American Ballet Theatre Faculty

RODNEY GUSTAFSON

Mr. Gustafson trained at the School of American Ballet and spent the majority of his performing career as a dancer with the world-renowned American Ballet Theatre. During this period, Mr. Gustafson trained and worked with many of the great dancers and choreographers of our time including Mikhail Baryshnikov, Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerome Robbins, and Anthony Tudor and appeared in the films The Turning Point, Baryshnikov's Nutcracker, and several Live from Lincoln Center specials for PBS. He continues his affiliation with American Ballet Theatre as a coordinator, choreographer, and teacher for its summer programs. He is also participating in the new ABT's National Training Curriculum. Academically, Mr. Gustafson holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (1994) from the University of Arizona, and a Master of Arts in Organizational Management (2001) from Antioch University in California. Gustafson founded State Street Ballet in Santa Barbara, California in 1994. From a modest debut in a small black box theatre to performances throughout the United States, and Asia, the company continues to gain prominence and recognition both nationally and internationally. A talented choreographer, Gustafson has created many new ballets for the company's repertoire including full-length versions of Nutcracker, Romeo & Juliet, Cinderella, a Midsummer Night's Dream, and Jungle Book. He has built a company respected for its choreography, dancing, and fiscally responsible management.

JULIE BICKTERON BRAVATA

Julie Bickerton Bravata is from Honolulu, Hawaii where she received her early dance training from Barbara Theusen. She continued her studies on full scholarship at the National Academy of Arts in Champaign, IL and in New York City at the School of American Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre Scholarship Program, and with Madame Darvash. At the age of 15, Bickerton became a member of ABT's Ballet Repertory Company. At 18, she was invited to join American Ballet Theatre under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov. During her six years there she was privileged to work with some of the world's leading choreographers, such as, Kenneth MacMillan, Antony Tudor, Roland Petit, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp. While with American Ballet Theatre, Bickerton appeared in several Dance in America and Live from Lincoln Center television special presentations. She then went on to dance as a soloist with Ballet du Nord in France and with The Feld Ballet in New York City. Since retiring from her performing career in 1988, Bickerton has taught all levels of ballet from creative movement through professional classes in New York, Oregon, and South Florida. In April 2002, Bickerton received a certificate of recognition from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts for inspiring young dancers and for her commitment to the arts. She is currently the Ballet Director for Southern Dance Theatre in Boynton Beach, Florida.

CHARLOTTE GRIFFIN

photo credit: Orlando Pabotoy

Charlotte Griffin, originally from North Carolina, received her B.F.A. in Dance from The Juilliard School under the direction of Mr. Benjamin Harkarvy in 1997. Encouraged to choreograph early on in her career, Charlotte's contemporary work has been commissioned by Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal, Eliot Feld's Kids Dance, Princeton University, Rutgers University, The American Dance Festival, the Institut del Teatre in Barcelona, Houston Metropolitan Dance Company, and The Juilliard Dance Ensemble, among others. Mr. Peter Martins invited Charlotte to participate in the New York Choreographic Institute with New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet in 2001 and 2006, where she created her first ballets. In addition, Charlotte was the honored recipient of the Scripps/ADF Primus–Tamiris Fellowship in 2005 to represent the USA for the American Dance Festival's International Choreographers Commissioning Program. Her career as a modern dancer includes performing for choreographers David Neumann, Toshiko Oiwa, Karen Graham, Yasmeen Godder, Robert Battle, and Sue Bernhard. A dedicated teacher, Charlotte was on faculty at Marymount Manhattan College for four years teaching a variety of studio classes and staging her own repertory. In 2008, she was a guest teacher at the Korea National University of Arts in Seoul, teaching master classes in advanced technique, composition, and improvisation. Charlotte is currently an M.F.A. Dance candidate and Assistant Instructor at the University of Texas at Austin, focusing on dance for the camera. Her award–winning, short film, Raven Study, has screened at dance film festivals in New York City, San Diego, Austin, Scotland, Spain, Amsterdam, Poland, and more.

LAWRENCE PECH

Mr. Pech was invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov to join American Ballet Theatre in 1980. For the next six years, he worked with such choreographers as George Balanchine, Martha Graham, Antony Tudor, Agnes DeMille, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Paul Taylor, Jiri Kylian, Carol Armitage, David Gordon, Natalia Makarova, Eric Bruhn, and Mark Morris. He has danced with such greats as Baryshnikov, Makarova, Ivan Nagy, Cynthia Gregory, Fernando Bujones, Gelsey Kirkland, Cynthia Harvey, Martine Van Hamel, Kevin McKenzie, among others. He has made numerous television appearances with ABT in Live from Lincoln Center as well as figuring prominently with Baryshnikov in the 1983 BBC movie, Dancer and the Dance. In 1986, Helgi Tomasson invited Mr. Pech to join the San Francisco Ballet and in 1989, was promoted to Principal Dancer. In 1991, Mr. Pech was the subject of a PBS/KQED special entitled, Blue Lair, a ballet about his victory over cancer. This special was awarded a 1991 Emmy for “Best Choreography”. To date, Mr. Pech has choreographed over fifty ballets, forty-five musicals, thirty–five operas, and numerous self–produced evenings of original music, dance, and theater. He has garnered numerous awards such as the Bay Area Theater Critics' Circle and Dean Goodman awards for “Best Choreography” and “Best Supporting Actor in a Musical,” and graduated with honors ('05) from the San Franscico Conservatory of Music in Composition.

CHRISTINE SPIZZO–SERRANO

Ms. Spizzo-Serrano trained at the North Carolina School of the Arts and at the School of American Ballet in New York. She first performed professionally with the National Ballet of Washington (DC) and Ballet Repertory Co. (NY), before joining ABT as a Soloist in 1975. She appeared in many of ABT's Live From Lincoln Center and Dance in America programs and the Herbert Ross movies The Turning Point (1977) and Dancers (1987). She was a Principal Dancer with Ballet Arizona (1988, 1989) and with the “Nureyev and Friends” North American tour in 1990. She performed on Broadway in The Phantom of the Opera for 10 years before retiring from the stage. She is currently on the dance faculty at the North Carolina School of the Arts, where she received the Excellence in Teaching Award in 2007. She was the original Artistic Coordinator of ABT's Summer Intensive Programs (1996, 1997), and has remained a primary teacher for all subsequent ABT Summer Intensives in NYC and Austin.

ROGER VAN FLETEREN

Roger Van Fleteren, a native of Michigan, began his dance training at the age of twelve with Charmaine Schick. Two years later, he was offered a scholarship to study with Madame Nathalie Krassovska in Dallas. In 1982 he joined ABT and became soloist in 1990, where his repertory included works by Antony Tudor, Kenneth Macmillan, Twyla Tharp, George Balanchine, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Jiri Killian, and Frederic Ashton among other. He was chosen by Agnes de Mille to dance the principal role in her final ballet, The Other. Van Fleteren has appeared as a guest artist with companies throughout the United States including Wes Chapman's American Ballet in 1991–1992. Van Fleteren has also performed throughout Europe at major Opera Houses including the Paris Opera and the Coliseum Theatre in London. He has also performed in productions of 42^nd Street, Seven Brides for Seven Brothers, The Best Little Whorehouse in Texas, the television series The Equalizer and in the film Dancers starring Mikhail Baryshnikov. Van Fleteren joined the Alabama Ballet company from the London City Ballet in 1996 where he served as principal dancer at the renowned Sadler's Wells Theatre. His repertoire included Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Coppelia, Don Quixote pas de deux and works with Royal Ballet stars David Wall and Leslie Collier. While at the Alabama Ballet, Van Felteren has been featured as Albrecht in Giselle, Drosselmeyer in Nutcracker, Herr Stahlbaum in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, as well as principal roles in Bolero and Swan Lake. Van Fleteren continues to be closely affiliated with American Ballet Theatre. In the summer of 1998 and 1999, he was appointed Administrative Coordinator of the ABT Summer Intensive in Tuscaloosa, Alabama, and was on the teaching staff of the intensive in Detroit, MI. In 1998, he co–choreographed Dracula, and in the 1999–2000 season Wes Chapman and Van Fleteren choreographed Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde. In 2001 he choreographed the Alabama Ballet's one– act full–length Romeo & Juliet and the full length Cinderella, and in 2003 he created original choreography for Swan Lake. In 1999, he won the Panoply Award for best overall choreography for Tickling the Ivories, in 2001 for Bach Variations. In the 2002–2003 season he choreographed Be Major. Van Fleteren is one of the principal instructors in the Alabama Ballet School, and an Artist in Residence at the Gorham's Bluff Institute's Summer Residency.