Igal Perry

Igal Perry began his dancing career with Karmon, a folk dance company in Israel. He joined the Bat-Dor Dance Company, where he trained in both classical ballet and Graham technique, and worked with leading teachers and choreographers including Inessa Alexandrovich, Benjamin Harkarvy, John Butler, Rudi Van Dantzig, Alvin Ailey, Paul Sanasardo, and Lar Lubovitch.

Following a year in Holland Where he studied with Richard Gibson at Netherlands Dance Theatre and worked as ballet master with Rotterdams Danscentrum, he returned to Bat-Dor as rehearsal director and choreographer. In 1976 he came to the United States and joined Dennis Wayne’s Dancers as ballet master and choreographer. During that period, he staged John Butler’s work for the New York City Opera, the Opera of Munich, Caracas Ballet and Teatro Alla Scala in Milan, where he also directed the world premiere of Krzysztof Penderecki’s opera Paradise Lost. Mr. Perry’s first full evening of ballets, Chromatic Motions, was presented in 1979 in collaboration with the Manhattan School of Music.

In 1981 and 1982 he headed the ballet department at Jacob’s Pillow, and then helped with the formation of the Clive Thompson Dance Company, which he co-directed for it’s first year. In 1983 Igal Perry celebrated the opening of the Peridance Center, his dream school which provides a nurturing and professional environment for all dancers. A year after the opening of his school, he founded his dance company, The Peridance Ensemble, which has been praised for its "combination of joyousness and serious intent".

In recent years, Mr. Perry’s international engagements as a teacher and choreographer have included The Scapino Ballet (Holland), Laterna Magica (Prague), and the Kwang-Ju City Ballet Company (Korea), where he also serves as Artistic Director for the Kwang-Ju International Ballet Competition. Mr. Perry’s works are in the repertories of companies throughout the world, including the Batsheva and Bat-Dor Dance Companies (Israel), Companhia de Danca de Lisboa (Portugal), and Alberta Ballet (Canada).

In December 1999 Perry celebrated the 15th anniversary of the Peridance Ensemble with a critically acclaimed season at the Kaye Playhouse in New York, featuring several new creations. His ballet "Eye of the Storm" which was created for this season was later acquired by the Milwaukee Ballet for their 2001 "Opposites Attract" Series. Other recent productions include "Mourning Song", premiered by the Juilliard Dance Ensemble in February 1998, "Accord/Discord" and "Sudden Void" commissioned by Bat Dor Dance Company in Israel to original scores by Israeli composer Avner Dorman.