Jonas Kåge Director, teacher, choreographer,

Hoppesbacken 14 79596 Boda Kyrkby, Sweden tel.+46-248-40214 mobile+ 46-70-777 0596 [email protected]

A native of , Sweden, Jonas began his dance studies with the Royal Swedish Ballet School, later joining the Royal Swedish Ballet where he received international recognition at the age of 19 for the role of Romeo in Kenneth MacMillan’s Romeo and Juliet. At the recommendation of Jonas joined American Ballet Theater where he quickly rose to the rank of principal dancer. In 1975, at the invitation of Glen Tetley, he joined the Ballet. During this season he had ballets created especially for him by Tetley and Jiri Kylian as well as dancing several leading roles in the repertoire. From 1976-1986 Jonas worked in Switzerland, in Geneva and Zurich, under the directorship of George Balanchine and Patricia Neary and performed as a guest artist with numerable companies including English National Ballet, National Ballet of Portugal, Deutsche Oper , Munich Opera house, Staatsoper, Aterbaletto, and National Ballet of Canada. During this time he returned to ABT at the invitation of Mikhail Baryshnikov to perform in his new production of Don Quixote and in Glen Tetley’s Sphinx and Voluntaries, as well as Tudor’s The leaves are Fading which was created for Jonas and Gelsey Kirkland. Also during this time Jiri Kylian choreographed Intimate Letters for Swedish Television which featured Jonas, Niklas Ek and Gerd Andersson. From 1988-1995 Kåge was artistic director of the Malmö Ballet, Sweden. In 1993 Jonas was awarded the Thalia prize for his production of Swan Lake for the Malmö ballet and in 1994 he received the Carina Ari medal, Sweden’s highest dance award, for his contributions to the Swedish dance world nationally and internationally. During his international career Jonas has partnered numerous well-known ballerinas including Gelsey Kirkland, Cynthia Gregory, Martine van Hamel, Patricia Ruanne, Eva

1 Evdokimova, Birgit Keil, Karen Kain, Carla Fracci, Elizabetta Terabust, Natalia Makarova, Anneli Alhanko, and Gerd Andersson. As a dancer Jonas worked personally with choreographers , George Balanchine, Josè Limon, Anthony Tudor, Kenneth MacMillan, Glen Tetley, Eliot Feld, Jiri Kylian, Christopher Bruce, Hans van Manen, , Mikhail Baryshnikov, William Forsythe, Robert North, Heinz Spoerli, Birgit Cullberg, and Ronald Hynd. Kåge is married to Deborah Dobson, a former with American Ballet Theater and former principal dancer with the Zurich Ballet and English National Ballet. Together they formed a dancing partnership that spanned more than 20 years. In 1997, after 22 years performing in , Jonas, together with Deborah and daughter Isabelle, relocated to Salt Lake City to become the artistic director of Ballet West. Under Kåge’s direction works by international masters George Balanchine, Anthony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Hans van Manen, Glen Tetley, Christopher Bruce, Birgit Cullberg, John Cranko, Ted Brandsen, Lila York, Val Caniparoli, Richard Tanner, Peter Schaufuss and Willian Forsythe have entered the repertoire. The company performs Nutcracker annually and is one of the only company’s in the to have their own production of Sleeping Beauty as well as Kåge’s staging of Giselle and his award-winning Swan Lake. In February 2006 Ballet West premiered Jonas Kåge’s original production of Romeo and Juliet. The production was received with both public and critical acclaim. Ballet West performed in in 2000 and at the Edinburgh Festival in 2004 with an all Tudor program. Kåge directed Ballet West for nine years, finishing in June 2006. Jonas was invited to participate as a panel member at the Tudor 100th year Celebration at Julliard in June 2008. Jonas is a member of the advisory committee to the National Agency for Education concerning the reorganization of the Royal Swedish Ballet School. Since 2011 Jonas is artistic director of the annual Nordic Baltic Ballet Competition held in Falun, Sweden. Jonas is freelance teacher, consult, and choreographer and is based in Dalarna, Sweden.

2