June 7-11 Dennis Marshall began his training with Margo Marshall in Houston, Texas. He received scholarships to train at the school of the National Ballet of Canada, American Ballet Theatre School, School of American Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg and the Royal Ballet School in London. Upon graduation from the High School of Performing and Visual Arts in Houston, he was invited to join American Ballet Theatre. He danced there as a soloist under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov and then joined San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer. Mr. Marshall was featured on the cover of Dance Magazine in 1978 and the following year won the bronze medal at the International Ballet Competition, USA. He was Ballet Master for the North Carolina Dance Theater, Tulsa Ballet and the Boston Ballet in addition to being a guest instructor at companies and schools nationally and internationally. In August 2005, Mr. Marshall was appointed director of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School.

Marjorie Grundvig began her ballet training in her hometown of Sacramento, California, and at the age of 17 joined the North Carolina Dance Theatre. She continued her performing career as a soloist with both the Tulsa Ballet and the Boston Ballet. She has taught at the Boston Ballet, Margo Marshall School of Ballet, and the University of Oklahoma. She was a guest teacher at Walnut Hill School of the Arts and the National Arts University of Taipei in addition to touring nationally to audition students for the annual summer program of Boston Ballet. Ms. Grundvig directed the ballet department of the Washington Academy of Performing Arts in Seattle prior to being appointed director of the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School in August 2005.

Adam Sklute June 14-18

Adam Sklute was named Artistic Director of Ballet West in March of 2007.  Prior to that time he was Associate Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet where he began as a dancer in the mid 1980’s.

In less than three years, Sklute has introduced Ballet West to such renowned contemporary choreographers as Ulysses Dove, Nicolo Fonte, Jiri Kylian, Mark Morris, Twyla Tharp and Stanton Welch while expanding the company’s Balanchine and Smuin repertoire and adding historical masterpieces by Michael Fokine and Bronislava Nijinska. He has reintroduced lost elements of Willam Christensen’s beloved production of The Nutcracker, and this season he is remounting Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream and producing a new classic version of Swan Lake. Most notably, Sklute developed Ballet West’s wildly successful Innovations program, designed to nurture and present new creations by emerging Utah, national, and international choreographers.

Under Sklute’s leadership Ballet West appeared at Washington D.C.’s Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts as part of the 2008 Ballet Across America Festival. In February 2009 the company graced the cover of Dance Magazine for the first time in 24 years and Sklute’s production of The Treasures of the Ballets Russes garnered rave reviews from The New York Times.  On the strength of that review, the company was invited to appear at New York City’s City Center as part of their 2009 Fall for Dance Festival, Ballet West’s first return to New York since 1981.

Sklute conceived Ballet West’s Viewpointe panel discussion series, its Shoe-in project (a collaboration with Utah local artists) and its Fusion fashion show fundraiser. He has lectured at the Chicago Art Institute, and has served on the board of Chicago’s Dance for Life and on Utah’s Salt Lake County Cultural Facilities Master Plan Advisory Board. A finalist judge for the Youth America Grand Prix, and an adjudicator for the American College Dance Festival Association, Sklute was listed as one of the 25 Movers and Shakers of the Utah Arts Scene in 2007.

An Adjunct Professor of dance at the University of Utah, Sklute actively oversees Ballet West’s Academy, teaching regularly and developing and focusing its syllabus with the Academy faculty. Sklute is also a guest teacher and coach for dance programs and workshops nationwide, including The Southwest Regional Ballet Festival, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Brigham Young University, The University of Cincinnati, The Joffrey Ballet School in New York, The Joffrey Workshop Texas in San Antonio, and the Utah Regional Ballet. 

A native of Berkeley, California, Sklute began dancing at the age of 15. His early training was at the Oakland Ballet and San Francisco Ballet schools.  After only two years of formal study he joined The Joffrey II Dancers (The Joffrey’s apprentice company). Two years later he was asked to join The Joffrey Ballet. Sklute was one of the last two artists personally chosen by Robert Joffrey.

Throughout his dancing career Sklute performed leading roles by such choreographers as Gerald Arpino, Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, John Cranko, Agnes DeMille, Robert Joffrey, Jiri Kylian, James Kudelka, Leonide Massine, Jerome Robbins, and Paul Taylor.  He has performed with New York’s Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Dallas Metropolitan Ballet and California’s Diablo Ballet. Sklute’s television credits include The Joffrey Ballet’s Dance in America filmings of Vaslav Nijinsky’s Le Sacre du Printemps and Gerald Arpino’s production of Billboards, the role of The Old Soldier in WTTW’s filming of Kurt Jooss’s The Green Table and Herr Drosselmeyer in the WTTW one-hour special of Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker.  In 2003 he assisted with and appeared in Robert Altman’s feature film The Company, based on The Joffrey Ballet.

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