Michael Pink

Michael Pink (born 18 November 1956) is a British choreographer, director, dancer, and theatre producer whose works and style have been referred to as “classical ballet for the 21st century.” He is the longest serving Artistic Director of the Milwaukee Ballet. Pink began his professional career as a dancer with the London Festival Ballet (now the English National Ballet). After retiring from the stage, Pink went on to choreograph, direct, and teach internationally. During his time in the UK he developed a close partnership with Christopher Gable CBE, Artistic Director of Northern Ballet Theatre; the composer Philip Feeney; and designer Lez Brotherston. Together they would go on to create landmark original works, redefining the genre of dance drama. He became Associate Artistic Director of NBT in 1993, a role which he filled until 1998. As well as the UK and the United States, Pink's work has been staged internationally and broadcast by PBS. Pink was also co-founder of Ballet Central, the graduate performing company of the Central School of Ballet, where both he and Feeney created 16 original works. Early life Michael Pink was born in York, England in 1956. His parents worked most of their lives for the chocolate company Rowntree Mackintosh. Music played an important role in his childhood and he was head chorister at St. Olave's Church. This was the same church in which he married ballerina Jayne Regan in 1998. Pink's mother, father, and brothers were members of the York Amateur Opera and Dramatic Society, and Pink's first role was in Macbeth at the York Theatre Royal. His younger brother Gregory was a theatre electrician who went on to become a sound designer, and his older brother Anthony was a trustee banker and treasurer for the society. Theatre was very much a family affair. He returned in 1975 to choreograph The Englishman Amused, a musical revue, for York Theatre Royal, directed by Jimmy Thompson. Career Training Pink was eight years old when he began his training at the Isobel Dunn School of Dance. At the request of Ursula Moreton, he auditioned for the Royal Ballet School in London, where he was accepted with a full scholarship, making him the first boy from York to attend the prestigious school. Here his passion for dance, and choreography in particular, was first noted and encouraged by the legendary founder of Britain's Royal Ballet, Dame Ninette de Valois, and the choreographer Sir Frederick Ashton.