Biography of John Ollom

John Ollom received his training at Texas Christian University where he received his BFA in Ballet.   In ballet, he trained under Li Chou Cheng of the Beijing Ballet, Stephanie McFarland Rand, and Fernando Bujones of American Ballet Theatre and the Royal Ballet.   In contemporary dance, he trained under Ellen Paige Shelton, Susan Douglas Roberts of Contemporary Dance Ft Worth and Susan Haigler-Robles, PhD.   He also trained at the Colorado Ballet and Boston Ballet Summer Intensives under scholarship.   His strong partnering technique was under the tutelage of Irina von der Nonne of Pirouettes Productions, Inc.

         As a choreographer, John Ollom presented his new work the Other Species at the National Honors College Conference in Denver in November 2007.   More than 200 Honors Faculty and Students witnessed and gave great praise to this new work.   This new piece grew out of John's new methodology of Internal Landscapes that he has been creating out of work with private clients in New York City.   The first performance of Internal Landscapes took place on October 20, 2007 with the artist Amadeo Penalver in his LIVE III series that incorporated the work of the composer Jose Javier Pena, Jacob Milowski's video and the action painting of Amadeo Penalver with the choreography of Ollom Dance Theatre.  
(Reviews of this ambitious work by Alex Palmer can be found at http://www.lasplash.com/publish/Entertainment/cat_index_new_york_performances/Internal_Landscapes.php.)

Karpos and Kalamos , the love story from the dance theatre work, Love Stories of February 2007 is being produced as a short film in 2008.   Because of John's academic research in ancient myths, he was chosen as the choreographic consultant to Daniel Dutton's new work, the Faun in Kentucky in June 2007.

         In July 2005, John was chosen as one of ten artists from across the world to receive a residency grant from The Field and The Howard Gilman Foundation to create new works at the Baryshnikov Studio at the White Oaks Plantation.   He created three ballets which made up the full evening length work of   Anatomy of Woman.   In March 2006, his dance theatre piece Anatomy of Woman was presented at Lincoln Center's Clark Theatre and also toured to Port Washington, NY.  

         John has also choreographed the operas Dido and Aeneas and   Orfeo and Euridice.   He has choreographed musical theatre work for actors in The History of the American Film.   In May 2004, his choreography and performance in John Ollom's The Journey garnered a nomination for the Time Out New York's Dance Audience Award and rave reviews.

         As a teacher, John Ollom is the Professor of Ballet at CUNY HOSTOS Continuing Education and Professional Development Department and the Professor of Ballet at CUNY in the Heights.   John is also the Ballet Master and Dance Faculty Coordinator at McBurney Y since 2000.   John's methodology of Internal Landscapes has been presented at the class of Michelle Wang, PhD at Baruch College in November 2007 and   will be taught at the Kalani Retreat Center in Hawaii in March 2008 and the Easton Mountain Retreat Center in May 2008 (see workshop section for more details).   John Ollom is also the artistic director of the Ollom Dance Theatre Summer Dance Intensive at Smith College for the last five years. John's expertise in partnering has been presented at the Harkness Center for Dance at the 92nd St YMHA in the Professional Series and the Ballet Forte Dance Company in New Jersey.   He has also been a trained teaching artist for Michael Mao Dance for three seasons.

         As a performer, John has performed across Africa, China, and Europe.   He has danced with the Bolshoi Ballet in the Pharaoh's Daughter, Fort Worth/Dallas Ballet in La Valse, Cinderella, and Firebird.   He has been a guest artist with Catskill Ballet Theatre and Marya Kennett Ballet Theatre.   He has performed for three seasons with Michael Mao Dance and Annabella Gonzalez Dance Theatre.   He has performed the choreography of Diane Faye, Victoria Clark in the film Sullen Girl, Karen Brown, Doreen Cafarella, Irina von der Nonne and Fernando Bujones, just to name a few.