Mark Morris

Born in Seattle, WA, and studied with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson. In the early years of his career, he performed with the dance companies of Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean, Eliot Feld, and the Koleda Balkan Dance Ensemble. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980 and has since created more than 120 works for the company. From 1988-91, he was Director of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the national opera house of Belgium. Among works created during his time were three evening-length dances: The Hard Nut; L'Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; and Dido and Aeneas. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. In September of 2001, he opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, NY, to provide a home for his company, rehearsal space for the dance community, outreach programs for local children, and a school which offers dance classes to students of all ages. Morris is also much in demand as a ballet choreographer,