User:Jcliff26

JOHN CLIFFORD Producer/Director/Choreographer

BIOGRAPHY

Producer, director and choreographer of CASABLANCA, The Music, The Dance, The Romance, John Clifford, founder and artistic director of both the Los Angeles Ballet, (1974-1985) the chamber sized Ballet of Los Angeles, (1987-1992) and now the more commercially oriented, Los Angeles Dance Theater, (2003 to present) has had a long and unusually varied career in the dance world.

Born in Los Angeles, California, (his parents were featured performers with the legendary, “Earl Carroll Vanities”) Mr. Clifford was first an actor and featured dancer on many television series of the 1960’s, including the weekly musical variety shows starring Danny Kaye, Dinah Shore, and dramatic anthologies such as Death Valley Days and the Donna Reed Show. His early teachers in Los Angeles included Katherine Etienne, Carmelita Maracci, David Lichine, Maria Bekefi, Tania Riabichinskaya, George Zoritch, Anton Dolin, and while on scholarship to Eugene Loring's American School of Dance, Eleonora Marra, June Morris, and Loring himself for ballet, Carlton Johnson and George Jacks for Jazz, Deborah Zall for Martha Graham technique, and classes in Pantomime taught by dancers from the great Marcel Marceau. Clifford also studied Tap with Willie Covan, the legendary teacher of Elinore Powell. His most influential teacher, and later principal teacher at his school, the Los Angeles Dance Center, was Irina Kosmovska. During these years Mr. Clifford also appeared with the New York City Ballet at age eleven, as “The Nutcracker Prince” in their acclaimed production of George Balanchine’s, The Nutcracker, thus beginning his long association with the master choreographer. Mr. Clifford joined the New York City Ballet in 1966 at age 19 and quickly rose to Principal Dancer status with a repertoire of over 45 leading roles, many choreographed expressly for him by Balanchine, Todd Bolendar, John Taras, Jacques d’Amboise, and Jerome Robbins.

Widely acknowledged as George Balanchine’s protégé, Mr. Clifford choreographed his first of eight original ballets for New York City Ballet at 20 years of age, thus making him the youngest choreographers in history to choreograph for a major company, second only to Balanchine himself, who was 20 years old when he became a choreographer for Sergei Diaghilev’s “Ballets Russes.” In his early twenties, Mr. Clifford also choreographed major ballets for the San Francisco Ballet, Deutsche Oper Ballet (Berlin) the Royal Winnipeg Ballet (Canada), and for many companies throughout the US.

Mr. Clifford founded the original Los Angeles Ballet in 1974 while still continuing as choreographer and dancer with the New York City Ballet. He soon after left that company to devote himself full-time to the creation of this, the first professional ballet in Los Angeles’ history. This company received unanimous praise for its five tours across the United States, Canada, Mexico, and the Far-East. During this period Mr. Clifford also directed and choreographed a national tour of the musical, “L’il Abner” and his choreography was seen in several major Hollywood films, such as “Flashdance,” “The Man Who Loved Women,” and “Modern Problems.” The Los Angeles Ballet was also seen regularly on numerous television shows and appeared with the Rock groups “Chicago” and “George Benson,” and with both the Los Angeles Philharmonic (at the Hollywood Bowl) and New York City Philharmonic (at Lincoln Center).

As a teacher, Mr. Clifford's students included Damian Woetzel, Darci Kistler, Andrea Tallis, Ellen Bauer, Reid Olson, Lesli Wiesner, Christopher Boatwright, and many more dancers that went on to illustrious careers. Clifford has also been a guest teacher for the New York City Ballet, (both before and since Mr. Balanchine's death) the Bolshoi Ballet, The Paris Opera Ballet, Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo, the San Francisco Ballet, and the major companies in Zurich, Rome, Milan (La Scala Ballet), Berlin, (both the Deutche Opera and the Staatsoper Ballet) Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, etc. He was also invited personally to teach private classes by and to Rudolph Nureyev, Ghislaine Thesmar, and other star dancers.

An acclaimed international choreographer, Mr. Clifford’s ballets have been performed in the repertoire of companies as far reaching as Monte-Carlo, Buenos Aires, Rome, London, and Berlin. He has also been a guest Ballet-Master and Choreographer for the Bolshoi Ballet, (Moscow) Kirov Ballet, (St. Petersburg) the Paris Opera Ballet, England’s Royal Ballet, Italy’s La Scala and Rome Opera Ballets, and virtually every major company in the United States. Mr. Clifford has choreographed works to music by Gershwin, Mahler, Stravinsky, Joplin, and even Sting, Annie Lennox and Van Halen,

Mr. Clifford produced “The Art of the Classical Pas De Deux” which received an international release. He is currently developing several dance projects for film and television.