Our History

Tulsa Ballet was founded in 1956 by husband and wife, Roman Jasinski and Moscelyne Larkin, dancers internationally known for their style in the grand Ballet Russe tradition, and musician Rosalie Talbot. The artistic mission of the Company has remained constant throughout the years:
To combine the beauty and joy expressed by dance with the drama and entertainment of the theatre.
The Company has toured in thirty states, from California to New York , and throughout the world and has received consistent critical acclaim.

Another milestone in the company's history occurred when Marcello Angelini was appointed Artistic Director in 1995. A native of Naples , Italy , Angelini has performed as principal dancer and guest artist with some of the most renowned companies in the world. A graduate of the Kiev Institute of Dance in the former Soviet Union , Angelini's professional career spans nine countries and three continents. His love of dance, enthusiasm, knowledge and network of international dancers and choreographers has helped to shape the new direction of Tulsa Ballet.

With four productions annually in addition to The Nutcracker, Tulsa Ballet reaches over 48,000 individuals every season. For the last eleven seasons, under Angelini's leadership, the company has undertaken an ambitious repertory building program. During the past eleven years, Tulsa Ballet has added more then 60 new works to its repertory, works that were either Oklahoma Premieres, American Premieres or World Premieres.

The repertoire of the company today includes the majority of the 19 th century works, including August Bournonville's La Sylphide, Giselle, Swan Lake and the Nutcracker , all either re-staged or choreographed by Angelini, as well as Anna-Marie Holmes' Don Quixote and Galina Samsova's The Sleeping Beauty . To round up its full length works, Tulsa Ballet also has in its active repertoire Ronald Hynd's Rosalinda, Andre Prokowsky's Three Musketeers and Anna Karenina , Amedeo Amodio's Carmen , Christopher Wheeldon's A Midsummer Nights Dream , Val Caniparoli's Lady of the Camellias , Ben Stevenson's Cinderella and Michael Smuin's Tony Award Winning version of Romeo
and Juliet .

But this is just a part of the eclectic repertoire that has become the trademark of this organization. In fact, Tulsa Ballet is proud to be associated with, and have works by, some of the most prestigious choreographers in the world in addition to those mentioned above. Those choreographers include Leonide Massine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Kurt Jooss, John Butler, Nacho Duato (ten works), Val Caniparoli who is its resident choreographer (with seven works and four world premieres), Stanton Welch, Luciano Cannito, Young Soon Hue, Ma Cong, Lila York, Twila Tharp and many others.

In its first international tour in 2002, Tulsa Ballet was declared by the Portuguese national magazine Semanario “One of the best in the world.” The company has received two feature articles in Dance Magazine during the past seven years, has been featured in the New York Times , Pointe Magazine and Dance Europe among others.

This year the company celebrates its fiftieth anniversary season.