Donald Dadey

Mr. Dadey began his studies in his native Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania under Jean Gedeon, John Occipintti, and Edward Caton.
Upon receiving a full scholarship he furthered his studies In New York City at the School of American Ballet with Stanley Williams
Antonia Tumkovsky, Richard Rapp. He also studied at the Harkness House of the Arts with David Howard.

His professional career began at the age of 16 dancing with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater. After studies in New York he joined the
Lyric Opera Ballet of Chicago under the direction of Maria Tallchief and worked with George Balanchine in the opera Orpheus and Eurydice.
For the next several years his time was shared between the Dallas Ballet, The Chicago Lyric Opera Ballet, and the School of American Ballet.

In 1978 upon invitation from George Balanchine, he joined the Zurich Ballet in Zurich, Switzerland under the direction of Patricia Neary.
He danced in over 20 ballets by Balanchine including leading roles in many. He also danced in the works of world reknowned choreographers
such as Jiri Kylian, William Forsythe, Christopher Bruce, Uwe Scholz, John Cranko, Hans Van Manan and Rudolph Nureyev.
In 1983 he was invited by Karin von Alroldingin to the Paris Opera in Paris, France to assist in the staging of Balanchine's
Stravinsky Violin Concerto.

In 1988 he returned to America to dance with Ballet Arizona under the direction of Jean- Paul Comelin. Here he danced all leading male roles with
company including "The Prince" in The Nutcracker, "Franz" in Coppelia, and "Prince Charming" in Cinderella. and danced many
principal roles in the work of Reid Anderson, Jean-Paul Comelin, and Robert North. He also appeared as "Guest Artist" with Nevada Dance Theater in
Las Vegas Suite, and as "Romeo" in Romeo and Juliet. Most recently he has performed in Center Dance Ensemble's productions of
A Streetcar Named Desire as "Stanley" and "Count Dracula" in Dracula.

Mr. Dadey acted as Interim Artistic Director for the 1990 -1991 season, and Associate Artistic Director of Ballet Arizona from 1992 until his departure
in 1997. His contributions included choreographing, staging repertory on the company, and founding the successful, Joy of Dance and Jump-start
Programs, which are multi-faceted educational outreach programs for the public school system and inter-city children. He has taught as ballet instructor
at Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, The Dance Connection, Dance Theater West, New School for the Arts, Arizona State University, University of Arizona
Ballet Arts of Tucson , Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, and at many other schools. As a choreographer he has created numerous works on Scottsdale Dance Academy
School of Ballet Arizona, Ballet Arizona, Zurich Ballet, Oklahoma Summer Arts Institute, Houston Dance Theater, New World Ballet, and Ballet Yuma.
He has created works for the past 8 years for the leading Modern dance company in Phoenix, Center Dance Ensemble.