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.

CALVIN KITTEN

Director of Ballet West II and Assistant Rehearsal Director Calvin Kitten began his dance training at the California Ballet School in San Diego, and continued training at the State Ballet School in Tbilisi, Republic of Georgia, and at the Joffrey Ballet School in New York. Calvin joined the Joffrey Ballet in 1991. During his 19 years with the Joffrey, Calvin performed many principal and soloist roles while touring within the United States and internationally. Calvin has received two Ruth Page Awards, been featured on the cover of Dance Magazine, and appeared in numerous films. In 2010, Calvin joined the teaching faculty at the University of Utah’s ballet department. Calvin joined the Ballet West artistic staff as Director of Ballet West II in 2015.

CYNTHIA RIDLER

Student Rehearsal Director Cynthia has more than 15 years experience as a professional dancer and more than 25 years of experience as a teacher and ballet master. She attended the University of Utah on the Willam F. Christensen Ballet Scholarship and later graduated magna cum laude with BS in Psychology from the University of Cincinnati. Performing with both Ballet West and with the Cincinnati Ballet, she performed the entire range of the classical repertoire, many of George Balanchine’s works and the modern classics of Paul Taylor, John Butler, Agnes de Mille and John Neumier. Cynthia has taught on the faculty of the Cincinnati Ballet Academy OH, Ballet Mississippi MS, the Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet MS, Point Park University and the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet PA. As a master teacher she has taught for Nevada Ballet Theater at the Cincinnati School for Creative and Performing Arts OH, the Conservatory of Creative and Performing Arts in Pittsburgh PA, Greater York Center for Dance and Pontecorvo Ballet Studios OH.

KATIE CRITCHLOW

Rehearsal Assistant Critchlow was born in San Diego, California. She began her ballet training with Leslie Craig at Performing Arts Workshop. She went on to train at Anaheim Ballet with Lawrence and Sarma Rosenburg, and then San Elijo Dance Academy with Ben and Laurie Michelle Houk. She spent her summers training with American Ballet Theater, Boston Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. After graduating high school, Mrs. Critchlow Naumann moved to Seattle Washington to join the Professional Division of Pacific Northwest Ballet, where she spent two years training and performing. Critchlow joined Ballet West in 2006 as an Apprentice, was promoted to Corps Artist in 2008, Demi-Soloist in 2012, and Soloist in 2016. She has danced many principal roles including Tatiana in Cranko’s Onegin, and has had many featured roles created on her by world-renowned choreographers such as Nicolo Fonte, Val Caniparoli, and Helen Pickett. Critchlow was also an original cast member of the CW’s Breaking Pointe, a reality television show that followed Ballet West for two seasons.