Guest Artist for Fabric of Dance 3D
Lydia
Roberts Coco,
A native of Chesapeake, VA., Mrs. Coco was a principal dancer with the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, The Jamison Project, and the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble. She has performed over fifty ballets including such works as Revelations, Pas De Duke, Carmina Burana, The River, Episodes and Vespers. Mrs. Coco has worked with numerous famed choreographers such as Alvin Ailey, Judith Jamison, Ulysses Dove, Jerome Robbins, Donald Byrd, George Faison, Talley Beatty, Donald McKayle, Elisa Monte, Lar Lubovitch. Ms. Coco, the proud mother of three, currently teaches Modern Dance at VBT Academy and is on faculty for VBT's Athlete's for Kids Program; she began dancing with VBT professionally in 2006.
Duncan
Cooper,
Growing up with family on both coasts of the United States, Mr. Cooper considers
both to have been equal influences to his upbringing, though currently he lives
in New York City. Mr. Cooper started dancing at the age of five, when he began
taking ballet classes at Richard Thomas' New York School of Ballet. At the age
of thirteen, Mr. Cooper received a full scholarship to train at the San
Francisco Ballet School. He then became a recipient of the Robert Kirby
Scholarship, as well as, the first to receive the Lew Christensen Scholarship
for best male dancer.
In 1989 he bypassed the obligatory apprenticeship year, where in he was made a
full company member with San Francisco Ballet. During his five years with San
Francisco Ballet, Mr. Cooper danced a wide range of the repertoire. From
1995-2004, Mr. Cooper was a Principle Dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem, where
he danced leading roles in such ballets as Balanchine's Apollo, Prodigal Son,
Agon, Allegro Brilliante; Albrecht in Creo, Giselle; Robbins' Fancy Free;
Holders Dougla and Firebird, Ashton's Thais pas de Deux; Glenn Tetley's Sphinx
and Dialogues; Smuin's A Song For Dead Warriors and St. Louis Blues.
Notable guest appearances have included being invited to dance leading roles in
Stars and Stripes for New York City Ballet's Balanchine Centennial Celebration,
playing the part of Apollo in Central Park's Summer Stage Balanchine Centennial
Tribute, Birmingham Royal Ballet's Ashton & Balanchine Gala, Dance Brazil's
Festival in Bahia, Rebecca Kelly Ballet's 25th Anniversary; POP & Macbeth - in
Dances Patrelle Macbeth, Ballet New York, Configuration Dance and Grave's &
Friends.
Mr. Cooper continues to be a frequent guest artist, teacher, coach &
choreographer across the country; he also is on staff with Virginia Ballet
Theatre's Athletes for Kids program. Mr. Cooper has been a guest artist with
Virginia Ballet Theatre since 1998.
Norbert Nirewicz,
A native of Poland Norbert began his ballet studies at the National Ballet School in Gdansk. He was a finalist in Poland's national Ballet Competition in 1993 and obtained a silver medal in the same competition in 1995. As a Dancer for the Polish National Theater he portrayed roles in a variety of classical ballets such as "Swan Lake","Giselle","Sleeping Baeuty" and "La Fille Mal Gardee" in Warsaw and throughout Europe. In 1997 Mr. Nirewicz joined Ballet Classico de Camara in Venezuela, as a Principal Dancer adding "La Bayadere", "Le Corsaire" and many more to his repertoire. After Mr. Nirewicz competed at the 1998 US International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi, he was offered a contract to join Cleveland/San Jose Ballet. He performed with the company for two seasons in Nahat's "Blue Suede Shoes" and Roland Petit's "Carmen" garnering public and critical acclaim. In the Summer of 2000 Norbert competed in New York International Ballet Competition where he was a finalist. After two seasons with Cleveland/San Jose Ballet Mr. Nirewicz joined Columbia City Ballet with a Principal contract where he performed in "Don Quichote" and "Dracula" among the others. Since 2002 Norbert has been working as a Free Lance Dancer, Teacher and Choreographer adding many more ballets to his repertory such as "Apollo", "Who Cares", "Allegro Brilliante", "Combat", "Serenade", "Chaykowski Pas de Deux, "Romeo&Juliet" to name the few as well as taught numerous Master Classes, Company Classes and Summer Intensive Workshops through out the country.
Jacqueline Damico-
Ms. Damico is a native of Carlisle, PA. She trained at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet under the instruction of Marcia Dale Weary. Ms. Damico studied from 1995 until 2005 when she was accepted at the School of American Ballet in New York City. There she performed leading roles in several of Balanchine’s works. For the 2006 New York City Ballet’s Lecture Demonstrations, Jackie was chosen by Katrina Killian to perform the Pas de Duex in George Balanchine’s “Tarantella” and Russian principle in Balanchine’s Serenade for New York City Ballet’s special tribute to Balanchine. Ms. Damico has received many scholarships in such places as ABT Bermuda, Steifel and Students, Chautauqua Festival, and Miami City Ballet. She has performed a wide variety of works by choreographers such as George Balanchine, Christopher Stowell, Alan Hineline, Jessica Lange, among others. In 2007, she was awarded a contract with the Oregon Ballet Theatre. This is Jacqueline's first appearance as a guest artist with The Lexington Ballet.