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Gordon Peirce Schmidt, Grand Rapids Ballet - Artistic Director |
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Gordon Peirce Schmidt, Artistic Director of the Grand
Rapids Ballet, began his formal dance training at the Ellis-DuBoulay
Studio in Chicago, Illinois, and went on to perform with many companies in
the United States and Europe. He received his first commission to create a
ballet from Larry Long, Artistic Director of the Ruth Page Foundation
School. The ballet, BY DJANGO, went on to become the signature work for
Ballet Chicago for whom Mr. Schmidt was Resident Choreographer between
1989-95. During that time he received the Ruth Page Award for Choreography
for THE GIFT OF THE MAGI, and HANSEL AND GRETEL, and Ruth Page Award
nominations for his works THE SLEEP OF REASON, BRAHMS QUINTET IN G MAJOR,
SCENES FROM AN ITALIAN SONGBOOK, BY DJANGO and the holiday hit IN A
NUTSHELL.
In 1993 he made his television debut as director/choreographer of his ballet GESUALDO created for PBS\WTTW Chicago, for which he received a Prime Time Emmy Award Nomination for Outstanding Individual Achievement - Cultural Programming. A long and varied performing career has afforded Mr. Schmidt the opportunity to both dance with, and choreograph for, some of the worlds finest dancers. They include ballet legends Rudolph Nureyev, whom he performed with in Vienna in 1981, and Maya Pliesetskaya who danced the role of the "Vamp" in his ballet BY DJANGO during the 1992 season in Chicago. In 1998 he performed the role DR.COPPELIUS opposite Damien Woetzel and Nichol Hlinka of the New York City Ballet in Ballet Chicago’s production of COPPELIA at the Auditorium Theatre in Chicago. Also in 1998 Mr. Schmidt was commissioned by the Grand Rapids Ballet to create a full-length adaptation of DRACULA, and since that time has created more than eleven new works for the company including the contemporary adaptation of Shakespeare’ s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM – CAUGHT IN A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM. Mr. Schmidt is also co-founder and Artistic Associate of RPM Productions, a non-profit performing arts production company based in Chicago. |