Jeffrey Gribler
Ballet Master
Biography
Jeffrey Gribler began dancing at age 7 in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio. His 10 years of study at the Schwartz School of the Dance included six years of performing experience with the Dayton Ballet. In 1975, at the age of 17, he was offered an apprenticeship with Pennsylvania Ballet. He joined the Corps de Ballet in 1976 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in 1982.
Mr. Gribler has an extensive repertoire of both classical and modern works. He has danced leading roles in numerous ballets by George Balanchine, including Prodigal Son, Bugaku, The Four Temperaments, Agon, Who Cares? and A Midsummer Night's Dream. His roles in contemporary works include Paul Taylor's Arden Court and Company B, Merce Cunningham's Arcade, William Forsythe's Septext and Love Songs, Kevin O' Day's Col Legno and Lar Lubovitch's Concerto 622 and Waiting for the Sunrise. He has also danced leading roles in classical repertoire, such as Siegfried and Benno in Swan Lake, Albrecht in Giselle, Franz and Dr. Coppelius in Coppelia, a Stepsister in Cinderella, and Mercutio in John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet.
Mr. Gribler has been Ballet Master for Pennsylvania Ballet since 1986. Among his responsibilities is the task of rehearsing the children who appear in the Company's annual production of George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. He has choreographed several works for Shut Up and Dance, the annual benefit for MANNA, and Cricket Dances, which was performed by Pennsylvania Ballet in October 1998. He has staged works by Lynne Taylor Corbett and Peter Martins around the United States and Europe. Mr. Gribler retired from the stage in June 2001, after 26 years of performing.
Tamara Hadley
Ballet Mistress
Biography
Born and raised in San Diego, CA, Tamara Hadley received her early training with the San Diego Ballet Company, which she joined at age 13. Ms. Hadley joined the Pennsylvania Ballet in 1975 and was promoted to Principal in 1977. Her repertoire includes all the major classical roles, including Swanilda in Coppélia, Giselle, the Sylph in La Sylphide, and Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, as well as many of the most technically difficult Balanchine ballets including Concerto Barocco, Theme and Variations, Serenade, Allegro Brillante, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Agon, Prodigal Son, Who Cares? and Raymonda Variations.
Ms. Hadley has had many roles created for her by choreographers such as Richard Tanner, Lar Lubovitch, Robert Weiss, Jean Pierre Bonnefoux, Margo Sappington, and Lynn-Taylor Corbett. Peter Martins choreographed his Mozart Violin Concerto especially to showcase Ms. Hadley's strength and impeccably precise pointe work.
Ms. Hadley's guesting experiences have included an appearance with Rudolph Nureyev in Apollo and a gala evening with Alexander Goudanov. At Milwaukee Ballet, she and her husband and partner, William DeGregory, were the resident guest artists. As a couple, they toured with "Evening of Stars" to South America and China for several years, performed at the prestigious Jacob's Pillow, and appeared twice on the PBS Dance in America series.
Ms. Hadley retired as Principal Dancer in 1995 after 20 years with Pennsylvania Ballet. She currently resides in New Jersey with her husband, Mr. DeGregory, former Pennsylvania Ballet Principal Dancer and current Pennsylvania Ballet II Director.
Matthew Neenan
Choreographer in Residence
Biography
Matthew Neenan began his dance training at the Boston Ballet School and with noted teachers Nan C. Keating and Jacqueline Cronsberg. He later attended the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and the School of American Ballet in New York. From 1994-2007, Mr. Neenan danced with Pennsylvania Ballet where he has performed numerous principal roles in works by George Balanchine, John Cranko, Paul Taylor, Peter Martins, Val Caniparoli, Jorma Elo, Lila York, Meredith Rainey, Jeffrey Gribler, Christopher Wheeldon, and Jerome Robbins. In October 2007, Mr. Neenan was named Pennsylvania Ballet's first Choreographer in Residence.
From 2000-2004, Mr. Neenan co-founded and co-directed Phrenic New Ballet, which toured extensively with his choreography to New York City, Artscape Festival in Baltimore, and the Jacob's Pillow Festival in Becket, Massachusetts. In 2005, Mr. Neenan and fellow dancer Christine Cox co-founded BalletX, of which he is currently co-director. BalletX had its world premiere at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival in September 2005 and is now the resident dance company at the prestigious Wilma Theater in Philadelphia. BalletX has toured and performed Mr. Neenan's choreography at Symphony Space in New York City, Jacob's Pillow Festival, Laguna Dance Festival in Laguna, CA, Columbia, and Seoul, Korea.
Mr. Neenan's choreography has also been performed by The Russian Ballet Theatre, Washington Ballet, Brandywine Ballet, New York Theatre Ballet, Opera Company of Philadelphia, Ballet Pacifica, LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, Indiana University, and the Juilliard School. His ballet 11:11, set to the music of Rufus Wainwright, was performed at City Center's Fall for Dance Festival in New York in September 2006. He has received numerous awards and grants for his choreography from the National Endowment of the Arts, Dance Advance funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Choo San Goh Foundation, and the Independence Foundation. In 2006, Mr. Neenan received the New York City Ballet's Choreographic Institute's Fellowship Initiative Award. Mr. Neenan also received a 2008 fellowship from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. This marks his fourth time receiving the PCA fellowship.
In 2002, Mr. Neenan accepted an invitation to perform and teach at the Silesian International Dance Festival in Poland. He also participated in the Fall 2003 New York City Ballet Choreographic Institute under the direction of Peter Martins. In June 2004, Dance Theatre of Pennsylvania premiered his first full-length ballet, A Midsummer Night's Dream. Pennsylvania Ballet premiered Mr. Neenan's Carmina Burana in March 2007, which has been called "simply scintillating." Mr. Neenan was recently named Best Dance Talent by editors of Philadelphia Magazine's annual "Best Of Philly" list. His 12th commission for Pennsylvania Ballet, At the border, premiered in October 2009.
William DeGregory
Pennsylvania Ballet II Director
Biography
William DeGregory, a native of New Hampshire, performed at the International Festival of Young Performing Artists in Scotland in 1974, and as one of a select group of dancers from the National Academy of Dance in Champaign, IL, before joining Pennsylvania Ballet at age 18. His excellent technique, strong partnering skills, and winning stage presence quickly advanced him to Principal Dancer in 1979.
Mr. DeGregory has danced most of the classical principal roles including Siegfried in Swan Lake, James in La Sylphide, Franz in Coppélia, and many Balanchine ballets, including Theme and Variations, Square Dance, Symphony in C, and Cavalier in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker. Robert Weiss created the role of Nicholas for Mr. DeGregory in his full-length ballet, Winter Dreams. In September 1996, the legendary modern dance choreographer Merce Cunningham featured Mr. DeGregory in the world premiere of his acclaimed Arcade.
Mr. DeGregory was a resident guest artist with his wife and partner, Tamara Hadley, at Milwaukee Ballet. As a couple, they toured with "Evening of the Stars" to South America and China, and performed at the prestigious Jacob's Pillow.
In February 2002, Mr. DeGregory became Director of Pennsylvania Ballet's newly-formed training company, Pennsylvania Ballet II. He retired from performing at the end of the 2001-2002 season, his 27th with the Company. With Pennsylvania Ballet II, the Company is able to greatly expand the scope and depth of its outreach effort through theatre and non-theatre-based performances at Philadelphia area schools and other small venues.
Mr. DeGregory currently resides in New Jersey with his wife, Ms. Hadley, former Pennsylvania Ballet Principal Dancer and current Ballet Mistress.
Michael Sheridan
Assistant to the Artistic Director
Biography
Assistant to the Artistic Director at Pennsylvania Ballet, Michael Sheridan was raised in St. Petersburg, Florida and began his ballet training at the age of 8. Upon completion of his initial training, he was invited to join Milwaukee Ballet in 1982. In 1987, Mr. Sheridan joined the newly formed Pennsylvania-Milwaukee Ballet, remaining with Pennsylvania Ballet when the collaboration ended. After an impressive professional career spanning over 20 years, he retired from the stage in 2002.
Mr. Sheridan's extensive repertoire includes many soloist and principal roles in the works of such noted choreographers as Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, August Bournonville, John Cranko, Agnes de Mille, Peter Martins, Ben Stevenson, Paul Taylor, Anthony Tudor, and Hans van Manen. Additionally, he has premiered original works by Ib Anderson, Gerard Charles, Christopher d'Amboise, Choo San Goh, Jean Grand-Maitre, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Richard Tanner, Matthew Neenan, and Robert Weiss. Mr. Sheridan has performed internationally with Pennsylvania Ballet at the Sintra Festival in Portugal and with choreographer Kevin O'Day at the Northwest Phalen Tanz Festival in Germany. He has also been featured on the nationally recognized PBS television series, "Dance in America."
In 1993, Mr. Sheridan co-founded Shut Up & Dance, an annual AIDS benefit for MANNA presented by the Dancers of Pennsylvania Ballet. He is a two-time recipient of The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts Fellowship for Emerging Choreographers and was awarded a 2005 Rocky Award presented by the Philadelphia Live Arts-Fringe Festival. He has served as Children's Ballet Master for Pennsylvania Ballet's production of La Sylphide and also as Children's Rehearsal Assistant for George Balanchine's The Nutcracker and A Midsummer Night's Dream. He served as Principal Instructor for Pennsylvania Ballet's Pre-Professional Division from 2003 to 2006. Mr. Sheridan has been a member of the faculty of The University of the Arts since the fall of 2005.