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 Toni Pimble, Artistic Director/Resident Choreographer | email
Ms. Pimble, born in England, studied at Elmhurst Ballet School. Ms. Pimble’s professional career began in Germany working with notable choreographers such as Lothar Hofgen, Anthony Taylor, Nils Christie and Ottavio Cintolesi. She co-founded the Eugene Ballet Company in 1978 with Riley Grannan and, to date, has choreographed over 60 works for the Eugene Ballet Company, many of those productions involving collaborations with composers, literary and visual artists and local arts organizations including the Eugene Concert Choir, Eugene Opera, Oregon Bach Festival, Oregon Mozart Players, The Shedd Institute for the Arts and the University of Oregon School of Music.
Under Ms. Pimble's leadership, the Eugene Ballet Company has toured to 32 states and internationally to Taiwan and as part of a United States Information Agency (USIA) Tour visiting India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Syria, Jordan, and Tunisia. Her creative work has brought her a number of awards and fellowships, including two Oregon Arts Commission Artist Fellowship Awards and a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer's Fellowship Grant.
Ms. Pimble's work has been performed on many ballet companies in the United States including Atlanta Ballet, New York City Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Omaha, Washington Ballet, Nevada Dance Theatre, Oregon Ballet Theater, Ballet NY and Kansas City Ballet.
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Riley Grannan, Managing Director | email
Riley Grannan, Eugene Ballet Co-founder, combines unique artistic and management perspectives to his position of Managing Director of the Eugene Ballet Company.
A native of the Pacific Northwest, Mr. Grannan began his ballet career studying with Doreen Gilday in Eugene and earned a Bachelor of Fine Arts degree at the School of Performing Arts at United States International University in San Diego. Mr. Grannan's professional career took him to Germany, performing with several ballet companies, touring throughout Europe, in leading roles in both classical and contemporary ballets by noted choreographers.
In 1978, Mr. Grannan to co-founded the Eugene Ballet Company with Artistic Director Toni Pimble. Since becoming Managing Director in 1987, Mr. Grannan has facilitated the Eugene seasons as well as the domestic and international tours.
As a performer with the Eugene Ballet Company, Mr. Grannan created several roles including Katschei in The Firebird, and the Step Sister in Cinderella, among others.
In 1997, he and Toni Pimble were recipients of the Governor's Arts Award for their work in developing performance and educational programs with the Eugene Ballet Company, the first received by a dance organization in Oregon.
Under Mr. Grannan and Artistic Director Toni Pimble's leadership, Eugene Ballet receives support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Also, the EBC was the first Oregon company to be chosen to take part in the NEA's Advancement program and was the only ballet company in the nation to participate in the two month-long, NEA-sponsored "Dance On Tour" programs taking place in rural communities in Arizona and New Mexico. Mr. Grannan helped to facilitate a three year composer in residence for the ballet through Meet The Composer "New Residencies" program.
Mr. Grannan has served on three separate Western States Arts Federation (WESTAF) dance touring panels, the National Endowment for the Arts "Creation and Presentation" panel, as well as selection panels for Arts Northwest and the Individual Artist Fellowship and Theatre panels in Oregon and Idaho. |
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Jennifer Amy-Cordero, Ballet Mistress | email
A native of Long Beach, California, Ms. Amy-Cordero is currently in her 19th season with the Eugene Ballet Company. After joining and rising to principal dancer with the Eugene Ballet Company, she recently retired as dancer and is currently ballet mistress, which entails managing training exercises, rehearsals, and touring. Jennifer began studying ballet in southern California under the direction of Patricia Stander. She continued her professional training under full scholarship at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School as a recipient of the Canadian National Award of Excellence. In her capacity as principal dancer with the Eugene Ballet Company, some of her favorite lead roles include: Swan Lake, Carmen, Rite of Spring, Two’s Company, Dracula, and Romeo and Juliet to name a few. Jennifer’s transition to ballet mistress started in 2008 when she began teaching company class and assisting in the studio in addition to her performance career. In recent years, Ms. Amy-Cordero has had the honor of overseeing rehearsals for guest choreographers such as Jessica Lang, Mauricio Wainrot, and Melissa Nolen Bobick as well as the company’s existing repertoire. Additionally, she has been entrusted with re-staging some of the company’s repertoire for Summer Dance Lab in Walla Walla, WA and Point Park College in Pittsburgh. She enjoys her time guest teaching around the northwest and in the Eugene Ballet Academy’s Summer Intensive. It has been inspiring for her to work with Toni Pimble and the artists of Eugene Ballet Company. Jennifer is committed to helping the company develop and sustain their high level of skill and she looks forward to maintaining existing and new choreographic works in seasons to come.
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Josh Neckels, Production Manager | email
Josh Neckels started as Stage Manager for Eugene Ballet’s Nutcracker in 1996. With successive seasons, his position with the Company evolved into the roles of Tour Technical Director, Tour Manager, Company Manager and then, in 2008, he assumed his current role of Production Manager.
During the past 16 seasons, Mr. Neckels has been an integral part of the Ballet’s successful collaborations with guest artists such as Curtis Salgado – Beauty and the Blues, Emerald City Jazz Kings – Jitterbug, Jive and Jazz, the Floydian Slips – Dark Side of the Moon and the Nowhere Band – All You Need is Love, as well as with other local arts groups, Eugene Concert Choir – Walpurgisnacht, Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble – Les Noces, UO School of Music – American Spirit, Oregon Bach Festival – A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Oregon Mozart Players – Carmina Burana, The Shedd Institute for the Arts – Tom Sawyer and Chamber Music Amici – The Emperor’s New Clothes.
In addition to his work with the Ballet, Mr. Neckels has had a significant impact on many of the other local performing arts organizations in Eugene. His work as either Stage Manager or Production Manager has helped bring to the stage such local premieres as The Drawer Boy and All in the Timing for the Willamette Repertory Theatre, regional premiers of Orpheus and the Underworld and Nixon in China with the Eugene Opera, revivals of Babes in Arms, My Fair Lady, and Guys and Dolls with The Shedd Institute for the Arts and world premieres such as King David for the Oregon Bach Festival. |
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Sandy Naishtat, Finance Manager | email
Sandy Naishtat has performed with Eugene Opera since 1991, with featured roles in Carmen, La Bohéme, Orpheus in the Underworld, Marriage of Figaro, Magic Flute, Pirates of Penzance, Die Fledermaus, Susannah, La Traviata, Gianni Schicchi, and HMS Pinafore; with Cascadia Concert Opera, in Cosi fan tutte, Tales of Hoffmann, and Gianni Schicchi; with the University Opera Ensemble, in Marriage of Figaro, Cosi fan tutte, Il Campanello, and Tobermory; with Oregon Mozart Players, in PDQ Bach’s The Abduction of Figaro, and Barber’s Dover Beach; with OFAM, in Guys and Dolls and The Wizard of Oz, and in concert with Maria Jette, Dick Hyman, and James Paul; with EBC as narrator for Children of the Raven, with the Oregon Bach Festival, Eugene Symphony, Eugene Chamber Singers, and Eugene Vocal Arts Ensemble, and earned an MA in Music Theory from the University of Oregon while studying voice with James Miller. |
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PROGRAM BOOK SALES
Monica McKinley | 541.515.9178 | email |
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Board of Directors
Ann DeLaney, President
Susan Jones
Gary LeClair
Jerril Nilson
Ken Singer
Michael Syman-Degler
Hannah Bulkley
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