Paul Gibson
Artistic Director
Paul Gibson, former Principal dancer with the Pacific Northwest Ballet, joined PNB in 1994 as a Soloist and was promoted to the rank of Principal mid-season in 1996. He was then named Ballet Master immediately upon retirement from the Company in June 2004. In this role, Mr. Gibson assisted the artistic director in teaching, rehearsing, and scheduling the Company and rehearsing PNB School students in their roles for Company productions.
From Altoona, PA, Mr. Gibson began ballet training at the Allegheny Ballet Academy in Pennsylvania, and later supplemented his studies with summer programs at the School of American Ballet in New York. He won a scholarship at San Francisco Ballet School and joined the company in 1988, where he rose to the rank of soloist.
His six-year tenure at SFB brought exposure to a vast and varied repertoire ranging from Russian classics to the innovative works of Mark Morris, William Forsythe, Jerome Robbins, James Kudelka, and Jiri Kylian. During his performing career with PNB Mr. Gibson was known for his many roles in the Balanchine repertory, including Agon, The Four Temperaments, Chaconne, Mozartiana and A Midsummer Night's Dream (Oberon, in the BBC’s HDTV filming at the Sadler’s Well’s Theatre in London), as well as his mastery of contemporary pieces by a variety of choreographers such as Nacho Duato, José Limón, Paul Taylor and Lynne Taylor-Corbett. He has also enjoyed considerable success as a touring artist, highlighted by his April 1997 performance of Val Caniparolli's Lambarena at the Benois Prize gala at the National Theatre of Warsaw in Poland.
His choreographic work includes six world premieres for PNB, including The Piano Dance 2005, which was awarded the Choo San Goh Award for Choreography. After the premiere of his ballet Rush 2002, Mikko Niasson (artistic director of Boston Ballet) nominated Gibson to participate in the New York Choreographic Institute where he created a new ballet, titled E.R.A.R., that premiered in PNB's 2004 Choreographers' Showcase. Other works include ballets for Pacific Northwest Ballet School, San Francisco Ballet School, the San Francisco Ballet Choreographic Workshop, and the Allegheny Ballet Company.