Eileen Hebron

Artist in Residence in Dance | Coordinator, Preparatory Department Dance Division

School: College of the Arts
Department: Dance
Sub-department(s): Dance (UG)
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joined: 2004

Biography

During Eileen’s formative years she trained with Mme. Valia Seiskaya, a featured soloist of the Greek National Opera. She set herself apart by winning numerous awards, the most coveted of which was winning first place in the Empire State Chapter of the National Society of Arts and Letters Ballet Career Award. In 1982, Eileen was accepted at the advanced level to George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet on a full scholarship provided by the Helena Rubinstein Foundation. She learned the Balanchine aesthetic from their internationally acclaimed staff, participated in the NYCB’s Educational Outreach Lecture Demonstration programs, and performed principal roles in the school’s workshop performances. She also performed the pas de deux from Balanchine’s Nutcracker for Mayor Edward Koch at City Hall. While at the School, she guested with the NYCB in “A Tribute to Lincoln Kirstein and George Balanchine.” She was coached by Prima Ballerina Alexandra Danilova, Helene Dudin, Kay Mazzo, Suki Schorer, Antonina Tumkovsky, Andre Kramarevsky, Stanley Williams, Peter Martins, Bart Cook, John Taras, and Jacques and Christopher D’Amboise. In her final year at SAB she was selected to dance for a Nestle commercial and a Walt Disney film, which gained her entry into the Screen Actors’ Guild. In 1985, she was hand-picked from her class by Mikhail Baryshnikov to join one of the world’s most prestigious ballet companies, The American Ballet Theatre. While in ABT she was coached by Agnes DeMille, Irina Kolpakova, Natalia Makarova, Susan Jones , Georgina Parkinson, Twyla Tharp, Wendy Walker, Sir Kenneth Mac Millian, David Richardson, and Terrence Orr. Trained in ABT’s extensive repertoire and touring internationally for eight years, she won numerous plaudits across the globe for her versatility, grace and technical merit. Television credits include: “Live at the Metropolitan Opera House,” and the award-winning Frederick Wiseman documentary, “Ballet,” which aired on PBS in 1993. She retired from dancing professionally to raise her two daughters Nicole and Alicia. Her passion for ballet has never led her far from the studio; she has been teaching classical ballet in New York and West Palm Beach for over twenty years. She has been an adjunct professor in classical ballet at Palm Beach Atlantic University since 2004. She has staged numerous classical ballets for the undergraduates in the performing ensemble, many of whom have gone on to perform and teach internationally. Principle dancers with ABT, NYCB, and Ballet West have also come to take class and receive coaching from her. Since the founding of the PBA Preparatory Dance Department three years ago she has been leading students to discover that the arts truly can teach us more than we ever imagined. Students have traveled interstate, cross-country, and internationally to receive private coaching. In the 2010 spring issue of Dance Magazine, a three-page article featured Eileen’s solutions to common problems in the studio along with photographs of her students at PBA. Her students have appeared at benefits for such organizations as the American Ballet Theatre and the Junior League of the Palm Beaches. She is honored that several of her preparatory and undergraduate students have been accepted and successfully participated in the Bolshoi, ABT, Joffrey, La Scala, and Alvin Ailey summer programs. Dance enabled Eileen do discover great things about culture and she has always loved to travel, so it is a thrill for her to see the next generation bridging the international gaps through the arts today. Eileen and her family are parishioners of St. Therese de Lisieux, in Wellington, Florida.

Degrees

BA in Public Communications, Florida Atlantic University