Support America’s National Ballet Company® DONATE NOW
Mark Morris, “the most successful and influential choreographer alive, and indisputably the most musical” (The New York Times) was born on August 29, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, where he studied with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980, and has since created more than 150 works for the company. From 1988-1991, he was Director of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the national opera house of Belgium. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov.
Much in demand as a ballet choreographer, Morris has created nineteen ballets since 1986 and his work is in the repertory of companies worldwide. Morris also works extensively in opera, directing and choreographing at the Metropolitan Opera and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, among others. He opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in 2001 to provide a home for his dance group, rehearsal space for the dance community, community programs for local children and seniors, and dance classes for students of all ages and abilities.