Contemporary Ballet | Artist Faculty
June 17 – June 21
Noah Gelber (he/him) was born in New York City and began training in both singing and dance at the age of five. Alongside many years of training at the School of American Ballet, Gelber attended the High School of Performing Arts and the Professional Children’s School in New York, performing often with the New York City Ballet. At age 16, Gelber became a Principal Guest-Artist with the American Ballet Company, dancing numerous principal roles from the Balanchine repertoire. Following his time with the American Ballet Company, he sang and danced in a New York production of West Side Story, before pursuing his career in Europe. After three years as a soloist with the Royal Ballet of Flanders, he toured the U.S. and Mexico as a Principal Guest-Artist, before William Forsythe invited him to the Frankfurt Ballet. Gelber earned widespread critical acclaim for his speed, dynamism, and technical precision, including his ability to excel in the classical ballet genre, as well as inspire contemporary choreographers. Gelber was invited to perform in many international galas, performing solos and pas de deux created especially for him, including William Forsythe’s Two Part Invention and New Sleep Pas de Deux.
Across the span of his decade spent in collaboration with William Forsythe, Gelber performed the greater portion of the Frankfurt Ballet’s repertoire, notably premiering in the original cast of The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude. Well versed in the complex improvisation techniques of Forsythe, Gelber was chosen to demonstrate his capabilities in the William Forsythe Improvisation Technologies CD-ROM. Gelber is regularly invited to conduct educational workshops teaching these improvisation modalities at various international universities and institutions.
Throughout his time with the Frankfurt Ballet, Gelber was active in the choreographic processes, creating considerable solo and duet material also contained in some Forsythe pieces. He was the first American choreographer ever invited to create a world premier for the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theater. This story ballet, The Overcoat, won two Golden Sofit awards including Best Ballet of the Year and a Golden Mask – Russia’s highest theatrical prize. Gelber’s other creations include The Golden Age for the Mariinsky Ballet, Object Ours for the Royal Ballet, E Point Major for the Helsinki National Ballet Competition, Running Time, and his own solos Gnos Naos and Opus 3/1-3. Additionally, Gelber has choreographed for the hit television show Born to Dance and collaborated with Cirque du Soleil’s aerial ballerina Erika Lemay for her feature show Animus Femina. Gelber’s choreographic works have been presented across the globe in Moscow, St. Petersburg, New York, London, Milan, Monte Carlo, Montreal, Tallinn, Helsinki, Budapest, Tel Aviv and Frankfurt.
Since 1997, while still dancing himself, Noah has maintained the responsibility of Choreographic Assistant for 16 different ballets from William Forsythe’s repertoire. The long list of companies with whom he has collaborated includes the Kirov/Mariinsky Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, La Scala Ballet, the Royal Ballet, English National Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater (The Hague), Royal Swedish Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Finnish National Ballet, Rome Opera Ballet, Vienna State Ballet, Dutch National Ballet (Amsterdam), San Francisco Ballet, New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Dance Theater of Harlem, Ballet Hispanico, Oregon Ballet Theater, Cincinnati Ballet, National Ballet of Canada (Toronto), Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (Montreal), Berlin State Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Bavarian State Ballet (Munich), Hamburg Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Ballet de Monte Carlo, Lyon Opera Ballet, National Ballet of Portugal, Compañía Nacional de Danza (Madrid), Scottish Ballet, Ballet du Grand Theatre (Geneva), Ballet de Marseille, Zurich Ballet, Basel Ballet, Moscow State Stanislavsky, Nemirov-Danchenko Ballet, Perm Tchaikovsky State Ballet, Yekaterinburg State Ballet, National Ballet of the Republic of Belarus (Minsk), Czech National Ballet, Hungarian National Ballet, Israel ballet, Ballet am Rhein (Düsseldorf), Hannover Ballet, Badische State Ballet (Karlsruhe), Dortmund Ballet, Mecklenburgisches State Ballet (Schwerin), Sao Paulo Dance Company, Ballet de Lorraine (Nancy), Queensland Ballet (Brisbane), and Introdans (Arnhem), among others.
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