Allen Fields Director & Choreographer
A native of Pinehurst, North Carolina, Mr. Fields began his dance training at the North Carolina School of the Arts after winning the prestigious Sanford Scholar Award. He then trained at the American Ballet Theatre School and Ballet Arts Carnegie Hall in New York. He studied with many of the country’s finest ballet teachers: Wilhelm Burmann, David Howard, Ivan Nagy, and Melissa Hayden. He has worked with such luminaries as America’s ballerina Cynthia Gregory, actress-dancer Gwen Verdon, opera singer Samuel Ramey, mega star Madonna, and Academy Award-winning actress Geena Davis.

Mr. Fields made international guest appearances in South America, Europe, Canada, and Mexico. He danced with such companies as the Ohio Ballet, Eglevsky Ballet, Ballet du Nord in France, Atlanta Ballet, Newport News Ballet, Phoenix Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and was principal dancer with the Cleveland San Jose Ballet. He danced the role of Snow Prince in several productions of the Chicago Tribune Charities Nutcracker.

His performing repertoire included leading roles in the works of Agnes de Mille, George Balanchine, Jose Limon, Dennis Nahat, Lar Lubovitch, Flemming Flindt, Antony Tudor, and Leonide Massine.

Artistic Director of the Minnesota Ballet from 1992 to 2007, Mr. Fields is credited with raising the company’s national prestige; leading it on its first international tour, to El Salvador; and developing a repertoire of works in styles from classical ballets to jazz to ballroom, in addition to the story ballets Coppelia, Cinderella, and The Nutcracker. Under his direction the Minnesota Ballet added masterworks to its repertoire including those by Antony Tudor, Agnes de Mille, and George Balanchine. In 2005 the Duluth News Tribune pronounced the company on its 40th anniversary Minnesota’s premier classical ballet company and a regional dance powerhouse.

Mr. Fields has received many honours, including the 2004 George Morrison Artist Award from the Arrowhead Regional Arts Council in Minnesota and the 2007 Lifetime Artist Award from the Depot Foundation in Duluth, Minnesota. He has also served on the Series Presenter Panel for the Minnesota State Arts Board.

His career has taken him many directions. He has served as Adjunct Professor in the Theatre Department at the University of Minnesota Duluth; Artist in Residence at the Minnesota Conservatory of the Arts, St. Marys University of Minnesota; and taught master classes nationally and internationally. For the Duluth Playhouse he has directed the highly praised productions of Cats, My Fair Lady, and Beauty and the Beast. For Ballet Arkansas, he has served as visiting artist to stage his much-loved production of The Nutcracker. His most recent project for the Minnesota Ballet is creating a new Nutcracker production set in Manhattan in the early 1900s.

Pinocchio is Mr. Fields third production with Children’s Dance Theatre DT. In autumn 2009, he produced and directed, The Chocolate Factory and in spring of 2010 he produced and directed, Coppelia.

He is also an accomplished painter, antique collector, and is thrilled to be teaching for Ballet4Life this autumn. Please sign up for his classes and discover a whole new way of moving!

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