Yuri Possokhov, Choreographer

Possokhov received his training under Pyotr Pestov at the Choreographic Ballet Academy in Moscow. Upon graduating in 1982, he joined the Bolshoi Ballet. During his ten years with the company, he worked primarily with Ballet Master Yuri Grigorovich and was quickly promoted to become one of the premier dancers in the company. Possokhov danced lead roles, including in the Bolshoi’s premiere of The Prodigal Son, the company’s first performance of a work by George Balanchine. While performing, Possokhov studied choreography and ballet at the State College of Theatrical Arts, completing the five-year course under Evgeny Valukin in 1990. He frequently toured internationally with the Bolshoi and was often invited to perform as a guest artist in Europe, Asia, and Latin America. In 1992, at the invitation of Ballet Master Frank Anderson, Possokhov joined the Royal Danish Theater. The following year, he was invited to dance a guest performance at San Francisco Ballet’s opening night gala, after which Helgi Tomasson invited him to join the company as a principal dancer. He spent the next 12 years dancing lead roles both with San Francisco Ballet and abroad. During this period, he began choreographing. In 1997, he completed three works, Songs of Spain, A Duet for Two, and Beyond Borders, which was performed in five cities in Russia and toured Japan, China, and Denmark. Possokhov has gone on to create numerous ballets set on San Francisco Ballet, including Magrittomania (2000), Damned (2002), a co-choreographed full-evening Don Quixote with Helgi Tomasson, and Study in Motion (2004). The same year, he created a new production of Firebird for Oregon Ballet Theatre, and the next year he was invited back to create La Valse. In 2005, Possokhov created Reflections, and in 2006 he created a full-length Cinderella commissioned by Bolshoi Ballet and Ballet Mori before retiring as a principal dancer. Yuri Possokhov has continued to create new works for San Francisco Ballet, including Fusion, Diving Into the Lilacs, Classical Symphony, RAkU, and Francesca da Rimini. Classical Symphony originally premiered in 2010.

David Finn, Lighting Designer

Finn began his professional career as a lighting designer at age 16 working for the puppeteer Burr Tillstrom and Kukla, Fran & Ollie. David's previous work with Atlanta Ballet includes The Four Seasons, The Exiled, and Camino Real (for which he also completed his first professional scenic design). His design credits for dance include The Nutcracker and Cinderella (Birmingham Royal Ballet), Romeo & Juliette for Sasha Waltz (Paris Opera Ballet), Swan Lake (Bayerisches Staatsballett), and works for renowned choreographers such as Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Merce Cunningham, James Kudelka, José Limón, Helgi Tomasson, Liam Scarlett, Yuri Possokhov, and Dana Reitz, as well as for leading international companies. David was the resident lighting designer for Mikhail Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project from 1993-2000. His opera work includes projects for the Metropolitan Opera, Royal Opera, Paris Opera, La Scala Milan, Salzburg Festival, Lyric Opera of Chicago, New York City Opera, Berlin Staatsoper, Deutsche Oper, La Monnaie (Brussels), Opera de Lyon, Opera Communale (Florence), Het Muziektheater (Amsterdam), Stuttgart Opera, Opera Australia, Santa Fe Opera, Canadian Opera Company, and San Francisco Opera. For film, Finn’s work includes stage lighting for Martin Scorsese’s The Age of Innocence and producer/director of the PBS documentary The Green Monster. David has designed two shows for Cirque du Soleil: ZED in Tokyo and MICHAEL JACKSON ONE in Las Vegas. Future plans include Les Troyens for The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Cosi fan Tutti for Opera Australia, a world premiere of The Little Prince for The National Ballet of Canada, and a world premiere of Frankenstein for The Royal Ballet.

Tom Pye, Scenic Designer

Roundabout Debut. Broadway: Testament of Mary, All My Sons, Top Girls, Cyrano de Bergerac, Glass Menagerie, Medea, Fiddler on the Roof (Tony Nom). West End: A Christmas Carol, Sinatra, Medea. Recent: Invisible Thread (Second Stage, ART); High Society (Old Vic); Platonov, Ivanov, The Seagull (Chichester, National Theatre); John Gabriel Borkman (Abbey Theatre, BAM); Mother Courage, Happy Days, Measure for Measure (Royal National). Opera: Death of Klinghoffer, Eugene Onegin, Così Fan Tutti (MET/ENO); Akhnaten (ENO/LA); Death in Venice (Premio Franco Abbiati).

Finn Ross, Projection Designer

Ross trained at Central School of Speech and Drama and designs video and projection for all forms of live performance. He works regularly for English National Opera, credits including Benvenuto Cellini (with Adam Young), The Death of Klinghoffer, Eugene Onegin, The Magic Flute, Simon Boccanegra, The Damnation of Faust, and Don Giovanni. Other opera credits include The Turn of the Screw (Theater an der Wien), Sunset Boulevard (Gothenburg Opera), A Dog’s Heart (Dutch National Opera, La Scala, Milan, ENO and Opéra de Lyon), Knight Crew (Glyndebourne Festival), The Adventures of Mr Brouček (Opera North and Scottish Opera), and Das Portrait (Bregenz Festival).

Ross’s theatre work includes The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-time and Greenland (National Theatre), Shun-Kin and The Master and Margarita (Complicite) Sugar Mummies (Royal Court), The Gods Weep (Royal Shakespeare Company), Top Girls (Chichester Festival and Trafalgar Studios), All My Sons (Broadway), Little Otik (Vanishing Point/National Theatre of Scotland), and Die Ringe des Saturn (Schauspielhaus, Cologne). He is a member of the London-based group of video and projection designers Mesmer.

Sandra Woodall, Costume Designer

Woodall has contributed scenic and costume designs to San Francisco Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Georgian National Ballet, The Norwegian National Ballet, the State Opera Ballet of Austria, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Houston Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Project, Singapore Dance Theatre, National Ballet of Finland, and other companies around the world. Recent productions include costume designs for Atlanta Ballet’s Camino Real choreographed by Helen Pickett. Ms. Woodall’s artwork has been shown in solo exhibitions at the Wadsworth Atheneum Museum of Art in Hartford, Connecticut, the San Francisco Museum of Performance and Design, and in many group exhibitions, including the 2011 Wearable Art exhibit in Hong Kong. In 1999 and 2000, she was a Fulbright scholar teaching at what is now the Taiwan National University of the Arts (TNUA). She has contributed designs and visual consultation to many productions in Taiwan and China, including 2009’s stadium-scale opening pageant for the Deaf Olympics, scenic designs for the 100th anniversary-celebration of Taiwan National Day, and in the 2015 scenic and costume design of Winter Journey by Wan Fang and directed by Stan Lai in Beijing.

Opening Night Gala
Saturday, December 8, 2018

Join Atlanta Ballet for an unforgettable evening of glamour as we celebrate our new production of The Nutcracker. Our Opening Night Gala will be an opulent affair that includes a pre-show dinner transporting guests to a time of European elegance with an exquisite meal. Once the curtain comes down, stay for the after-party, where guests will be transported to The Nutcracker Act II with open bar, late-night bites, and dancing with Atlanta Ballet dancers.

Please email mwilhite@atlantaballet.com with any questions.

The Nutcracker Costume & Set Sponsors

Mouse King - Arrow Exterminators

Marie - Atlanta Ballet Corps de Ballet

The Book – Barbara & Eric Joiner

Costume Designer - Ginny & Charles Brewer Family Foundation

French Female - Adrienne & Scott Hardesty

Spanish Dancers & the Moon - Bonnie & Terry Herron

The Cabinet - The Home Depot Foundation

Flying Special Effects - Northside Hospital

Russian Female - Dante S. Stephenson

Additional costume and set piece sponsorships available. Please contact Amy Green, Major Gifts Officer, at agreen@atlantaballet.com or 404.873.5811 x1219.

Atlanta Ballet is grateful to the individual, corporate, and foundation donors who are making this world premiere production possible.

Platinum ($1 million +)
Thalia N. Carlos &  Chris M. Carlos Foundation

Gold ($500,000 - $999,000) 
PNC
Sarah Kennedy

Sapphire ($250,000-$499,999)
Jones Day Foundation

Silver ($100,000 - $249,999) 
Arrow Exterminators
The Atlanta Journal-Constitution
Elaine & Erroll Davis
The Home Depot Foundation
OUTFRONT Media
The Sara Giles Moore Foundation
The Zeist Foundation

Bronze ($50,000 - $99,999)
Anonymous
Atlanta Ballet Corps de Ballet
Ginny & Charles Brewer
The Robert S. Elster Foundation
The Imlay Foundation
Linda & Don Morris
Northside Hospital
REPAY
Stephanie & Austin Stephens

Supporter ($25,000 - $49,999)
Elizabeth & Howell Adams III
Bonnie & Terry Herron
Barbara & Eric Joiner
Ms. Pam Wakefield

Patron ($10,000 - $24,999)
Ms. Jan P. Beaves
Vanessa & Robin Delmer
Adrienne & Scott Hardesty
Kathleen & Kirk Knous
Dante S. Stephensen

Contributor (under $10,000)
Mrs. Lynn Cochran-Schroder & Mr. Bill Schroder
Cynthia Crain, Ed. D. & Dwight Lee, Ph.D.
Ms. Nancy Field & Mr. Michael Schulder
Helen & Howard Elkins
Douglas Hopkins
Jamila & Whitcliff A. McKnight, Jr.
Kristen Manion Taylor & Jason Taylor

*As of September 12, 2018