Robert Weiss is an American

ballet dancer A ballet dancer is a person who practices the Art (skill), art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. B ...

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

, and

Artistic Director An artistic director is the executive of an arts organization, particularly in a theatre company or dance company, who handles the organization's artistic direction. They are generally a producer and director, but not in the sense of a mogu ...

Carolina Ballet Carolina Ballet is one of America's arts organizations, programming traditional ballets and new works by contemporary choreographers. The Ballet was launched as a professional company in 1998 under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Rober ...

. He began his professional career at age 17 joining the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

under

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

, eventually becoming a

Principal Dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be either gender. The position is similar to that of ''Soloist (ballet), solois ...

sometime prior to 1977.Terry, Walter. ''Ballet Guide''. Popular Library, 1977 Balanchine created several roles for him, including Ballo della Regina.Clive Barnes: ''Carolina Does Taylor-Corbett''. Dance Magazine, Sept 200

/ref>New York City Ballet: Repertory - Ballo della Regina
Weiss remained with the New York City Ballet for 16 years. He later served as

of the

Pennsylvania Ballet Philadelphia Ballet (formerly known as Pennsylvania Ballet until its rebranding in 2021) is the largest ballet company in Philadelphia. The company's annual local season features six programs of classic pieces, such as George Balanchine's ''The ...

from 1982 to 1990. Weiss then became the founding Artistic Director of

in 1997 where he has remained to this day.

Artistic credits

Notable choreography credits include: * ''Messiah'' * ''Carmen'' * ''The Kreutzer Sonata'' * ''Romeo & Juliet'' * ''Stravinsky's Clowns'' * ''Don Quixote''

References

External links

Carolina Ballet: Biography, Artistic Director Robert Weiss

Pennsylvania Ballet: Company History and Overview

An Interview with Robert Weiss

{{DEFAULTSORT:Weiss, Robert American male ballet dancers American ballet choreographers New York City Ballet principal dancers Living people Dance in North Carolina Year of birth missing (living people)