Ballet Austin Artistic Staff
Stephen Mills, Artistic Director
Michelle Martin, Associate Artistic Director // 512.476.9051 ext. 128
Eugene Alvarez, Company Manager // 512.476.9051 ext. 128
 Stephen Mills, Artistic Director
Known for his
innovative and collaborative choreographic projects,
Stephen Mills has works in the repertories of companies
across the US and around the world. From his inaugural
season as Artistic Director in 2000, Mills attracted
attention from around the United States with his
world-premiere production of Hamlet, hailed by
Dance Magazine as “...sleek and
sophisticated.” The Washington Post recognized
Ballet Austin as “one of the nation's best-kept secrets”
in 2004 after Ballet Austin performed Mills' world
premiere of The Taming of the Shrew,
commissioned by and performed at The John F. Kennedy
Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C. The
Company was first invited to perform at Kennedy Center
in January of 2002 with the Mills production of A
Midsummer Night’s Dream and at The Joyce Theater
(NYC) in 2004. In 2005 after two years of
extensive research, Mills led 13 organizations through a
community-wide human rights collaboration that
culminated in the world premiere work Light / The
Holocaust & Humanity Project, after which
the Austin Anti-Defamation League awarded Mills
its 2006 Humanitarian Award.
In 1998 Mills was the
choreographer chosen to represent the U.S. through his work,
Ashes, at the Rencontres Chorégraphiques
Internationales de Seine-Saint-Denis in Paris. Most
recently, Mr. Mills was awarded the Steinberg Award, the top
honor at the Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur
International Choreographic Competition for One/The
Body’s Grace.
Mr. Mills has created more than 40 works for companies in
the United States and abroad. His ballets are in the
repertories of such companies as The Hong Kong Ballet,
American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, The Atlanta Ballet,
The Milwaukee Ballet, Washington Ballet, Cuballet in Havana,
Cuba, BalletMet Columbus, The Dayton Ballet, The Sarasota
Ballet of Florida, Ballet Pacifica, Dallas Black Dance
Theater, The Louisville Ballet, The Nashville Ballet, Fort
Worth/Dallas Ballet, The Sacramento Ballet and Kaleidoscope.
He has worked in collaboration with such luminaries as the
eight-time Grammy Award-winning band, Asleep at the Wheel,
Shawn Colvin and internationally renowned flamenco artist
José Greco II.
As a dancer Mr. Mills performed with a wide variety of
companies such as the world-renowned Harkness Ballet and The
American Dance Machine under the direction of Lee Theadore.
He also performed with the Cincinnati Ballet and The
Indianapolis Ballet Theater before becoming a part of
Ballet Austin. Mr. Mills has danced principal roles in the
Balanchine repertoire as well as works by Choo-San Goh, John
Butler, Ohad Naharin, Vicente Nebrada, Domy Reiter-Soffer
and Mark Dendy.
In addition to his work as a choreographer, Mr. Mills is a
master teacher committed to developing dancers. He has been
invited as guest faculty at many pre-professional academies
including Jacob’s Pillow, Goucher College; Booker T.
Washington High School for the Performing Arts in Dallas;
The Virginia School of the Arts; The New Orleans Center for
the Creative Arts; Stephens College and Point Park College
in Pittsburgh. Mr. Mills is a member of the national dance
service organization Dance/USA and has served both in
leadership roles and on the Board of Trustees for the
organization.
 Michelle Martin, Associate Artistic Director // 512.476.9051 ext. 128
Michelle Martin had her early dance training at the Alberta Ballet School and danced with the Alberta Ballet Company for four years before joining the Indianapolis Ballet Theatre (IBT) in 1982. While with IBT and, subsequently, the Hartford Ballet in Connecticut, she performed leading and soloist roles in Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty and The Moor's Pavane as well as creating roles in many original works. Martin's teaching credits include guest-teaching engagements at schools and universities in Canada, South Carolina, Michigan, and throughout Indiana and Texas. She was on faculty at Butler University in Indianapolis for five years. Martin began her tenure with Ballet Austin in 1991 as a dancer with the Company and in 1992 she was appointed ballet mistress and curriculum director of the Academy. In 1999 she founded Ballet Austin II, Ballet Austin's apprentice program, providing professional development for the 10-member second company and designing educational programming for presentation in schools. Martin has served on the Texas Commission on the Arts advisory panel for Arts Education and is a recipient of the Austin Under Forty award for contributions in the area of the Arts and Entertainment. Martin was appointed associate artistic director of Ballet Austin in 2000.
 Eugene Alvarez, Company Manager // 512.476.9051 ext. 128 |
