional dancer. I continued to refine my abilities with some of the best dancers and instructors in the world and worked closely with personalities such as Rudolph Nureyev and Rudi van Dantzig.”
While at Pacific Northwest Ballet from 1982-1989, he danced leading roles in approximately 60 performances a season under the direction of Kent Stowell and Francia Russell. Pacific Northwest Ballet is the fifth largest ballet company in the US. It was during this tenure that Walthall starred in the well-loved movie Nutcracker: the Motion Picture.
Throughout the years Walthall has danced works from the classical idiom which are standards of the discipline. Other works were the creation of neo-classical artists of international and historic prominence which have become part of the accepted contemporary repertoire. In some cases, these works were created for Walthall as a featured performer. He has performed in 18 countries around the world.
Walthall has been reviewed and praised in such publications as The New York Times, Dance Magazine, San Francisco Tribune, San Francisco Chronicle, Seattle Times, and the Seattle Post-Intelligence among others.
“It is my intention to use my education and experience to the general benefit of others,” Walthall says. “I hope to continue to learn, to teach, and to create work which stimulates, entertains, and inspires.”
Walthall has begun his tenure at GBT and will be premiering his first production for its dancers with Cinderella on March 3 at the Gwinnett Performing Arts Center. For more information about this production or about classes at GBT, visit www.gwinnettballet.org or call 770-978-0188.
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