Ballet Tucson
Ballet Tucson is a professional ballet company based in Tucson, Arizona.
As of June 2023, the company has 4 principal dancers, 5 soloists, 4 demi-soloists, and 8 members of the corps de ballet. They also have 9 apprentices.
History
Ballet Tucson, previously known as Ballet Arts Foundation, was established in 1986 by Mary Beth Cabana, who was previously a principal dancer with Cleveland Ballet, Ballet Oklahoma, Arizona Dance Theatre, and San Diego Ballet. The goal of creating Ballet Tucson was to create a world-class professional ballet company as well as a ballet school that would help young dancers in Southern Arizona pursue a career in dance.In 1987, the Children's Ensemble gave a preview performance at Centennial Hall in Tucson, and received positive reviews. Additional performances that year also received positive reviews.
In 1994, Ballet Tucson premiered their own full-length version of The Nutcracker, which had five sold-out performances.
In 2004, the professional ballet company debuted, and since that time has established itself as Tucson's resident professional ballet company.
In 2022, Ballet Tucson began a partnership with the Tucson Symphony Orchestra for their performances of The Nutcracker.
Current company
Artistic team &; staff
Margaret Mullin joined as the Artistic Director in spring 2022. She was previously a soloist with Pacific Northwest Ballet.Chieko Imada is the Associate Artistic Director & Resident Choreographer. She was previously a soloist with Inoue Ballet of Tokyo, and a former principal dancer for Ballet Tucson.