Guest Artists

Fall 2004

Guillaume Graffin

Guillaume Graffin, who was born in Neuilly–sur–Seine, France, began his ballet training at the Paris Conservatory and joined the Paris Opera Ballet School in 1981. He joined the Paris Opera Ballet in 1983 and was appointed coryphé the following year. Graffin joined the Ballets de Monte Carlo, and in 1986, was appointed Premier Danseur by Princess Caroline of Monaco.

Graffin joined American Ballet Theatre as a Principal Dancer in 1988. His roles with the Company have included the title role in Apollo, the High Brahmin and the Rajah in La Bayadère, a Stepsister in Cinderella, Franz and Dr. Coppélius in Coppélia, the Gentleman with Her in Dim Lustre, Basilio, Espada, and Gamache in Don Quixote, Her Pastor in Fall River Legend, Albrecht and Hilarion in Giselle, the Man She Must Marry in Jardin aux Lilas, Des Grieux in Manon, Danilo in The Merry Widow, Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker, Onegin in Onegin, the pas de deux in Les Patineurs, the Mentor in The Pied Piper, the Champion Roper in Rodeo, Romeo, Tybalt and Lord Capulet in Romeo and Juliet, Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, Misgir in The Snow Maiden, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Madge, the witch in La Sylphide, the leading male roles in Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, Stepping Stones, Les Sylphides and Symphonie Concertante, and a featured role in The Leaves Are Fading. He also created leading roles in How Near Heaven and Jump Start and a featured role in Cruel World.

Graffin was appointed a Ballet Master in August 2001.

Darrell Jones

Darrell Jones started his dance training after completing a degree in Psychology at the University of Florida. Choreography and performance were the emphasis of his M.F.A. degree from Florida State University. He has performed in the U.S. and abroad with choreographers and companies such as Bebe Miller, Urban Bush Women, Ronald K. Brown, Min Tanaka and Ralph Lemon. Jones also continues to choreograph and teach. His solo and collaborative duet work has been presented at The Place Theater in London, Kwanju Biennale in South Korea, The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and Judson Memorial Church in New York City. Jones is also a filmmaker with a background in editing and choreography for the camera.

Mr. Jones will lead a master dance class for Department of Theatre and Dance students enrolled in TD412C, TD412C, and TD422E. This class seeks to negotiate the interaction between energy and movement, in terms of rhythm and musicality. The class will take place on Monday, September 27th at 9:00 am at the Anna Hiss Gym. Observers are welcome.

Gesel Mason

Gesel Mason has performed with Ririe–Woodbury Dance Company, the Repertory Dance Theatre of Utah, and Umoja, directed by Chuck Davis. She taught and performed in Poland, in 1995 with the Silesian Dance Theatre and again in 1999 with Liz Lerman Dance Exchange, where she worked for four seasons as Performer, Project Director, and Artistic Director/Founder of Teen Exchange. Mason is Co–founder of Mason/Rhynes Productions (M/RP), an African–American arts service organization in the Washington, DC area. M/RP produced her solo project, NO BOUNDARIES: Dancing the Visions of Contemporary Black Choreographers, which includes the work of Donald McKayle, Bebe Miller, David Rousséve, Andrea Woods, and Jawole Willa Jo Zollar. Mason has also worked with Alison Chase, Sardono Kusumo, Victoria Marks, Susan Marshall, Peter Pucci, and Doug Varone. She was selected Emerging Choreographer by the Bates Dance Festival in 2000 and has received two Metro DC Dance Awards. Her work has been commissioned by University of Maryland and Dallas Black Dance Theater, among others, and presented by Walker Art Center in Minneapolis, Museum of Contemporary Art in Chicago, Clarice Smith Center for the Performing Arts in College Park, Maryland, Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. and International Association of Blacks in Dance.

Ms. Mason will lead a master dance class for Department of Theatre and Dance students enrolled in TD412C, TD412C, and TD422E. Her class seeks to explore momentum, build strength, increase efficiency, and experiment with different movement styles. The class will take place on Tuesday, September 28th at 9:00 am at the Anna Hiss Gym. Observers are welcome.

Okwui Okpokwasili

Okwui Okpokwasili has worked with Ralph Lemon on the final part of the Geography Trilogy for the past two years. She has also worked with Annie Dorsen, Grisha Coleman, David Levine, Richard Maxwell, Sybil Kempson, Gale Gates et. al. and Transmission Projects. She played the "Long Legged Ballerina" in Richard Foreman's Maria Del Bosco, Constance Fletcher in Gertrude Stein's The Mother of Us All, Hilde in the Nomad Theatrical Company's production of Ibsen's The Master Builder and the title character in Foundry Theater's Production of The Roaring Girle. She is currently working with Dean Moss and the visual artist Laylah Ali on a work set to premiere in 2005 at The Kitchen in NYC.

Ms. Okpokwasili will lead a master dance class for Department of Theatre and Dance students enrolled in TD412C, TD412C, and TD422E. Her class will work with movement/acting, helping students transcend the two fields. The class will take place on Wednesday, September 29th at 9:00 am at the Anna Hiss Gym. Observers are welcome.