AnthonyWJohnson's Bio

It comes as no surprise that Anthony Johnson shares the same birthday as the late, great Ballet Master and the father of American Ballet, George Balanchine. Throughout his illustrious career, Johnson, (Founder,Director and Choreographer of Ballet Magique), has trained and performed as a soloist for many prestigious Ballet/Modern/Opera companies throughout the United States and around the world. Some of which are: The Lyric Opera of Chicago, The Los Angeles Opera Company, and Ballet Theatre of Chicago, Ballet Chicago, and Chicago Festival Ballet. He also performed with International Ballet of Rotaru, Tampa/Colorado Ballet, Contemporary Ballet Theatre and the Moscow Ballet, Ballethnic, The Lula WashingtonDance Theatre, Atlanta Ballet, The Los Angeles Opera Company, Physical Rhythm Project, James KellyProject, Second City Ballet, “ Those funny Little People”, Colors Dance Theatre, and Demetrius Klein & Dancers to name a few.

As The Director of Ballet Magique,
Johnson also received a 2004 Lester Horton Award nomination for “Outstanding Achievement in Choreography”
for Ballet Magique’s “Ring of the Rose as well Ballet Magique received Outstanding Achievements in Costume and Lighting Design.” That year his student Nobutaka Mochimaru also received Male
dancer of the Year from The Beverly Hills Outlook for his performance with Ballet Magique. Johnson has
created four shows for Ballet Magique, and has received accolades from Master Magician Lance Burton, Renowned illusion designer Jim Steinmeyer, The Orange County Chinese Association, and the Beverly Hills Outlook.

A brief collection of his accomplishments and performances include; Broadway shows such as, “Marat/Sade”, a Broadway tour of “Dreamgirls” Randy Newman’s Faust, and in several productions at TheBlack Ensemble Theatre. Nominated Best Actor for his role as “Tommy Gomez in Me and Ms D the story
of Tommy Gomez and the legendary Katherine Dunham, he also acted in A Streetcar named Desire and “The Amen Corner”.
Johnson toured in Sir Paul McCartney’s “Drivin’ U.S.A.”, several Pacific Tours on Royal Caribbean Cruise Lines, and a plethora of television and film appearances including “Son of the Beach”, “Hoodlum”, “Skin
Walker” “The World Magic Awards”, “Jackson’s: An American Dream” and most recently, “Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Man’s Chest”.

He received scholarships to train at the famed Acting School Second City School in Chicago, Wright State University, USF and Point Park College in Pittsburgh.

His ballet background was founded and sculpted by the greatest teachers and coaches of this generation and he had the great opportunity at work for Debra Brown (Cirque De Soleil), Shamiel Yagudin (coach of the Bolshoi Ballet), Donald MacKayle (Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre) and Laura Alonso (National Ballet of Cuba).

Johnson performed leading roles for some of the most popular ballets and operas like, “The Prodigal Son”, Afternoon of a Faun, The Rite of Spring, Giselle, Petruska, Sleeping Beauty, Aida, Faust, Swan Lake,
and The Ghost of Versailles. His teachers and coaches were Assaf Messerer, Haydee Gutierrez, Jurgen Schneider, Gretchen Warren, Irina Kopakolva, Martin Friedman, Larry Long, Ken Von Heidecke, Pavel
Rotaru, Robert Barnett, Shamiel Yagudin, Barbara Sandonato, Carlton Johnson, Luigi, Gus Giordano, Ken Johnson, and Sandra Robinson. He has studied Horton, Cunningham, Graham, Limon, and Laban at the
University levels and with some of the masters themselves. In 2004, “Dance Spirit Magazine featured an article on Johnson with an interview about Lyrical Dancers in Los Angeles.

As a Choreographer He began as the assistant choreographer for The Backstreet Boys, and has since worked on several shows like The World Magic Awards, Arista Records 25th Anniversary, 80’s pop star
Paul Lekakis; several Magicians, The band Empress and Salon K, his solo for the Paul McCartney tour as the Khatakali Indian God and numerous live productions.

His personal private students continue to be or receive scholarships to American BalletTheatre, School of American Ballet, The San Francisco Ballet School, The Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet
School, Alvin Ailey and The Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet. They have also gone to soloist contracts with Hamburg Ballet, Columbia City Ballet, Ballet de Printemps American Ballet Theatre, and
Alvin Ailey Dance Theatre, Cirque Du Soliel, and on Broadway in “Mama Mia”, Movin’ Out,” The Lion King” Films like Across the Universe, Step up, You got Served, and have appeared on Dancing with the Stars. Some have also toured with Janet Jackson and Britney Spears and are in Germany’s production of “Cats”.

From 2006-2009 Anthony was on the dance faculty at the Los Angeles County High School for theArts. He now teaches across the USA as well as abroad. As the Director of one of the hottest new performancecompanies, The Beverly Hills Outlook by Diane Monroe quotes, “The Ring of the Rose by Ballet Magique was the most thoroughly developed work on the program.”

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