February 20, 2006

Oleg Briansky and Mireille Briane, co-founders and co-directors of Briansky Saratoga Ballet, have been chosen as the chairs of the National Honorary Committee for the USA International Ballet Competition (USA IBC), which will take place at Thalia Mara Hall from June 17-July 2, 2006.

“In view of their extensive background as dancers and teachers of ballet, Oleg and Mireille were natural choices for the national honorary committee chairs for 2006,” said Sue Lobrano, executive director of the USA IBC. “We are honored that they have accepted this position, and we look forward to working with them as we prepare for the eighth USA IBC.”

Briansky has performed with such renowned companies as the Ballet des Champs-Elysees, the Ballet de Paris, London Festival Ballet (English National Ballet), the New York Metropolitan Opera Ballet, the Munich Opera Ballet, the Teatro Colon of Buenos Aires and the Chicago Opera Ballet. He has partnered many leading ballerinas including Margot Fonteyn, Maria Tallchief and Violette Verdy. Briansky has also served on the jury of the Prix de Lausanne and ballet competitions in Nyon, Switzerland and Osaka, Japan. He has acted as the associate artistic director of the Ballet de Rio de Janeiro and as the artistic director of “Children of Theatre Street,” an Academy-Award-nominated documentary. His previous experience with the USA IBC includes performing as the master of ceremonies at the 1986 competition.

Briansky has directed principal dancers from New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada. His ballets “Scheherazade” and “The Firebird” are in the repertory of Ballet Memphis and Southern Ballet Theatre in Orlando.

Briansky also served as a consultant on the yet-to-be-distributed documentary titled “Bringing Balanchine Back,” which was shot in St. Petersburg, Russia in 2003.

Briane began her training with the Paris Opera Ballet and performed in the famous children’s ballet “L’Eventail de Jeanne.” At sixteen, she became a principal dancer at the Grand Theatre of Bordeaux, France. Since then, she has appeared with the Ballets de Paris, the Chicago Opera Ballet and London Festival Ballet.

Briane has also directed children’s ballets for Radio Television Francaise and created a year-long series of educational ballet programs for Britain’s Independent Radio Television. She also led her own ballet school in London. As choreographer of “The Nutcracker” for the Ballet de Rio de Janeiro, she guided a cast of more than 250, later restaging the production for both the Garden State Ballet and the Omaha Ballet.

Lured back to the United States by George Balanchine, Briane joined the faculty of the School of American Ballet (the official school of the New York City Ballet) and continued on to teach at the Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Alvin Ailey School of Dance. She is also currently co-director of the Ballet Guild of the Lehigh Valley in Bethlehem, Penn.