Profiles PAMELA ROBINSON HARRIS
Principal Rehearsal Director And Choreographer, The Glass Slipper Born in Landstuhl, Germany, Pamela received her formative training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Joffrey School of Ballet Summer Intensive, and National Academy of the Arts. Graduating early from high school at 17, she received her first job as an apprentice with Cleveland Ballet, followed by the State of Alabama Ballet in 1982 and Ballet Mississippi in 1984. Pamela joined Ballet West in 1985, advancing to the rank of Principal in 1988. In 1997, Pamela joined the Ballet West artistic staff as a Ballet Master. She served from 2006-2007 as Ballet West’s Interim Artistic Director. She has collaboratively choreographed many ballets for Ballet West’s Family Classics series - The Little Mermaid, Aladdin, and Beauty and the Beast with Peggy Dolkas, Snow White with Christopher Sellars, and now The Glass Slipper. She has also reworked major sections of Ballet West’s productions of The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Giselle, and has choreographed for Ballet West II and the Ballet West Academy Professional Training Division. Pamela has now been with Ballet West for over 36 years, and continues to serve as the company’s Principal Ballet Master.
EVELYN CISNEROS-LEGATE
Director of Frederick Quinney Lawson Ballet West Academy Native Californian Evelyn Cisneros began studying ballet to overcome her profound shyness. After completing summer scholarships with the San Francisco Ballet School and the School of American Ballet, she began her apprenticeship with the San Francisco Ballet in 1976. She joined the Company in 1977 and soon began dancing principal roles, becoming a muse to the talents of Michael Smuin. Her repertoire with San Francisco Ballet included leading roles in both classical and contemporary pieces. Cisneros has been featured on the covers of several dance publications and received numerous awards for community activism and artistic achievements. She has honorary doctorate degrees from Mills College and the University of California at Monterey Bay. Cisneros retired from the San Francisco Ballet in 1999, and in 2001 she was appointed Ballet Education Coordinator in the San Francisco Ballet Center for Dance Education. She is currently on faculty at the University of California Irvine and has staged ballets for Val Caniparoli and Michael Smuin for numerous ballet companies. Cisneros coauthored “Ballet for Dummies” with conductor Scott Speck. She is married to retired principal dancer Stephen Legate, and their two children are their ultimate accomplishments and joy.
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