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CLARICE GEISSEL-RATHERS enjoyed a 20 year dance career with Nevada Ballet Theatre beginning in 1983. She retired from the company as Principal Dancer in 2004.Clarice began ballet at the age of seven with the Ballet Petit Company under the supervision of Delores Kerr. The highlight of Clarice’s early dance training took place when she performed Stars and Stripes with the Air Force Symphony for the Kennedy Family. |
A graduate of North Carolina School of the Arts, Clarice went on to become a member of the Arizona Ballet Theatre and shortly thereafter, was promoted to Soloist. She later joined Ballet West, then under the direction of Bruce Marks. Clarice danced Demi-Soloist roles in William Christensen’s The Nutcracker . During this time, she also performed roles in Allegro Brilliante, Etudes, Serenade, Symphony in C, Concerto Barrocco, Carmina Burana, Billy the Kid and Giselle.
Clarice enjoyed a celebrated dance career, working under several famous choreographers and teachers including Sir Frederick Ashton, Eugene Loring, Toni Launders and Anton Dolin, as well as Louis Godfrey and Denise Schultz.
At Nevada Ballet Theatre, Clarice worked her way through the ranks to become a Principal Dancer and performed such roles as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake , Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker , Aurora in Sleeping Beauty , as well as lead roles in Carmen, Anna Karenina and Paquita . Clarice also danced principal roles in Bruce Steivel’s Romeo and Juliet, Coppelia, Giselle and Peter Pan .
Nevada Ballet Theatre also created several works especially for Clarice including Vassili Sulich’s Afternoon of a Faun and Steven Jenkins’s Dream Dimension .
In addition, Clarice was awarded the Governor’s Arts Award in 1993 for Distinguished Service to the Arts. Currently, Clarice is back with Nevada Ballet Theater as Ballet Mistress and interim Artistic Director.