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TUCSON CONVENTION CENTER POLICIES AND INFORMATION

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MEET THE MAKERS

The Father of American Ballet
Choreographer of Rubies

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, George Balanchine (1904–1983) is regarded as the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world of ballet. He came to the United States in late 1933, at the age of 29, accepting the invitation of the young American arts patron Lincoln Kirstein (1907-96), whose great passions included the dream of creating a ballet company in America. At Balanchine’s behest, Kirstein was also prepared to support the formation of an American academy of ballet that would eventually rival the long-established schools of Europe. This was the School of American Ballet, founded in 1934.

With a performance on October 11, 1948, the New York City Ballet was born. Balanchine served as its ballet master and principal choreographer from 1948 until his death in 1983, creating over 400 works. He also choreographed for films, operas, revues, and musicals.

A major artistic figure of the twentieth century, Balanchine revolutionized the look of classical ballet. With classicism as his base, he heightened, quickened, expanded, streamlined, and even inverted the fundamentals of the 400-year-old language of academic dance. This had an inestimable influence on the growth of dance in America. At first his style seemed particularly suited to the energy and speed of American dancers, but now his ballets are performed by all major classical ballet companies throughout the world.

The Father of Chicano Music

Lalo Guerrero was born in Tucson, Arizona on a cold Christmas Eve in 1916. An early love for music would take him far, learning to play the guitar when he was just nine years old. His mother was his first and only music teacher.

Guerrero became internationally recognized as the “Father of Chicano Music”

in a career that spanned generations.  He was a great entertainer and he took his guitar and music everywhere – the White House, a neighbor’s house, a concert hall or a classroom. It was all the same to him.  Lalo wanted to make people happy and his hermanos/brothers proud of their Mexican heritage.

His corridos told stories of the struggles and triumphs of Mexican-American heroes from Cesar Chavez to Ruben Salazar. His boleros/ballads brought tears and his comic songs, laughter.  He often said, “I only wrote about what I saw.”   

Doing just that, he became the musical historian of his beloved Chicano culture.

His honors were many including an NEA National Heritage Fellowship (1991), National Folk Treasure, Smithsonian Institution (1980), Tejano Music Hall of Fame (1992), California Hispanic Chamber of Commerce President’s Award (1996), the Alma Award (1998) and invitations to the Jimmy Carter and George Bush White House. In 1997, President Bill Clinton presented the troubadour with the National Medal of Arts, the first Chicano ever to receive our nation’s highest arts award.

Guerrero continued to entertain to standing ovations only months before his guitar was silenced on March 17, 2005 at the age of eighty-eight.

Ballet Tucson Artistic Director
Choreographer of Romeo & Juliet Balcony Pas de Deux

Margaret Mullin is from Tucson, Arizona and trained at the School of Ballet Tucson on full scholarship. She was formerly a Soloist dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, where she danced for fourteen seasons. There she performed leading roles in works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Justin Peck, Crystal Pite, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Victor Quijada, and more. During her time at Pacific Northwest Ballet she had the opportunity toperform in Seattle, New York City, Los Angeles (Celebrate Forsythe festival), and Paris, in addition to performing numerous times at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and Vail International Dance Festival. In 2011, she was the recipient of a prestigious Dance Fellowship Award from the Princess Grace Foundation USA, for her talent as a dancer and her potential to impact the field.

In 2021, she received her Nonprofit Leadership and Management certificate from the University of Arizona Eller Executive Education. Margaret is a graduate of Tucson Young Professionals’ Nonprofit Leadership Academy and the Dean Street Society Entrepreneur Mastermind program. She is a member of Tucson Young Professionals and serves on their Board of Directors.

Ms. Mullin has choreographed works for Pacific Northwest Ballet, Kansas City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Ballet Arts and Ballet Tucson. She has served as an instructor for Ballet in the City, Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Evergreen City Ballet, Ballet Tucson, Ballet Arts, and Ballet Together. She has also been a stager of the choreographic works of Ian Horvath, Kiyon Ross, and Price Suddarth. Margaret is the director and producer of the documentary dance film No Dominion: The Ian Horvath Story and hosted the notable dance podcast Beyond the Barre on iTunes.

Ballet Tucson Associate Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer
Choreographer of World Premiere in partnership with the Tucson Desert Song Festival and Tucson Guitar Society

Chieko Imada is a native of Japan where she danced professionally as a Soloist with Inoue Ballet of Tokyo and also served as Ballet Mistress there. She has worked closely with many of the past and current noted figures of classical ballet, having performed in Europe, Korea, the Philippines, Australia and the South Pacific. Since coming to the United States, she has been a member of Arizona Dance Theatre, Ballet Arizona, and a former Principal Dancer for Ballet Tucson. She also appeared regularly with Orts Theatre of Dance and Tenth St. Danceworks modern troupes in Tucson.

Over the years, she has been responsible for staging many classical ballets and has also created numerous original contemporary works on Ballet Tucson, enriching the company’s repertoire. A talented choreographer, Ms. Imada has been nominated for the Buffalo Exchange Arts Award and the Governor’s Art Award. In 2021, she received the OnMedia Arts Hero Award for her impact on the arts in Tucson. She continues to be sought after as a guest teacher and choreographer. For the company’s 30th anniversary season, she created an original steampunk version of Jekyll & Hyde and in 2018 a world premiere Dia de Los Muertos ballet Spirit Garden in collaboration with renowned artist Lawrence Lee. In addition, she is the Director of Educational Outreach for Ballet Tucson implementing “Best Foot Forward” in Tucson Title 1 schools.