2011 Goh Ballet International Summer Program Guest Teachers

Karina Elver – Teacher, Choreographer & former Soloist of the Royal Danish Ballet

Karina Elver was born in 1962 in Copenhagen. She began to dance at the age of 3 doing cha-cha and rumba. When she was 9 years old, she was accepted into Royal Danish Ballet School.
In 1978 she was accepted as an apprentice at The Royal Danish Ballet and after 2 years she became a ballet dancer at The Royal Danish Ballet. During her time at The Royal Danish Ballet, she had many solo parts in famous ballets choreographed by August Bournonville, Balanchine, Alwin Ailey and many more.
Bournonville: Flowerfestival in Genzano, Pas de deux, Solo and Coda., - Napoli, I act Ballabillle, II act soloist, III act Pas de Six and solo,- Wilhelm Tell, Pas de quatre, - Abdallah, Pas de quatre - La Ventana, Pas de trois.
Balanchine: - Symfoni in C, First movement, soloist, - The Four Temperaments, Pas de deux., - Rubies/-Cappriccio for Piano and Orchestra, soloist couple, - Divertimento nr. 15, soloist.
Glen Tetley: - Greenings, - Volentaries, - Sacre du Printemps, - Firebird.
Alvin Ayley: - Memoria, Solo, - River, Pas de deux, Solo, - Caverna Magica
Flemming Flindt:- Nutcracker, Clara
Robert North: -Aquas
Niels Christie: - Quartet
Christopher Bruce: - Waning Moon, - Land
John Neumeier:-Romeo&Juliet, - Odyseen
… and much more.
In 1992 she started to create her own choreography. In 2003, after 32 years, she decided to leave The Royal Theater to work as freelance teacher/ choreographer and Bournonville specialist.
Karina Elver has received several grants such as:
1985: The Dance Scholarship, New York
1992: Grant of Svend Åge Larsen
1993: International Dance Course for Professional Choreographers and Composers Bretton Hall College, Wakefield, England
1994: Grant of Balletmester Albert Gaubier and Paul Waldorff
1998: Grant of The Art, Den Treschowske Fond
2000: Grant of the Royal Danish Ballet
2004: The Price of Grass, Day of Poetry, Copenhagen
Currently she works at Gelsey Kirkland Ballet Academy in New York.
She grew up with The Bournonvillestyle at The Royal Danish Theatre and today she teaches The Bournonvilleschool and stages his repertoire around in the world.
For more information, please visit: www.elverdance.com

Paola Hartley – Principal Dancer, Ballet Arizona

Paola Hartley was born in Bonn, Germany and grew up in South Africa and Chile where her parents danced with the PACT Ballet and Ballet de Santiago. In Chile Ms. Hartley studied with Karen Connolly and at the School of the Teatro Municipal. Ms. Hartley pursued her ballet studies in the United States at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts under the guidance of Melissa Hayden, Duncan Noble, Gyula Pandi, Dianne Markham, and Trish Casey.

In 1993 Ms. Hartley joined Ballet de Santiago which was then under the direction of Marcia Haydee. In 1997 Ms. Hartley was promoted to the rank of soloist by Ballet de Santiago’s artistic director, Ivan Nagy.

Ms. Hartley worked with many guest artists who appeared with Ballet de Santiago including Igor Zelensky, Jose Manuel Carreno, Maximiliano Guerra, Carlos Acosta, and Lauren Anderson.

Her repertoire included Myrtha, Queen of the Wilis in Giselle, Olga in John Cranko’s Onegin, The Mad Lady in Ben Stevenson’s Peer Gynt, The Countess in Ronald Hynd’s The Devil To Pay, Spring and Autumn Fairies in Stevenson’s Cinderella, the Sugar Plum Fairy in Stevenson’s The Nutcracker, Mercedes in Don Quixote, and created the role of Stella in the world premiere of Mauricio Wainrot’s A Streetcar Named Desire.

In 1998 Ms. Hartley joined Ballet Arizona rising to the rank of principal dancer. Ms. Hartley has continued to expand her repertoire to include Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, the title role in Giselle, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Swanhilda in Coppelia, the title role in La Sylphide, Hermia and Helena in Ib Andersen’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Juliet in Andersen’s Romeo and Juliet, the Sugar Plum Fairy in Andersen’s production of The Nutcracker, and Kitri in Don Quixote.

Ms. Harley has danced with guest artists, Marcello Gomes (La Fille Mal Gardee Pas de Deux), Nikolaj Hubbe (Napoli), and Gael Lambiotte (Swan Lake).

Ms. Hartley has also danced principal roles in the Balanchine ballets Agon, Allegro Brillante, Apollo (Terpsichore and Polyhymnia), Concerto Barocco, Divertimento No. 15, Duo Concertant, Serenade, Theme and Variations, Rubies, Stars and Stripes, and The Four Temperaments, and in Jerome Robbins’ In The Night.

Ms. Hartley has received critical acclaim for her performances in contemporary works including principal roles in Kevin O’Day’s HeliBlondeGroove, Paul Taylor’s Company B, Julia Adam’s Before, Twyla Tharp’s Sinatra Suite and The Golden Section, and Dwight Rhoden’s Ave Maria, and the world premieres of Rhoden’s Scarlet Symphony, and Skinny Puzzle, and Moses Pendleton’s Opus Cactus.

Ms. Hartley, partnered by Astrit Zejnati, performed at a Gala in Albania in 2005, and represented Ballet Arizona in the Miami International Dance Festival in 2006. In 2008 Ms. Hartley was featured in North Carolina’s Manteo Summer Festival, as an alumna of the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.

During 2008 and 2009, Ms. Hartley performed with Novaballet, and is a popular teacher in the Phoenix, Arizona area.