Francia Russell

Biography

Ms. Russell was born in Los Angeles and grew up in San Francisco, London and Nice. Her teachers included Felia Doubrovska, Antonina Tumkovsky, Vera Volkova, Robert Joffrey and George Balanchine. In 1956, Ms. Russell joined New York City Ballet, where she was promoted to soloist in 1959 and appointed ballet mistress in 1964. She was also a member of the faculty at the School of American Ballet and performed with Jerome Robbins' Ballets U.S.A. In the 1970s, she served as guest ballet master with most of the major European ballet companies. In 1975, she and Kent Stowell were named Co-Artistic Directors of the Frankfurt Ballet, posts they held until coming to Seattle in 1977.

Francia Russell has been Pacific Northwest Ballet's Artistic Director and Director of the School since 1977. She is responsible for the addition of the great works of George Balanchine to the Company's repertory. Ms. Russell, one of the first ballet masters chosen by Balanchine to stage his works, has now staged over 100 of his ballets throughout the United States and Europe. In 1987, she staged the first Balanchine ballet for the Shanghai Ballet in the People's Republic of China. During the 1988-89 season of the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad, she staged Theme and Variations. It was one of two historic first authorized performances of Balanchine works in the Soviet Union. Ms. Russell returned to Russia in 1998 to stage three Balanchine ballets, Serenade, Apollo and Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux at the Mariynsky Theatre in St. Petersburg.

As Director of Pacific Northwest Ballet School, Ms. Russell developed a curriculum that made it one of the top three professional dance institutions in the country. Currently, almost half of the dancers in the Company have studied in the School. In 1988, in conjunction with the career transition program for dancers initiated by PNB, she was appointed Affiliate Professor in the Division of Dance at the University of Washington.
Ms. Russell has served on the Board of Dance/USA and as a panelist and evaluator for the National Endowment for the Arts.

Awards

In 1989, she received the Washington State Governor's Arts Award. 
In 1996, she and Kent Stowell received the prestigious Dance Magazine Award, given to those who make significant contributions to dance during distinguished careers.
In 2003, she received an Honorary Doctorate of Humane Letters from Seattle University, and a Brava Award from the University Women's Club in Seattle.