Nigel Burgeorie the Artistic Director at The Ballet Theatre of Toledo is celebrating its 20th season along with Associate Artistic Director Anne Marie Getz, who have been running the Ballet Theater of Toledo for the past years to share and teach a love and respect for theater and dance with every student that walks into their studio.
Nigel Burgeorie was born in Chelsea, London, and began dancing at the age of four in Bedford, England. At the age of 11, Nigel attended the Royal Ballet School on a full-ride scholarship where he was then chosen by Rudolph Nureyev to perform in his production of The Nutcracker at the Royal Opera House and later that following year at the Covent Garden.
After graduating from the Royal Ballet School, Nigel then joined the London Festival Ballet as the youngest member of the company at just 17 years old. He then went on to travel and perform, getting the opportunity to dance all around Australia, Africa, China, South America, Europe and more. Nigel has performed and danced on many stages across the world for many years.
Nigel was then invited to dance and teach at the Dallas Ballet Company in Texas where he ran the educational program. He performed in productions such as Swan Lake, The Nutcracker and Prince Igor. He was responsible for choreographing and teaching repertoire. He then moved to Valencia Spain where he ran a young company, The Ballet Clasico de Valencia, for a couple of years. Then was invited to be the Ballet Master for the Norwegian National Ballet.
Then the Cincinnati Ballet asked him to come and run their educational program and became Ballet Master, just three weeks after joining the Artistic Director had been fatally killed in an accident which made Nigel step into the role of Artistic Director. He then was asked by the British Ballet organization to come to work with them for about a year until the Cincinnati Ballet asked for him to return to put on his rendition of Romeo and Juliet. Later Toledo Ballet was looking for an Artistic Director and Nigel began working with Toledo Ballet in 1996 and decided in 2005 to break away from Toledo Ballet and started The Ballet Theatre of Toledo.
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Nigel is dedicated to teaching future generations of Ballet dancers and performers to learn more about the art of dance and the theater in an environment that provides a creative outlet and chances to perform in productions and roles that are unique and one-of-a-kind to bring a sense of community to the theater.
“We don’t do recitals, we don’t do competitions or anything like that, what each dancer has to do is come in and learn the roles and be part of a production, take that responsibility for being in the production as well as be an example to our younger dancers that look up to those other dancers,” Nigel said.
Alongside his wife and the Associate Artistic Director Anne Marie Getz who has trained and performed for over 35 years and taught for over 20 years, both share a love for their work and what they get to teach these young dancers that walk into their studio.
“Love and respect for the theater, and their own community,” he said.
The Ballet Theatre of Toledo ringing in its 20th anniversary season has a creative and inspiring performance lined up including “A Night Before Christmas at the Museum” in partnership with the Toledo Museum of Art this twist on a Christmas classic brings creative and unique production to life with pieces of art from our very own museum here in Toledo and a beloved and well-known story that has been told for ages.
Nigel Burgoine continues to teach, inspire and encourage young dancers here within the community and show them there is a great world out there waiting to see their talent on display and share that same love and respect for the arts and the theater.
For more information about the 20th Anniversary Season Performances or to check out the Ballet Theatre of Toledo you can visit their website at ballettheatreoftoledo.org or call (419)-861-0895.
