Danielle Rowe Is Oregon Ballet Theatre’s Next Artistic Director

She will be the first woman to hold the position in the company’s nearly 35-year history.

Danielle Rowe (Courtesy of San Francisco Ballet)
By Bennett Campbell Ferguson

Oregon Ballet Theatre has announced Danielle Rowe as its new artistic director, making her the first woman to officially hold the position in the company’s nearly 35-year history.

“I am thrilled to join the Oregon Ballet Theatre team to cultivate the inquisitive and progressive energy of the company and the Portland community as we work together to thoughtfully reimagine a more inclusive and exhilarating future for ballet,” Rowe stated in a press release.

“Dani brings an inspiring and clear vision for the future of OBT and ballet,” added OBT board chair Cate Sweeney. “She has a deep well of creativity, a variety of experiences at the highest levels of dance internationally, and a personality that melds with OBT and our community.”

OBT audiences experienced Rowe’s choreography last year with Dreamland, which she contributed to the company’s spring program (interim artistic director Peter Franc invited Rowe; they were colleagues at Houston Ballet). Her tenure as artistic director will begin Feb. 27, as she joins recently appointed executive director Shane Jewell in charting the direction of the company.

Rowe began her career in 2001 with the Australian Ballet, where she became a principal dancer. She went on to dance with Christopher Wheeldon’s company Morphoses and Houston Ballet, then switched to contemporary dance and joined Nederlands Dans Theater. She is a revered choreographer (her accomplishments include premiering her piece MADCAP at San Francisco Ballet’s Next @90 Festival).

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