Master Ballet Teacher
Born and raised in Miami, Florida, Garielle Whittle began her dance training with Thomas Armour and Martha Mahr. At age 15, ballerina Violette Verdy awarded her a Ford Foundation Scholarship to the School of American Ballet where she studied with Alexandra Danilova, Felia Doubrovska, Antonina Tumkovsky, Muriel Stuart, Helene Dudin, Stanley Williams and Andre Eglevsky.
In 1969, Garielle was personally invited by George Balanchine to join the New York City Ballet. She danced with the company under Mr. Balanchine’s direction for 14 years, performing in over fifty ballets by Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Ballets including Serenade, Symphony in C, The Four Temperaments, La Valse, Episodes, The Cage, Theme and Variations, Jewels, Emeralds & Diamonds, Chaconne, The Concert, Le Tombeau de Couperin, Western Symphony, Vienna Waltzes, Symphony in 3 Movements, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, and Monumentum Pro Gesualdo & Movements for Piano and Orchestra.
In 1983, she retired from dancing and joined the faculty at The School of American Ballet where she taught nine levels of students for thirty years. She personally transcribed and annotated the first seven years of SAB’s syllabus and instructed all new teachers in that syllabus. She auditioned all new students seeking enrollment in SAB and as a principal auditioner traveled nationally to evaluate students for SAB’s Summer Course. In 1997 Peter Martins awarded her the Mae L. Wien Faculty Award for Distinguished Service.
From 1983-2012 Garielle was also the Children’s Ballet Mistress for The New York City Ballet, staging and rehearsing SAB students in roles for all Balanchine, Robbins, Wheeldon and Martins ballets. She also staged the children’s roles of the Balanchine and Robbins repertoire for San Francisco Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, The Semperoper Ballet of Dresden, Germany and in Tokyo, Japan.
Ms. Whittle is a repetiteur for the The George Balanchine Trust, The Jerome Robbins Trust, and for Christopher Wheeldon. She is available for private classes, master classes, company classes, coaching, teacher workshops, audition videos and lecture demonstrations.
