Joseph Gorak in Dumbarton.

Joseph Gorak, a member of American Ballet Theatre’s corps de ballet, is the recipient of a 2011 Princess Grace Award. The award, a Dance Fellowship, was one of eight fellowships granted in the Dance and Choreography category. The annual Princess Grace Foundation-USA awards were announced in New York City on August 15.

Joseph Gorak began his classical ballet training with North Central School of Ballet in Texas. He has studied under full scholarships at the International Ballet Competition Summer School, and also attended summer programs at American Ballet Theatre in Austin, Texas, Orlando Ballet and the School of American Ballet. In 2005, he joined Orlando Ballet, under the direction of Fernando Bujones. Gorak won the silver medal in the senior men’s division at the 2005 Helsinki International Ballet Competition, the gold medal in the senior men’s division at the 2005 Youth America Grand Prix Finals, the silver medal from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts and the Grand Prix Award at the 2006 YAGP Finals. Gorak joined ABT II in 2006, was named an apprentice with American Ballet Theatre in January 2009 and became a member of the corps de ballet in January 2010. Among his roles with the Company are the Chinese Dance in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker, a Fairy Knight in The Sleeping Beauty and the Neapolitan Dance in Swan Lake. He created a leading role in Ratmansky’s Dumbarton. In 2011, Gorak won the Erik Bruhn Prize.

The Princess Grace Foundation-USA, a public charity, was formed after the death of Princess Grace in 1982. The Foundation awards scholarships, apprenticeships and fellowships to emerging theater, dance and film artists to assist with career development. The 2011 winners will receive their awards at the annual black-tie Princess Grace Awards Gala, in the presence of TSH Prince Albert II and Princess Charlene of Monaco, on November 1, 2011 in New York City.

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