ARTISTIC STAFF DIRECTOR
ARTISTIC ADVISOR
CAROLYN CLARK A native of New Jersey, Ms. Clark is Founder/Director of New Jersey Ballet Company and Director of New Jersey School of Ballet. Ms. Clark performed classical and contemporary ballet with American Ballet Theatre and toured with that company throughout North America, Scandinavia, Europe and Africa, in addition to tours in the US and Canada. Additional ballet company credits include the Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Radio City Ballet, and as principal dancer with New Jersey Ballet and New Jersey State Opera. Ms. Clark’s professional credits also include Broadway musicals, and television shows, most notably The Bell Telephone Hour where she was assistant to the choreographer. She is a founding member of ArtPride New Jersey, served two years on the President’s Council on the Arts for the John F. Kennedy Center, and five years on the Advisory Board of Channel 13. Ms. Clark was honored in 1976 by Governor Brendan Byrne for her “unique contribution to the arts of the State of New Jersey.” She has also been honored with a New Jersey Pride Award, and by the National Society of Arts and Letters and DanceNJ. Ms. Clark attended Rutgers University.
EDWARD VILLELLA A Kennedy Center honoree, Mr. Villella is perhaps the greatest American premier danseur ever. Among his accomplishments are Emmy Award winner, star of New York City Ballet, guest artist with the Bolshoi, performer at President Kennedy’s Inaugural, and first American to guest with the Royal Danish Ballet. In 1968, the Bell Telephone Hour’s salute to Villella became an Emmy Award-winning special. His Harlequin – A Patchwork of Love, the first ballet ever commissioned by an American TV network, resulted in Emmy Awards for the show and for Villella as choreographer, producer and star! He is a former member of the President’s Council on the Arts and a past recipient of the prestigious Capezio Award. Mr. Villella is founder of Miami City Ballet and has been Artistic Advisor to New Jersey Ballet since 1972.
ASSISTANT DIRECTOR PAUL H. MCRAE trained at the San Francisco School of Ballet, New Jersey School of Ballet and the School of American Ballet. He became an apprentice with New Jersey Ballet at age 16. In 1974 joined Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, while there he attended Point Park College. In Pittsburgh he studied and worked with Nicholas Petrov, Frederic Franklin, Leonid Massine and John Gilpin. He rejoined New Jersey Ballet in 1978 performing a wide range of solo and principal roles in the Company’s extensive repertory. Named Assistant to the Director of New Jersey Ballet in 1990 and he became Assistant Director in September 2001. Mr. McRae is on the ballet faculty at New Jersey School of Ballet and for the past twenty years has been on the residence ballet faculty at Kean University. He is a cofounder and former President of Dance/New Jersey, a board member of Art Pride New Jersey and New Jersey Volunteer Lawyers for the Arts and he also serves as Co-Chair of the Arts Advisory Committee at Arts High School in Newark, New Jersey.
LUBA GULYAEVA (Ballet Mistress) A graduate of the Vaganova Ballet Academy in Leningrad, Ms. Gulyaeva joined the Kirov Ballet in 1972, dancing featured roles in Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, La Bayadere and Don Quixote. In the 1980s, she was invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov to join the staff of American Ballet Theatre where she taught company class and coached the dancers. She also taught all levels at the ABT School. Additional teaching credits include the Australian Ballet in Melbourne, the School of American Ballet in New York, and seminars at numerous universities in the U.S. PETER DI BONAVETURA (Coach) credits include several years as principal dancer with Cleveland Ballet where he danced principal roles in numerous ballets including Swan Lake, Romeo & Juliet, Coppelia, Balanchine’s Apollo, Midsummer Night’s Dream and the standard classical pas de deux. He also guested numerous times in Caracas with ballerina Zhanda Rodriguez. Choreographer Fleming Flindt invited him to Denmark to film his Lucifer’s Daughter, a ballet to celebrate the Queen of Denmark’s 25th Anniversary. Most recently, he was a principal dancer with New Jersey Ballet and with the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. ROSEMARY SABOVICK-BLEICH (Coach) danced with New Jersey Ballet for 20 years. A versatile ballerina, she was recognized for her strong classical performances as the
