THE DANCE OF WILLIAM STARRETT

William Starrett, Artistic Director and Choreographer

Dancer, teacher, choreographer, community leader. While all true, those descriptors don't even begin to paint a complete picture of William Starrett. From his start at San Francisco's Ballet Celeste and the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, through appearances as a soloist for The Joffrey Ballet and as a member of the American Ballet Theatre under the direction of both Lucia Chase and Mikhail Baryshnikov, to guest appearances with the world's most renowned ballet companies, William's talent as a dancer has earned consistently high marks.

Today, though, William's formidable reputation revolves most often around his choreographic and directorial accomplishments. He has created or staged more than fifty works - including 10 original, full-length ballets, 10 classical full-length ballets and 12 original narrated one-act ballets for children - in locations throughout the United States and Europe. Columbia City Ballet's Educational Outreach Program, which William implemented in 1989, has introduced ballet to more than 350,000 schoolchildren in the Southeast. In 2002, William was honored by South Carolina's governor with the Elizabeth O'Neill Verner Award for achievement in the arts.