Claudia Rudolf Barrett,
the founding Artistic Director of the ballet tech ohio performing
arts association and recipient of the Post-Corbett 2001 Individual
Award, received her training in dance at the College Conservatory
of Music (later the University of Cincinnati) under Corbett Scholarships
and later with a Ford Foundation Scholarship to the School of American
Ballet, the official school of the New York City Ballet.
As an original dancer,
soloist and Ballet Mistress of the Cincinnati Ballet Company from
1963 until 1990, Ms Barrett worked under five artistic directors and
with teachers and choreographers from major companies around the world.
In 1993 Claudia opened her school, ballet tech
ohio, bringing many instructors of world renown to inspire her students.
In 1997, after staging a full length Sleeping Beauty to live orchestral
accompaniment, Ms. Barrett created a performing outlet for her pre-professional
dancers, the non-profit ballet tech ohio performing arts association.
Now a resident company of the Aronoff Center, the btopaa continues
“to educate, inspire and amaze” by presenting pre-professional performances
as well as the annual Gala of International Ballet Stars and major
companies such as Complexions. She resigned from the board of ballet tech ohio performing arts association in 2006.
Ms. Barrett has created a number of ballets
for pre-professionals including Appalachian Spring, A Stone’s Throw
and Nuada (both with Celtic themes and music), The Conductors, a ballet
about one family’s escape to the North through the Underground Railroad,
Thank You, Edgar!, The Mask, The Fantastic Toy Shop, Peter and the
Wolf, Mozart’s, Eine Kleine Nacht Musik, Carmina Burana and excerpts
of Nutcracker. Shall We Dance is Ms. Barrett’s first full length ballet.
In private life, Ms. Barrett is married to
composer/musician, Ian Barrett. Their son, Alex, is pursuing a career
in the music industry.
