COMPANY  }  Choreographers

Sarah Slipper: Artistic Director / Northwest Dance Project
Sarah Slipper was born and raised in Vancouver, British Columbia, and received her professional training at the Royal Ballet School in London, England and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School. In 1980, she made her professional debut with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet as a corps de ballet member, and became one of the company's leading dramatic ballerinas. Ms. Slipper worked closely with many internationally renowned directors, choreographers and teachers, including Arnold Spohr, Rudi van Dantzig, Hans van Manen, Jirí Kylián, Agnes de Mille, Galina Yordanova, and Alla Savchenko. Ms. Slipper was noted for her classical line and dramatic abilities, dancing the principal roles in classical ballets such as Swan Lake, Les Sylphides, Giselle, and The Nutcracker. In addition to the classical repertoire, she received worldwide acclaim for her performances of contemporary ballets, most notably Nobert Vesak's The Ecstasy of Rita Joe and the award winning Belong pas de deux. After Ms. Slipper left the stage, she continued her passion for music and drama, studying theatre at the honours level at the University of Winnipeg, and in Oxford, England. During the 1996/97 season, she served as ballet mistress of Alberta Ballet, and from 1997/99 as ballet mistress of Oregon Ballet Theatre. Ms. Slipper's command of classical and contemporary styles is demonstrated in her active role of teaching and coaching younger dancers. As a guest master teacher, Ms. Slipper has worked with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Washington Ballet, Ballet Austin, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Jefferson Dancers and the Dance Departments of the University of Utah, Cornish College of the Arts, and the University of Iowa. An award winning independent choreographer, Ms. Slipper is presently based in Portland, Oregon, creating dance worldwide. She has worked with prominent dance companies including the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Nashville Ballet, Washington Ballet, Ballet Jorgen, Louisville Ballet, Fugate/Bahiri BalletNY, Alberta Ballet, Ballet Pacifica, Cornish Dance Theater, the Northwest Dance Project and The Jefferson Dancers. She was awarded the Grand Prize for Choreography at the International Choreographic Competition Saint Sauveur 2000 for her ballet Shattered Night, which was created on the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. During her choreographic residency at Festival des Arts in Quebec, Canada, her ballet A River In A Dry Land, was described by the Montreal Gazette as "one of the finest choreographies produced in residency." Ms. Slipper's works have been described as "absolutely remarkable ... grippingly pits breezy romanticism against a sinister undercurrent." (The Oregonian) and "... a complete, enclosed world, a somber yet hopeful winter landscape across which the three couples thread in a long, smoothly unfolding skein of dance." (The New York Times) A Fine Balance, her pas de deux created during the inaugural NWDP, was a finalist for the prestigious Benois de la Danse award in 2006 and was performed at the Bolshoi Theatre as part of the award's gala celebration. Ms. Slipper is currently working on several new creations and serves as the Artistic Director of the Northwest Dance Project.

Gregory Dolbashian / Choreographer + 2011 Pretty Creatives winner
Born and raised in New York City Gregory made his professional stage debut at the age of eight with the Glimmerglass Opera Company. Soon after, he was cast in the Philip Glass/Robert Wilson world tour of Einstein on the Beach. Gregory received his dance training at the Alvin Ailey School on a fellowship scholarship and then graduated cum laude from SUNY Purchase dance conservatory were he studied composition with Kazuko Hirabayashi. Since then he has gone on to dance and choreograph with a variety of artists, performing with Patrick Corbin, Nelly van Bommel, Sylvain Emard and The Chicago Ballet. He was resident choreographer for both Chicago Ballet's spring season in 2008 and CorbinDances in 2007. He was selected as one of four emerging choreographers for Springboard, where he created and premiered his first international work. Gregory's works have been performed at Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out Dance Festival, Joyce SoHo, Alvin Ailey Studio Theatre, Dance Place, Athenaeum Theatre, and shows in New York as part of the Reverb Festival, the Dance Sampler at Symphony Space, and a self-produced collaboration with Sidra Bell at the Gershwin Hotel. He recently showed his work as part of the Emerging Artists Program at DTW's Summer DANZ Festival and was also recently accepted into The Bessie Schoenberg Residency at The Yard for emerging choreographers. He debuted his own company, The DASH Ensemble, in December 2009 at JOYCE SoHo and then again at The Skirball Center as part of the Dance Gotham Festival Series. Gregory was selected as a winner of Northwest Dance Project's 2011 Pretty Creatives international choreographic competition and created the highly physical work The Great Quiet during his residency with us. Most recently, Gregory was one of three finalists in Ballet Austin's "New American Talent/Dance" competition.

Kate Wallich / Choreographer
A Seattle resident since 2007, dancer and choreographer Kate Wallich has had the great opportunity to work with and been mentored by artists such as Zoe Scofield, Tonya Lockyer and KT Niehoff. Kate received her dance training from Interlochen Arts Academy, Northwest Dance Project's LAUNCH projects, Springboard Danse Montreal and Cornish College of the Arts. Her recent works have been presented at Velocity Dance Center, On the Boards, Reverb Dance Festival NY, Boost Dance Festival, Cornish College of the Arts, The Seattle International Dance Festival and with the Seattle Men's Chorus. Kate is currently a Creative Resident at Velocity Dance Center and dances with Danielle Agami/Ate9.