Mills to Guest Teach Pennsylvania Summer Intensive
Oklahoma City Ballet Artistic Director Robert Mills will travel to Carlisle, Pennsylvania, July 18-23 to guest teach at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s (CPYB) prestigious summer intensive program. Mills will be teaching in the 17-studio facility that has trained countless dancers for 60 years, many of whom went on to dance professionally for New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and San Francisco Ballet, as well as other elite ballet companies around the world including Oklahoma City Ballet. “Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet is regarded as one of the finest training grounds for classical ballet in the United States. I am honored to have been asked to be a guest teacher during their Summer Intensive this year.” said Mills.
Mills was invited by the administration at CPYB to guest teach 15 classes during the week he is on staff. He will be teaching classes in technique, partnering, variations, pointe, and men’s classes.
“It’s very telling of Robert’s good reputation in the dance community that he is a sought-after instructor for guest teaching spots all over the country,” said Executive Director Shane Jewell. “We’re proud that he is part of Oklahoma City Ballet.”
This will not be the first time this summer that he has traveled to share his expertise with young dancers across the country. Ballet Academy of Texas, located near Dallas in Coppell Texas, invited Mills to teach for their summer intensive program this year. He has also been a frequent teacher for OKC Ballet’s Summer Intensive program which drew nearly 170 students from all over the U.S. and abroad.
In addition to summer intensive programs, this summer Mills also traveled with part of OKC Ballet’s professional company to Green Box Arts Festival in Green Mountain Falls, Colorado and taught dance classes to local dancers in conjunction with the festival in Colorado Springs. The company members, under Mills’ direction, also performed selected works at the Arts Festival.
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About Oklahoma City Ballet: Founded in 1972 by Ballet Russe dancers Yvonne Chouteau and Miguel Terekhov, Oklahoma City Ballet has been the city’s professional ballet company for 45 years. It is the resident dance Company of the Civic Center Music Hall and currently boasts 38 dancers from around the world. Led by Artistic Director Robert Mills, the Company produces four main stage productions per season in Oklahoma City and tours across Oklahoma and the surrounding states. Oklahoma City Ballet restages the classics in addition to neo classical and other works of the 20th century. It also regularly commissions new works from the industry’s leading choreographers.