ALONZO KING
Alonzo King (Choreographer, Artistic Director) is a visionary choreographer, who is altering the way we look at ballet. King calls his works ‘thought structures’ which are created by the manipulation of energies inherent in matter, through laws that govern the shapes and movement directions of everything that exists.

King has works in the repertories of the Swedish Royal Ballet, Ballets de Monte Carlo, Béjart Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Alvin Ailey, Hong Kong Ballet, NCDT, and Washington Ballet. He has worked extensively in opera, television, and film. Known for collaborations, King’s seminal works include People of the Forest (2001), choreographed with BaAka artists from Central African Republic, and Long River High Sky (2007), with China’s Shaolin Monks. He has collaborated with actor Danny Glover, legendary jazz saxophonist Pharaoh Sanders, Hamza al Din, Pawel Szymanski, jazz composer Jason Moran, and tabla master Zakir Hussain. Renowned for his skill as a teacher, King has been guest ballet master for dance companies around the globe.

San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom presented the Mayor’s Art Award to Alonzo King in 2008, calling him a “San Francisco treasure.” That year Alonzo King was also honored with the Jacob's Pillow Creativity Award, in recognition of his contribution to "moving ballet in a very 21st-century direction." In 2006, King received the US Artists award, just after being given New York’s Bessie Award for Choreographer/Creator in 2005. He is also the recipient of the NEA Choreographer's Fellowship, Irvine Fellowship in Dance, National Dance Project and the National Dance Residency Program, and five Isadora Duncan Awards. Additional honors include the Hero Award from Union Bank, the Los Angeles Lehman Award, the Excellence Award from KGO, and the San Francisco Foundation's 2007 Community Leadership Award.

In 2005, he was named a Master of Choreography by the Kennedy Center. He is a former commissioner for the city and county of San Francisco, and a writer and lecturer on the art of dance. He was awarded the Green Honors Chair Professorship from Texas Christian University, and holds honorary Doctorates from Dominican University of California and California Institute of the Arts.