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Dennis Nahat Nahat's dance training began in Detroit, Michigan at the age of 8 under the direction of Enid and Jeff Ricardeau and Kay Bliss at the Ricardeau Studio. At 17 he was awarded a full scholarship in dance and minor in music at the Juilliard School of Music and continued training under the guidance of Martha Hill, Martha Graham, José Limón, Anna Sokalow, Antony Tudor and Louis Horst. Nahat has performed and choreographed major works for American Ballet Theatre (ABT), Atlanta Ballet, Hartford Ballet, The Royal Swedish Ballet, The London Festival Ballet, and Ballet Nuevo Mundo de Caracas. He co-founded the School of Cleveland Ballet in 1972, the Cleveland Ballet in 1976. In 1985 he created the co-venture between San Jose, California and Cleveland known as the Cleveland San Jose Ballet. After twenty-five years the Board of Trustees in Cleveland decided to suspend operations on September 7, 2000 forever. The San Jose partners were left with the decision to continue or suspend operations as their partner had done. The San Jose Trustees voted unanimously to continue presenting ballet to the Bay Area as they had done for the past fifteen years. A new American ballet company was born making its debut on October 12, 2000 in San Jose, California. Nahat moved the entire ensemble of dancers, wardrobe and scenic shops to San Jose where he is the Artistic Director of his new BALLET SAN JOSE SILICON VALLEY. His numerous choreographic credits extend to musical theater, television and the movies. Mr. Nahat was responsible for the selection of competitors at the USA International Ballet Competition. He also directed the 1994 and 1998 competitor Choreography Workshop, staged the final Awards Gala and taught competitor classes during the competitions. In July of 2000 he was invited for the fourth time to return to Denmark, Copenhagen where he taught the art of choreography, pas de deux and repertory classes at the prestigious Bartholin International Ballet Seminar. Since 2000, Mr. Nahat was appointed Artistic Director for the Usdan Center for the Creative and Performing Arts ballet program on Long Island, New York. He continues as Artistic Director at his own Ballet San Jose Silicon Valley school. |
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Karen"KB" Brown
Patricia Perez began her classical ballet training at the School of Alejo
Carpentier in Havana, Cuba at the age of ten, and continued at the school of
Prodanza directed by Laura Alonso. At 17, she was invited to the Ballet Festival
in Peru. Ms. Perez graduated as a ballerina and teacher of classical ballet from
Prodanza in Havana, after which she became a member of Compania de Ballet
Classico de la Havana. In 1998, she went to International Ballet Competition in
Jackson, Mississippi where she met Artistic Director Dennis Nahat, who offered
her a contract with the company.
Jenny Gilmore: Daryl Gray studied acting and the violin as a child. He appeared in monologues and plays and made his professional debut at age 14 in the role of “Toby” in the St. Louis Opera Guild’s production of “The Medium”. He was trained in a full theater and dance curriculum at the ABT school and in the Harkness program under David Howard. He was a soloist with Maurice Bejart” Ballet of the 20th Century and appeared as a guest artist with dance companies in the U.S. and abroad, as well as in Broadway musicals. For the concert stage, he has created dances for the Joffrey, American Ballet Theater Workshop, Atlanta Ballet and numerous other dance companies across the U.S. His choreography has also been featured by the Brussels-based Bejart Ballet, Les Ballets Jazz De Montreal, Batsheva Dance Co. of Israel, as well as by other companies in France, Germany, Belgium, England, Canada, Australia, former Yugoslavia, Korea and South America. His musical stagings have been seen at the New York City Opera, Playhouse 91 in Manhattan, Brooklyn Academy of Music, Coconut Grove Playhouse, Santa Fe Festival Theatre, Sacramento Music Circus, Chicago Civic Theater, Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and the St. Louis Muny Opera, as well as on CBS and PBS television. Daryl Gray’s eclectic projects have included his co-direction and choreography of PATIENCE for the NY Gilbert & Sullivan Players. The NY Times called it “astonishing, delightful and accomplished”. The Ice Theatre of NY premiered his ice-dancing duet, “Winter Dreams” at Rockefeller Center. And Gray directed, wrote and produced two video tapes on the art of choreography in collaboration with the Joffrey School. He staged a Disney extravaganza for the recording industry in Washington, D.C. which featured the music of Alan Menken, dancer Leslie Browne, as well as a cast of over 150, including recording artists and Broadway cast members. Daryl choreographed and directed his theatrical Australian dance version of THE PIRATES OF PENZANCE! This full-evening ballet, including singers, which the press called “a sparkling treasure . . . one that audiences will flock to” in The Australian, and “brave, enjoyably giddy, compelling and ingeniously woven” in The New York Times, subsequently toured extensively in Australia and was also presented by Columbia Artists on a 26-city coast-to-coast U.S. tour. An American production by Ballet San Jose was voted “Best of the Bay” by Mercury Newspaper in Fall 2004 . Daryl created the staging for “A Celebration of the American Musical” presented at Avery Fisher Hall and televised on “Live from Lincoln Center”. His critically acclaimed production of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” was repeated in the Berkshires as was his big band “Threads from a String of Swing” at the Rich Forum in Stamford. Mr. Gray recently taught for Ann Reinking’s Broadway Theater Project, created a new work for North Carolina Dance Theater and staged the new musical “Bat Boy”. His staging of “Carmen” is currently playing with the New York City Opera at Lincoln Center. Selected by the Society of Stage Directors and Choreographers for DanceBreak 2005, he created an original musical theater work performed in NYC in February. Daryl is now working on a new Broadway bound musical.. A popular master teacher, he has taught worldwide.
Shely Pack-Manning danced professionally with the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and "Timepiece", a Pittsburgh based modern dance company. She now lives in California where she operates a dance studio in Half Moon Bay. Shely is a member of Dance Masters of America where she serves on the National Board as a delegate. Shely has taught master classes in Ballet, Modern, and Jazz and has judged
for many dance organizations throughout the United States and Canada including
Dance Masters of America and American Dance Awards. She has had many award
winning students throughout the years including the 2000 Miss Dance of America;
the 2001 Teen Mr. Dance of America; American Dance Awards Teen Male Dancer of
the Year for 2002; and 2003 Mr. Dance of America. Shely's students can be seen
in Broadway Touring Companies, music videos, television commercials, dvd movies,
professional ballet and modern dance companies and many have successful dance
studios of their own. Claire Sheridan
created and chaired
the dance program (1977–97) at
Saint Mary’s
College of California. In 1999, she founded LEAP (Liberal Education for
Arts Professionals), an innovative Bachelor of Arts degree program Kristine Elliott
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