ALABAMA BALLET

HISTORY OF ALABAMA BALLET

The Alabama Ballet began in 1981 as an outgrowth of the Birmingham Civic Ballet, the University of Alabama at Birmingham Ballet and Ballet Alabama. Under the co-artistic direction of world-renowned dancers Dame Sonia Arova and Thor Sutowski, the company found status and recognition in the ranks of professional companies. Arova’s and Sutowski’s outstanding 15 year foundation set the stage for the leadership of Wes Chapman and Roger Van Fleteren, who came on board in 1996. Van Fleteren danced with the American Ballet Theatre as Soloist, performing title roles in performances such as Agnes de Mille’s The Other and Kenneth McMillan’s Romeo and Juliet.

In 2005, Tracey Alvey joined the artistic team as Ballet Mistress. In 2007, Wes Chapman was named Artistic Director of ABT II and Alvey was named Interim Artistic Director. As the season began, Alvey was named Alabama Ballet’s Artistic Director and Director of Alabama Ballet School. Under her direction, Alvey introduced major works to the company such as Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Jiri Kylian’s Sechs Tänze, Dennis Nahat’s Blue Suede Shoes, Christopher Bruce’s Rooster, and Agnes De Mille’s Rodeo. She continued a long-standing relationship with The Balanchine Trust® to stage George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker® for twenty consecutive years. In 2008, Alvey introduced the prestigious Royal Academy of Dance syllabus to our school gaining our RAD certification and achieving a dance education milestone as the only RAD-certified Ballet School in the state. After sixteen seasons of excellence, Alvey retired as Artistic Director following our final 22/23 Season performance.

In May of 2023, Christopher Stuart was announced Artistic Director of Alabama Ballet. Stuart trained with Steve Sirico, Angela D’valda Sirico, Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens and later graduated from University of North Carolina School of the Arts before joining Nashville Ballet. After his sixteen year career as a principal dancer at Nashville Ballet, Stuart was appointed Resident Choreographer at Charlotte Ballet before becoming Director of Charlotte Ballet II. A native of Sandy Hook, Conneticut, Stuart brings his extensive performing and teaching experience to the Alabama Ballet and has expressed a special commitment to the continuing excellence of the company.