AS NEW ARTISTIC AND EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR
February 1, 2006 .....The board of directors of Dance St. Louis has named Michael Uthoff, an internationally renowned artistic director, choreographer, teacher and dancer, to succeed Sally Brayley Bliss as executive director when she retires on June 30.
Uthoff will assume the newly titled post of artistic and executive director on July 1. Bliss will assume the newly created position of executive director emeritus.
"I'm extremely excited to have the opportunity to continue Sally Bliss' legacy, and to bring back a sense of urgency to dance in St. Louis," Uthoff said.
"He will take Dance St. Louis to the next step, both artistically and financially," said Bliss, "and will be very involved in the community." Uthoff and Bliss danced together as partners when they were both principal dancers of the Joffrey Ballet.
"The board is very pleased that we could find someone of Michael Uthoff's knowledge and experience of dance, as well as great intelligence and personal charm," said Thomas Voss, president of the board.
Uthoff comes to Dance St. Louis from an active career as guest teacher, choreographer, and artistic advisor to entities including the government of Chile, the Shanghai Ballet of China, the California Ballet of San Diego, Portland Opera Performing Institute, Andanza Dance Company of Puerto Rico, the Ballet Estable of the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina, and his own Michael Uthoff Dance Theatre, which premiered in 2003. He is currently scheduled to create new works for Dance Now in Miami and is restaging works at Towson University, Maryland, and the Center of Creative Arts in St. Louis.
Uthoff was born in Santiago, Chile, to former dancers, Ernst Uthoff and Lola Botka, both of the Jooss Ballet and founders of the Chilean National Ballet. He started dancing after high school and a year later arrived in New York to attend the Juilliard School of Music, School of American Ballet, and Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. He danced with José Limón Company and was a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet.
In 1972, Uthoff established the Hartford Ballet in Hartford, Connecticut. For the next 20 years, as artistic director, he developed the company into a national institution that toured throughout 49 states. He commissioned works by both new and established choreographers, and created more than 100 ballets for the company himself. In 1992, Uthoff accepted the position of artistic director of Ballet Arizona, a post he held until 1999. From the time that Uthoff created his first dance for the Joffrey Ballet in 1967, his ballets have entered the repertory of companies all over the world. His large-scale works include The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Hansel and Gretel, Alice in Wonderland, Awakening, Dias de Muertos, and Romeo and Juliet. He has directed opera and choreographed for opera companies internationally, and has served on the Board of Dance/USA and panels of the National Endowment for the Arts.
Uthoff currently resides in Payson, Arizona. He is married to Cynthia Uthoff, and is the proud father of Michelle Uthoff-Campbell and grandfather of Owen and Ivy.