George de la Peña (born December 9, 1955) is an American ballet dancer, musical theatre performer, choreographer, actor, and teacher. He was born in 1955 in New York City, New York.
Originally trained as a concert pianist, de la Peña switched to ballet while studying at the High School for the Performing Arts in New York City. He graduated from George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet.[1] He joined American Ballet Theatre in the 1970s, rapidly rising to soloist. While at ABT, de la Peña danced in works choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov, Agnes de Mille, Kenneth MacMillan, and Jerome Robbins. By 1985, de la Peña and his then-wife Rebecca Wright had both left ABT and moved to California. De la Peña and Wright had two children before they separated.) He and Ms. Wright can be seen in Baryshnikov's production of The Nutcracker on television and on DVD.
De la Peña began acting when he was cast as Vaslav Nijinsky in Herbert Ross's film Nijinsky (1980),[1] and for some time thereafter, he was typecast in Russian roles. In a 1983 interview in the New York Times, an exasperated de la Peña, who is of mixed Russian and Argentinian descent, pointed out that producers thought he was not a native English speaker. He appeared on Broadway in Woman of the Year, the revival of On Your Toes, the notorious flop The Red Shoes (Drama Desk Award nomination), and Chronicle of a Death Foretold (Drama League Award). While living in Los Angeles during the 1980s, he performed in Cats and various regional productions.
De la Peña was married to ballerina Rebecca Wright from 1984 to 2006. They had two children. Rebecca Wright died from cancer in 2006.
De la Peña has taught at universities, including CalArts, Connecticut College, and the University of Iowa,[1] where he is the chair of the Department of Dance. He continues to teach for ABT. A director and choreographer for both theatrical works and concert dance, he assisted figure skaterDebi Thomas with her routine for the Olympics. He frequently collaborates with the choreographer Martha Clarke.
george, peña, this, biography, living, person, relies, much, references, primary, sources, please, help, adding, secondary, tertiary, sources, contentious, material, about, living, persons, that, unsourced, poorly, sourced, must, removed, immediately, especial. This biography of a living person relies too much on references to primary sources Please help by adding secondary or tertiary sources Contentious material about living persons that is unsourced or poorly sourced must be removed immediately especially if potentially libelous or harmful Find sources George de la Pena news newspapers books scholar JSTOR February 2013 Learn how and when to remove this template message George de la Pena born December 9 1955 is an American ballet dancer musical theatre performer choreographer actor and teacher He was born in 1955 in New York City New York Originally trained as a concert pianist de la Pena switched to ballet while studying at the High School for the Performing Arts in New York City He graduated from George Balanchine s School of American Ballet 1 He joined American Ballet Theatre in the 1970s rapidly rising to soloist While at ABT de la Pena danced in works choreographed by Mikhail Baryshnikov Agnes de Mille Kenneth MacMillan and Jerome Robbins By 1985 de la Pena and his then wife Rebecca Wright had both left ABT and moved to California De la Pena and Wright had two children before they separated He and Ms Wright can be seen in Baryshnikov s production of The Nutcracker on television and on DVD De la Pena began acting when he was cast as Vaslav Nijinsky in Herbert Ross s film Nijinsky 1980 1 and for some time thereafter he was typecast in Russian roles In a 1983 interview in the New York Times an exasperated de la Pena who is of mixed Russian and Argentinian descent pointed out that producers thought he was not a native English speaker He appeared on Broadway in Woman of the Year the revival of On Your Toes the notorious flop The Red Shoes Drama Desk Award nomination and Chronicle of a Death Foretold Drama League Award While living in Los Angeles during the 1980s he performed in Cats and various regional productions His film and television credits include Personal Best 1982 a failed 1989 TV pilot based on the film The Flamingo Kid Kuffs 1992 Brain Donors 1992 Mighty Aphrodite 1995 One Last Dance 2003 and guest appearances on shows such as L A Law and Star Trek The Next Generation He was seen in the film The Dust Factory with Hayden Panettiere and Armin Mueller Stahl De la Pena was married to ballerina Rebecca Wright from 1984 to 2006 They had two children Rebecca Wright died from cancer in 2006 De la Pena has taught at universities including CalArts Connecticut College and the University of Iowa 1 where he is the chair of the Department of Dance He continues to teach for ABT A director and choreographer for both theatrical works and concert dance he assisted figure skater Debi Thomas with her routine for the Olympics He frequently collaborates with the choreographer Martha Clarke George is a member of the Lincoln Center Theater Director s Laboratory 1 References Edit a b c d Brief biographical sketch University of Iowa Archived from the original on July 2 2010 Lawson Carol Broadway The New York Times 16 September 1983 Late City Edition C2 External links EditGeorge de la Pena at the Internet Broadway Database George de la Pena at IMDb Retrieved from https en wikipedia org w index php title George de la Pena amp oldid 1095593073, wikipedia, wiki, book, books, library,
