Please see below for an important announcement from OBT School.
Dear families,
Oregon Ballet Theatre has some bittersweet news to share with you today. OBT School Director Anthony Jones has announced that he has accepted the post of Director of the School of Ballet Arizona. While we will miss Mr. Jones very much, we are also delighted that this move offers the opportunity for him to be closer to his family while continuing his career.
We would like to express our incredible gratitude to Mr. Jones for all that he has done to build OBT’s School. In the last four years he has overseen the move to our new South Waterfront flagship studio and the addition of a second location in West Linn. Along the way he gained the admiration and dedication of existing OBT School faculty Kembe Staley, Olivia Pyne, and Elise Legere, as well as brought on wonderful new members such as Natasha Bar, Katarina Svetlova, Alison Roper, Chauncey Parsons, Peter Franc, and Valerie Limbrunner-Bartlett. Together with former ABT ballerina Lisa Sundstrom, he launched OBT’s junior ensemble, OBT2. Enrollment for the OBT School’s annual Summer Intensive has grown by nearly 25% and gained national attention during his tenure. The quality of our Annual School Performance has been such that Oregon Ballet Theatre incorporated the ASP as part of the main company’s family subscription package with attendance and revenue steadily increasing over the last three years. To cap off an incredible career here, Mr. Jones has coached and mentored Finn Carmeci who has qualified to compete in the elite Prix de Lausanne.
The decision to leave OBT School was a personal and extremely difficult decision for Mr. Jones who has the highest regard for the organization, the faculty, and particularly for you, the school families, who are so dedicated to supporting our students in their passion for this art form. It is a truly collaborative relationship and we want you to rest assured this will be a smooth transition.
OBT will begin an international search for a new school director immediately and Mr. Jones will work with current staff to put an interim plan in place until a new director is hired. Mr. Jones will continue as School Director through February 11th. During this time he will continue to oversee day to day operations of the school, complete the Summer Intensive audition tour, stage sections of the annual school performance, as well as actively support OBT in the search for a new school director.
Mr. Jones plans to speak directly with the students about his move beginning with OBT2 and Level 6 students before class tomorrow morning. On Thursday at 5:30 PM he will speak with students from Level 4 and higher prior to warm up at the theater for the evening’s performance.
In the meantime, please direct any questions regarding the transition to: schoolofobt@obt.org
I’m sure you will join us in a heartfelt congratulations to Mr. Jones for his many achievements and wishing him much success in his new position.
Regards,
Oregon Ballet Theatre School
