Ballet Theatre San Luis Obispo (BT-SLO) is a relatively new ballet company local to the San Luis Obispo area. We were established by Theresa Slobodnik in the spring of 2006, presenting our first full program featuring the works of Gilbert Reed, Ms. Slobodnik’s mentor and director of The Gilbert Reed Ballet. Ms. Slobodnik is our company’s artistic director & choreographer… and our driving force. BT-SLO is dedicated to outstanding, professional performance on stage. Our productions involve both classical ballet and contemporary dance forms. Our performances reflect the wide range of talent available in our area – dancers range in age from eight to eighty.
Each December BT-SLO presents an original holiday program in association with our studio home Dance Obispo. December 4- 6 , 2009 will see the world premiere of Theresa Slobodnik’s “The Velveteen Rabbit” along with two of our signature ballets “Winter Concerto” and “Les Patineurs” (the skaters) in the Cal Poly Spanos Theatre. Our spring 2010 program will feature the full-length timeless, romantic comedy “Coppelia” April 23-25 in the PAC SLO’s Harman Hall. BT-SLO is committed to outreach education, providing abridged performances of each program to area schools through YOPAC (Youth Outreach for the Performing Arts Center).
Theresa Slobodnik, Artistic Director & Choreographer
Theresa Slobodnik is from the San Francisco Bay Area, where she received her early training from Marjorie Stevens, Lee Salsbury, Patrice Nissen (RAD), modern with Virginia Toy, and jazz with Rec Russell. In San Luis Obispo, Theresa studied with Gilbert and Sydna Reed, and was principal dancer for The Gilbert Reed Ballet Chamber Dancers (1989-92) and most recently The Gilbert Reed Ballet (1993-2003) where she also served as Assistant Director. Some of her most noted performances include the title roles in The Firebird, Carmen, and Camille. She also created the role of Belle in The Gilbert Reed Ballet’s world premiere of Beauty and the Beast and was critically acclaimed for her performances as Young Scrooge’s Betrothed in A Christmas Carol, and the institutionalized woman in Asylum.
Theresa has also taught ballet at Cal Poly State University and worked with Pacific Repertory Opera as choreographer and featured dancer. Theresa and her husband John live in San Luis Obispo and have five children.
Blair London, Assistant Director, Company Dancer
Blair began folk dance in his early years, and he has been studying ballet and dance in one form or another since his college days. He was a member of Khadra, San Francisco’s International Folk ballet during his graduate school years at Stanford University. He has also performed in dance companies in St. Louis and San Luis Obispo. He was part of a select dance troupe invited to perform in Russia in 2002 under the direction of Lisa Deyo. His roles have included the Mandarin in The Miraculous Mandarin, the Moor in Petrushka, Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker, half of the true-love couple in The Twelve Days of Christmas, and Dr. Coppélius in Coppélia. Blair became Assistant Director of Ballet Theatre San Luis Obispo in late summer 2006. When he is not dancing, he is Professor of Materials Engineering at Cal Poly State University, San Luis Obispo. Blair and his wife Cindy live in San Luis Obispo and have two children.
Company Dancers
BT-SLO company dancers encompass a wide range of abilities, ages, dance backgrounds, and levels of training.
