|
JENNIFER B. GORDON |
|
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR |
|
12th Anniversary Season 2008-2009 Season
|
|
Mark your calendars! Saturday, September 27th |
|
WHO WE ARE!
The Northeast Atlanta Ballet is a 501-c-3 non-profit ballet company located in Gwinnett County, Georgia. The Northeast Atlanta Ballet was founded in 1996 by Jennifer B. Gordon with the hope of providing her talented young dancers with the most professional performing experience possible while bringing premium arts programming to Gwinnett and surrounding counties. The Northeast Atlanta Ballet performs their annual “The Nutcracker” complete with a live orchestra at the Gwinnett Center. The Company also performs a full length classic each Spring, “Cinderella”, “Sleeping Beauty”, “Swan Lake”, “Paquita”, “Coppelia”, “Giselle”, or “Coppelia” with live orchestration. We also offer a children’s series including “Little Mermaid”, “Peter Pan”, and “Beauty & the Beast”. In addition to our full length presentations, the dancers are challenged with the works of new and innovative choreographers. Northeast Atlanta Ballet company members are consistently selected by prestigious national dance programs including School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Washington Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, North Carolina School for the Arts and many others. Many alumni are dancing professionally and/or continuing their dance education on scholarship at major Universities across the country.
|
|
ARTISTIC DIRECTOR |
|
Jennifer B. Gordon |
|
Jennifer Byokawski-Gordon is the founder and artistic director of Northeast Atlanta Ballet. Jennifer grew up in Gwinnett County and attended Shiloh High School where she was an honor graduate. She was a member of the Gwinnett Ballet Theatre and a student of the Lilburn School of Ballet where she was a principle dancer for over 7 years. Upon graduation, Mrs. Byokawski-Gordon was selected as an apprentice with the Atlanta Ballet under the direction of Robert Barnett. She remained with the company for four years as a company member/corps de ballet member. Mrs. Byokawski-Gordon performed in numerous Balanchine ballets with the Atlanta Ballet including "Marzipan" ,"Spanish", and "Snow" in "Nutcracker", The Four Temperaments, Stars and Stripes, Theme and Variations, and Raymonda. She appeared in Carmina Burana, By George, A Midsummer Nights Dream, Coppelia, Romeo & Juliet, Swan Lake, Giselle, Red Riding Hood from Sleeping Beauty and countless others. Mrs. Byokawski-Gordon performed in numerous outreach performances with the Atlanta Ballet where she performed Mannie Rowe’s "Somewhere" pas de deux. While a member of The Atlanta Ballet, Mrs. Byokawski-Gordon frequently appeared as a guest artist with several organizations. She appeared as Odette in Swan Lake, Sugar Plum Fairy in "The Nutcracker" and the title role in Cinderella. She traveled to Tennessee where she performed as the Sugar Plum Fairy with the Tri Cities Dance Company. Jennifer also performed with Ballethnic in their famous production of "The Leopard Tale" and performed as a guest dancer with the Atlanta Opera for two seasons. Ms. Byokawski-Gordon also spent a year as a soloist with Orlando Ballet in Orlando, Florida. She performed many of the full length classical productions as well as new dynamic choreographic works. Mrs. Byokawski-Gordon’s choreography has been selected for performance at the Southeastern Regional Ballet Association's annual festival. She has also had the honor of teaching ballet to Olympic Gymnastic hopefuls during a residency in Key Largo . Upon graduation from Georgia State University, Mrs. Byokawski-Gordon decided to branch out on her own and established the Northeast Atlanta Dance Center. The Center quickly outgrew its space and they were fortunate to purchase the Lilburn School of Ballet and its professional facilities. Jennifer founded the Northeast Atlanta Ballet in 1996 in effort to provide performing opportunities for her advanced dancers. Since its inception, the company has performed an annual production of "The Nutcracker". The company has also performed full length classics including "Giselle", "Coppelia", "Sleeping Beauty", "Cinderella", and "Swan Lake". Ms. Byokawski-Gordon has trained hundreds of dancers. Many of whom have used their dance to earn college scholarships and to even continue on to professional careers. Jennifer’s students have been accepted to prestigious summer programs all over the country including American Ballet Theatre, The Boston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, The Rock School, North Carolina School for the Arts, Virginia School for the Arts, Southern Ballet Theatre, North Carolina Dance Theatre and Columbia City Ballet. Jennifer has also had the privilege of serving on the dance panel for the Georgia Council for the Arts. Ms. Gordon lives in Gwinnett County with her husband Scott and their son's, Erik and Ryan. |
|
WHAT’S NEW? |
|
Check back for more exciting updates and Northeast Atlanta Ballet news and events. |
|
Experience live music for all performances of The Nutcracker and Swan Lake from our resident orchestra, The Gwinnett Community Orchestra. |