SELECTION COMMITTEE
Before each USA International Ballet Competition, a panel of three internationally-accomplished dance experts convenes to view and assess the applications of potential competitors. After critiquing the videos and applications submitted, the competitor selection committee chooses about 100 dancers who will compete on the USA IBC stage. This year, our esteemed panel included Ethan Stiefel, Ravenna Tucker and William Whitener.
Ethan Stiefel, born in Pennsylvania, is a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Dean of The School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts.
He has been a guest teacher for many institutions include the American Ballet Theatre II, American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, The National Ballet of Canada and The Royal Ballet School. He frequently teaches master classes internationally; was artistic director of Ballet Pacifica and a juror for the Prix de Lausanne in 2001.
His Royal Highness Crown Prince Albert of Monaco presented Mr. Stiefel with the Statue Award of the Princess Grace Foundation, the foundation’s highest honor, in October 1999. He received the prestigious Dance Magazine Award in December of 2008.
Ravenna Tucker was born in Malaysia and began dance in Hong Kong with the Christine Liao School of Dancing under Paula Lau. In 1978 she won the Adeline Genée Gold Medal Competition, and in 1979, the French Foundation Prize at the Prix de Lausanne.
She joined The Royal Ballet in 1979, and was in 1984 named “Dancer of the Year” by Dance and Dancers magazine. Ms. Tucker was promoted to principal dancer with The Royal Ballet in 1985.
She has served on various committees including the Dance Association (Singapore) / World Dance Alliance, Singapore Dance Theatre Artistic Committee, and as a board member for TALK Dance Co (Jackson).
Certified in R.A.D., C.S.T.D. (Children’s Syllabus), Pilates, and holding a Masters of Creative Industries from Queensland University of Technology in Australia, Tucker presently serves as Associate Professor of Dance at Belhaven University in Jackson, Mississippi. Ravenna is married to Stan Wagnon.
William Whitener was appointed artistic director of the Kansas City Ballet in November 1996. He has been active in the professional dance field for three decades as a renowned dancer, teacher, choreographer and director. He has also worked with the leaders who shaped the face of contemporary American ballet, including Robert Joffrey, Jerome Robbins, and Twyla Tharp.
Mr. Whitener has served as artistic director of both Canada’s Royal Winnipeg Ballet and Les Ballets Jazz de Montreal. He has been a member of the faculties of Harvard University, University of Washington, Concord Academy, and Pacific Northwest Ballet.
He was nominated for the National Corporate Fund for Dance American Choreographer Award and served as an evaluator and advisory committee member for the USA International Ballet Competition 2006 in Jackson, Mississippi. Whitener has served on the dance panels for National Endowment for the Arts, Pew Charitable Trust Fund, Bush Foundation, New England Foundation for the Arts, and others. In May 2008, he served as a member of the jury panel for the International Ballet Prize, BENOIS DE LA DANSE at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.