Michael Uthoff is an internationally renowned choreographer, producer, teacher and dancer.

He returns to Dance St. Louis, where he served as executive and artistic director from 2006-2016 and worked in an advisory capacity during the 2016-17 season. As the newly appointed artistic director, Uthoff will manage Dance St. Louis’ artistic endeavors and programming, education residency, community engagement, and co-curate forthcoming seasons.

During Uthoff’s previous tenure at Dance St. Louis, he created the acclaimed SPRING TO DANCE® Festival, Dance Education Residency Program, and New Dance Horizons, an annual production that paired local dance companies with nationally recognized choreographers. The esteemed recognition of New Dance Horizons led to the creation of a similar project at the Carlsen Center at Johnson County Community College in Overland Park, Kansas, where Uthoff is artistic director for New Dance Partners. Uthoff is also a visiting lecturer in dance at Webster University in St. Louis, where he has taught since 2010. From 2017-19, he was a consultant for Saint Louis Ballet.

Born in Santiago, Chile, to former dancers, Ernst Uthoff and Lola Botka, both of the Jooss Ballet and founders of the Chilean National Ballet, Michael Uthoff started dancing after high school and a year later arrived in New York to attend the Juilliard School of Music, School of American Ballet, and Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance. He danced with the José Limón Company and was a principal dancer with the Joffrey Ballet.

Prior to moving to St. Louis in 2006, Uthoff was artistic director of Ballet Arizona. Before that he was the founder of Hartford Ballet, where he served as the artistic director for 20 years. During his time with Hartford Ballet, he developed the company into a national institution that toured throughout 49 states. He also commissioned works by both new and established choreographers, and created more than 100 ballets for the company himself.

Uthoff created his first dance for the Joffrey Ballet in 1967, and since then his ballets have entered the repertory of companies all over the world. His large-scale works include The Nutcracker, Coppelia, Hansel and Gretel, Alice in Wonderland, Awakening, Dias de Muertos, and Romeo and Juliet. He has directed opera and choreographed for opera companies internationally, and has served on the board of Dance USA and panels of the National Endowment for the Arts.

Uthoff has received several awards, including the Chilean North American Institute's Distincción Ernst Uthoff Award in 2007; the Arts & Education Council’s Excellence in Arts Award in 2013; and the Dean’s Award for Lifetime Achievement in the Arts from University of Missouri-St. Louis in 2015. He also holds an honorary doctorate in fine arts from the University of Missouri-St. Louis. He was awarded a Laureate degree from St. Joseph’s College in Hartford, Connecticut.

Uthoff’s career as guest teacher, choreographer, and artistic advisor is vast. It includes entities such as the government of Chile, the Shanghai Ballet of China, the California Ballet of San Diego, Portland Opera Performing Institute, Andanza Dance Company of Puerto Rico, the Ballet Estable of the Teatro Colon in Buenos Aires, Argentina, where he held the post of artistic director, and his own Michael Uthoff Dance Theatre, which premiered in 2003.

PHOTO CREDIT
(Top) New York City Ballet, In Creases, Ensemble. Photo by Paul Kolnik.