Founded in 1996 by Executive Director Joedy Cook and a dedicated Board of Directors, Ballet Quad Cities is celebrating its 11th anniversary throughout the 2007/08 season. Ballet Quad Cities is the only professional ballet company between Chicago, Illinois and Omaha, Nebraska. After nine wonderful years, Johanne Jakhelln returned to her native country of Norway after serving as Artistic Director for Ballet Quad Cities.

As the company celebrated its tenth anniversary, Ballet Quad Cities named Matthew Keefe as Interim Director. Twelve highly trained professional dancers from throughout the United States made up this dynamic, versatile ballet company. In April 2007, Steve Beirens become the current Artistic Director of Ballet Quad Cities.

Beirens, formerly a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago, joins with eleven professional dancers from throughout the United States for this dynamic and entertaining season. Featured productions for this year are Dracula (October 20-21, 2007), The Nutcracker (December 8-9, 2007), Dance Piano Extraordinaire (February 16-17, 2008) and Coppelia (April 26-27, 2008). School matinee performance this year include The Nutcracker (December 7, 2007 at 10am), The Ugly Duckling (March 6, 2008 at 10am) and Coppelia (April 25, 2008 at 10am).

Ballet Quad Cities provides classical and contemporary dance to the entire bi-state region through outstanding performances, entertaining lecture-demonstrations and innovative educational outreach programs for people of all ages.

Education enrichment and outreach programs play a central role in Ballet Quad Cities' activities. Student matinees, printed curricula, bibliographies, and classroom lecture/demonstrations plus full-fledged workshops serve to introduce students to the world of dance. These programs lead students to a greater understanding and appreciation of dance as a performance art.

BALLET QUAD CITIES BOARD OF DIRECTORS

Honorary Chairs:

Francoise Martinet
Professor Emeritus of Dance

Don Wooten
WVIK Manager (retired)

Active Board Members:

Jane Bahls
Freelance Writer

Linda Bowers (Vice-President)
CEO, LinguiSystems, Inc.

Jim Graham
Vice President/General Manager – KWQC TV (Retired)

Phillip Kassewitz
Director, Merrill Lynch/Kassewitz

Ruth Evelyn Katz
Community Leader

Ruth Lee (Secretary)
CEO, RJ Lee & Associates

Dennis Miller, M.D. (Treasurer)
Surgeon (Retired)

Jennifer Rowe
Senior Executive Vice President, Serv-A-Lite Products

Jenifer V. Schermer
Posh Home

Donna Schoeck
Community Leader

Paul Van Duyne (President)
CEO, KJWW Engineering

Catherine, Weideman, M.D.
Endocrinologist

Don Welzenbach
Community Leader

Joedy Cook, Executive Director
Ballet Quad Cities