Carolina Borrajo was born in Zaragoza, Spain. She was trained at the Marìa de Ávila Ballet School in her native town and at the School of the Hamburg Ballet. After her first engagement at the Ballet Classico de Zaragoza, she was a soloist at Bonn Opera, at the Hessian State Theatre Wiesbaden and at the Lucerne Theatre. She received her diploma as a children's dance teacher and stage dance teacher at the State University of Performing Arts in Mannheim. In August 2008 she took up a position on the teaching faculty of the School of the Hamburg Ballet.
Stacey Denham was born in New York. She danced with the Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre Repertory Company, the Clive Thompson Dance Company, with Judith Jamison, at the Washington D.C. City Ballet Company and at the Theater des Westens in Berlin. As a long-standing guest teacher she teaches the Theatre Classes in modern dance, based on the Horton-Technique. She is also in charge of the dance composition classes and co-ordinates the "Creativity Workshop" in the Ernst Deutsch Theater.
BORN
in Miami, Florida, USA. American
EDUCATION
School of American Ballet, NYC.
American Ballet Theater School, NYC
ENGAGEMENTS
American Ballet Theatre, NYC
Stuttgart Ballet
Hamburg Ballet 1976-1983
Nederlands Dans Theater 1983-1985
Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo as dancer, Ballet Master and choreographer 1985/1986
London Festival Ballet 1986-1988
Béjart Ballet Lausanne in 1988
Hamburg Ballet as Ballet Master for the school and the company since 1991, since 2006 Principal Ballet Master. Since 2011 he is also Artistic and Pedagogical Director of the National Youth Ballet
CREATIONS
Joseph in "The Legend of Joseph"
Puck in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Catalabutte and Blue Bird in "The Sleeping Beauty"
Petrushka in "Petrushka"
Lancelot in "The Saga of King Arthur"
Emble in "The Age of Anxiety"
A principal role in "Saint Matthew Passion"
Armand in "Die Kameliendame" (Hamburg version)
"Fourth Symphony of Gustav Mahler" (Hamburg version)
REPERTORY
Armand and Gaston in "Lady of the Camellias"
Günther in "The Nutcracker"
Romeo in "Romeo and Juliet"
Prince Désiré in "The Sleeping Beauty"
Daphnis in "Daphnis and Chloë"
and solos in
Vaslav
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Fourth Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Lieb' und Leid und Welt und Traum
(Mahler's 1st and 10th Symphony)
Les Noces (Jerome Robbins)
Le Train Bleu (Bronislava Nijinska)
GUEST TEACHER
Royal Swedish Ballet, Malmö Ballet, English National Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Ballet der Deutsche Oper Berlin, Ballett Dresden and Le Ballet de l'Opéra National de Paris and its Ballet School.
HE STAGED
"Les Sylphides" at the age of 17 for the Royal Danish Ballet, with Erik Bruhn. "Yondering" for the National Ballet School of Canada and the Ballet School of the Opéra National de Paris. "The Little Mermaid" for the San Francisco Ballet and the Stanislavsky Ballet Moscow. "Lady of the Camellias" for the American Ballet Theatre and the Bolshoi Ballet. "Romeo and Juliet" for the Tokyo Ballet.
HE DANCED
Joseph as a guest in "The Legend of Joseph" productions of Munich and Vienna, and also for the video production of this ballet with the Ballet Company of Vienna State Opera.
John Neumeier's "Opus 100 - for Maurice" with Ivan Liska at a Gala, in Lausanne, for the 70th Anniversary of Maurice Béjart.
He also performed this ballet in May 98 and during the season 98/99. In the same evening, the Hamburg Ballet danced a ballet that Kevin Haigen choreographed for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo in December 30, 1985, "Moments Movements Mendelssohn" (Original title: "After Dawn").
HE CHOREOGRAPHED
for the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre II, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, English National Ballet, Spoleto Festival, Malmö Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, Ballettschule der Österreichischen Bundestheater Wien and the School of the Hamburg Ballet.
Donya Feuer made a documentary about him: The Work of Utopia.
Gigi Hyatt is German-American. She received her training in her hometown Berlin with Tatiana Gsovsky and continued it from 1974 in Munich with Konstanze Vernon at the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung. In 1982, Gigi Hyatt joined the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier. In her first season she was already promoted to demi-soloist. In her second season, she became a soloist and in 1986 a principal dancer. She created several leading roles with John Neumeier, including Desdemona in "Othello", Solveig in "Peer Gynt", Cinderella, Undine and Viola/Feste in "VIVALDI or What You Will". In 1997, she ended her career on stage and moved to the USA. She first was ballet mistress and teacher at The Georgia Ballet and School (Marietta, Georgia, USA), and in 2004 became Artistic Director. At the beginning of the 2013/14 season, Gigi Hyatt took over as Pedagogical Principal and Deputy Director of the School of the Hamburg Ballet.
Elizabeth Loscavio was born in Jacksonville, Florida, USA and studied classical dance at the Contra Costa Ballet School, the Pacific Northwest Ballet School and the San Francisco Ballet School. In 1986 she became a member of the San Francisco Ballet, where she advanced to soloist two years later and in 1990 to first soloist. In 1997 she joined the Hamburg Ballet as soloist and was promoted to principal in 1998. In addition to numerous creations in San Francisco and Hamburg, she danced an extensive repertoire in both companies and completed several international guest appearances. In 1991 she was honored with the Isadora Duncan Award for Individual Performance and in 1996 with the Arts Achievement Award for Classical Dance of the San Francisco Focus Magazine. In the DVD "Illusions – like Swan Lake" she dances Princess Natalia. Since 2005 she is responsible for the management of ballet shoes at the Ballettzentrum Hamburg John Neumeier. From 2014 to 2017 she taught classical dance at the Erika Klütz Professional School for Theatrical Dance and Dance Pedagogy. Since the season 2017/18 she teaches classical dance at the Ballet School of the Hamburg Ballet.
Janusz Mazon was born in Bytom, Poland and trained for nine years at the ballet school there. In 1980 he was offered a contract with the ballet company of the Warsaw State Opera. In 1985 he joined the Hamburg Ballet. He advanced to soloist in 1989 and to principal in 1993. He danced many of the leading roles in the repertoire of the Hamburg Ballet as well as creating new roles in John Neumeier's ballets. In 1997 he moved to the USA where he graduated with a degree as Doctor of Chiropractic in 2002. While maintaining his work in his chiropractic office, he was also ballet master for The Georgia Ballet School and Company. Janusz Mazon returned to Hamburg in 2013 where he took up a position on the teaching faculty of the School of the Hamburg Ballet.
Christian Schön is from Hamburg and successfully completed his training at the School of the Hamburg Ballet. As a dancer he was part of the Dortmund Ballet, the Bonn Opera and the Ballet Theater Hagen. After his education as a ballet teacher in Toronto at Canada's National Ballet School, he worked in Maastricht, Netherlands. Since 2003 he has been teaching the elementary and intermediate boys and the Theatre Class boys, as well as pas de deux. He was a guest teacher at the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz Dresden.
BORN
16.3.85 in Artaschat, Armenia. Ukrainian
EDUCATION
Prag Conservatory
The School of the Hamburg Ballet
MAIN TEACHERS
Zoya Kavac, Miroslav Hajn, Jaroslav Slavicky, Jarmila Jarosova, Radik Zaripov, Kevin Haigen, Christian Schön
ENGAGEMENT
Hamburg Ballet since 2004, Solist in 2011, Teacher (Ballet School) since 2020
CREATIONS
Wolf Beifeld in "Liliom"
and solos in
Purgatorio
Herr Sprüngli (Yohan Stegli)
The Brain of Sasha Trusch (Yohan Stegli)
Zozula (Edvin Revazov)
REPERTORY
Fritz in "The Nutcracker"
Lionel in "Parzival – Episodes and Echo"
A Minister in "A Cinderella Story"
Petrushka in ‘Petrushka’ and Stanislav Nijinsky in "Nijinsky"
Count N. in "Lady of the Camellias"
Quadrille and The Speaker in "Illusions - like Swan Lake"
Philostrat/Puck and Flute/Thisbe in "A Midsummer Night's Dream"
Hermes, the Psychopomp and Hermes' Attendant in "Orpheus"
Shaw in "A Streetcar Named Desire"
Benvolio and Antonio in "Romeo and Juliet"
Touchstone in "As You Like It"
Sebastian in "VIVALDI or What you will"
A Soldier (Moresca Dance) in "Othello"
Hilarion in "Giselle"
Mads Moen in "Peer Gynt"
a shephard in "Christmas Oratorio I-VI"
Alain in "La Fille mal gardée" (Frederick Ashton)
Man in Brick in "Dances at a Gathering" (Jerome Robbins)
The Shy Boy in "The Concert" (Jerome Robbins)
Giacomo in "Napoli" (August Bournonville / Lloyd Riggins)
Gamache in "Don Quixote" (Rudolf Nurejev after Marius Petipa)
and solos in
Saint Matthew Passion
Third Symphony of Gustav Mahler
Préludes CV
Le Sacre
Winterreise
Wege (Yukichi Hatori)
GUESTING
In Sydney for the Jubilee Gala of the Tanya Pearson Classical Coaching Academy
HE CHOREOGRAPHED
"Yes we Could"
Premiere: Young Choreographers, Hamburg, 2015
"Solo für zwei"
Premiere: Young Choreographers, Hamburg, 2016
AWARDS
Finalist at the International Dance Competition in Nyon, Switzerland (1999)
Best up-and-coming Young Dancer at the National Ballet Competition in Brno (2000)
First Prize at the International Ballet Competition - "Prix Carpeaux" (2002)
More about Konstantin Tselikov
Anna Urban (Polikarpova) was born in Tomsk, Russia and studied at the Vaganova Academy in St. Petersburg. In 1988 she joined the Mariinsky Ballet and became a soloist in 1989. In 1992 she joined the Hamburg Ballet as a soloist and was promoted to principal in 1994. John Neumeier created numerous roles and soli for her including Penelope in "Odyssee", Ophelia in "Hamlet", Romola Nijinsky in "Nijinsky" and Arkadina in "The Seagull". The Swedish choreographer Mats Ek created for her "Meinungslose Weiden" and Gold Fairy in "The Sleeping Beauty". She also danced a wide-ranging repertory. After her education as a ballet teacher in Toronto at the Canada's National Ballet School under the supervision of Mavis Staines, Anna Urban teaches classical dance at the School of the Hamburg Ballet since the 2014/15 season. She has won numerous prizes, among them, silver Medal in the Maya competition and diploma in the Prix Benois de la Danse competition. Starred in various DVDs, for example in John Neumeier's "Illusions – like Swan Lake", in Yuri Grigorovich's "The Stone Flower" and Fokine's "Les Sylphides".
Viktoria Zaripova was born in Russia and trained as a ballet dancer at the State Ballet Academy in Perm according to the Vaganova method. She was engaged as a soloist and continued her training as a ballet teacher at the Cultural Institute, before continuing her solo career in St. Petersburg at the Maly Opera and Ballet Theatre. In the early 1990s she moved to Hamburg, where she has since worked as a teacher in numerous institutes, specializing in classical ballet, repertoire, character dance and choreography. Since August 2013 she has been teaching character dance as a guest teacher at the School of the Hamburg Ballet.
Janusz Mazon was born in Bytom, Poland and trained for nine years at the ballet school there. In 1980 he was offered a contract with the ballet company of the Warsaw State Opera. In 1985 he joined the Hamburg Ballet. He advanced to soloist in 1989 and to principal in 1993. He danced many of the leading roles in the repertoire of the Hamburg Ballet as well as creating new roles in John Neumeier's ballets. In 1997 he moved to the USA where he graduated with a degree as Doctor of Chiropractic in 2002. While maintaining his work in his chiropractic office, he was also ballet master for The Georgia Ballet School and Company. Janusz Mazon returned to Hamburg in 2013 where he took up a position on the teaching faculty of the School of the Hamburg Ballet.
Indrani Delmaine was born in London, England where she completed her training as a ballet dancer and teacher. She then attended the John-Cranko-Ballett Akademie in Stuttgart before being offered her first contract by John Neumeier in 1977 for the Hamburg Ballet. She later danced with the Stuttgart Ballet for three years before returning to John Neumeier in Hamburg in 1982. Indrani Delmaine worked as a ballet teacher and on dance projects with the Hamburg Youth Orchestra, "Focus on Youth", TuSch Hamburg and workshops at the Leuphana University. Indrani Delmaine returned in 2013 as the Managing Coordinator of the School of the Hamburg Ballet.
Petar Kostov received his education with Konrad Elser at the Musikhochschule Lübeck, as well as in Vienna. He attended master classes with Andrzej Jasiński, Ludmil Angelov, Boris Berman, Paul Badura-Skoda, Alexander Jenner and Bozhidar Nojev.
He is a multiple prize winner of national and international piano and chamber music competitions, including the International Chamber Music Festival "Allegro Vivo".
As part of "Wien Modern 2018", Petar Kostov played at the Vienna Konzerthaus for the entire performance of Luciano Berio's Sequenze cycle. In 2016, at the Vienna Radio Culture House, he performed Geirr Tveitt's piano concerto "Aurora Borealis" and Igor Stravinsky's piano concerto under Maestro Toshiyuki Shimada (Yale Symphony Orchestra), and in 2015 he created the piano part in Schoenberg's "Ode to Napoleon". He made his debut with orchestra in 2013 with the Plovdiv State Opera Orchestra. He is a sought-after chamber music partner and performs with various musicians and ensembles.
Since 2020 Petar Kostov has been working as a pianist for the Hamburg Ballet and the Hamburg Ballet School at the Hamburg State Opera.
Gigi Hyatt is German-American. She received her training in her hometown Berlin with Tatiana Gsovsky and continued it from 1974 in Munich with Konstanze Vernon at the Heinz-Bosl-Stiftung. In 1982, Gigi Hyatt joined the Hamburg Ballet John Neumeier. In her first season she was already promoted to demi-soloist. In her second season, she became a soloist and in 1986 a principal dancer. She created several leading roles with John Neumeier, including Desdemona in "Othello", Solveig in "Peer Gynt", Cinderella, Undine and Viola/Feste in "VIVALDI or What You Will". In 1997, she ended her career on stage and moved to the USA. She first was ballet mistress and teacher at The Georgia Ballet and School (Marietta, Georgia, USA), and in 2004 became Artistic Director. At the beginning of the 2013/14 season, Gigi Hyatt took over as Pedagogical Principal and Deputy Director of the School of the Hamburg Ballet.
John Neumeier was born in 1939 in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he received his first dance training. He continued his dance studies in Chicago as well as at Marquette University in Milwaukee where he created his first choreographic works. After further ballet study both in Copenhagen and at The Royal Ballet School in London, John Cranko invited him in 1963 to join Stuttgart Ballet, where he progressed to soloist and continued his choreographic development.
In 1969, Ulrich Erfurth appointed Mr. Neumeier Director of Ballet Frankfurt, where he soon caused a sensation with his new interpretations of such well-known ballets as "The Nutcracker" and "Romeo and Juliet". In 1973, August Everding invited him to become Director and Chief Choreographer of The Hamburg Ballet. Under his direction, The Hamburg Ballet became one of the leading ballet companies on the German dance scene and soon received international recognition. As a choreographer, Mr. Neumeier has continually focused on the preservation of ballet tradition, while giving his works a modern dramatic framework. His ballets range from new versions of full-length story ballets to musicals and to his symphonic ballets, especially those based on Gustav Mahler's compositions, as well as his choreographies to sacred music. His latest creations for The Hamburg Ballet: "Duse" in 2015, "Turangalîla" in 2016, “Anna Karenina” in 2017 ands "Beethoven Project. In 1975, Neumeier conceived the Hamburg Ballet Festival as a climax and end to each season.
In 1978, he founded the School of the Hamburg Ballet. In 1989 the school, together with the company, moved into its own "Ballettzentrum" (ballet center) provided by the city of Hamburg. Its facilities include nine studios and a boarding school for over 30 students. Today more than 80% of the company's dancers are graduates from the school.
Neumeier has worked as guest choreographer with many companies, including The Royal Ballet in London; The Vienna, Munich and Dresden State Operas; The Stuttgart Ballet (for which he has created several works); The Royal Danish Ballet; The Ballet of the Paris Opera; The Tokyo Ballet; American Ballet Theatre in New York; San Francisco Ballet; Joffrey Ballet; Boston Ballet; The National Ballet of Canada; The Ballet of the Mariinsky Theater; Moscow Bolshoi and Stanislavsky Ballet; and The National Ballet of China, among others.
Mr. Neumeier holds the Dance Magazine Award (1983), Order of Merit of the Federal Republic of Germany and French Order of Arts and Letters and the Legion of Honour. In 2006, he was awarded the prestigious Nijinsky Award for Lifetime Achievement. He received the Herbert von Karajan Musikpreis in 2007 and the Deutscher Jubiläums Tanzpreis in 2008. In 2007, he was made an honorary citizen of the city of Hamburg. In November 2012, he accepted the Order of Friendship of the Russian Federation. In 2015, the Inamori Foundation presented Mr. Neumeier with the Kyoto Prize for his contributions to the Arts and Philosophy; in 2016 he received the renowned Prix Benois de la Danse for Lifetime Achievement. Among his recent awards are the Livetime Achievement Award of the Prix de Lausanne 2017, the Erich Fromm Prize 2017 and in 2019 the People's Republic of China Friendship Award.
Neumeier established the John Neumeier Foundation in February 2006 with the aim of preserving and eventually making available to the public his collection of dance and balletrelated objects. The Foundation will maintain and secure his repertoire and related materials for the city of Hamburg. In 2011, Neumeier founded Germany's National Youth Ballet. The young company of eight dancers is based at the Ballettzentrum in Hamburg but finds its performing spaces away from the Hamburg Opera. In addition to international touring this creative young company dances in schools, retirement homes and prisons.
* a. G.: Guest