Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s Founding Artistic Director Nicolas Petrov
NICOLAS PETROV, PhD
PBT’s Founding Artistic Director | 1969 – 1977
As Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre concludes our 55th Emerald Anniversary celebration, we recognize and honor Nicolas Petrov, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s founding artistic director.
Nicolas was born in Yugoslavia in 1933, and studied ballet in Belgrade, joining Opera Ballet of Belgrade after graduation. At 19, he moved to Paris, where he danced professionally, and worked with many ballet luminaries of the day. He immersed himself in the arts, and honed other talents – he choreographed, directed and produced for ballet, film and television. He founded his own company, Ballet Petrov, and continued to perform with companies across the world.
In 1967, Nicolas and his wife, Mary, also an accomplished dancer, arrived in Pittsburgh to take the helm of the dance program at the Pittsburgh Playhouse. Other local arts organizations also welcomed his talent: the Pittsburgh Opera appointed him choreographer for the company, and Point Park College (now University) invited him to create what is now their nationally renowned dance department. Nicolas is currently Professor Emeritus at Point Park.
During these early years, he began training a corps of dancers, laying the groundwork for a professional ballet company for the city. In 1968, Nicolas met Loti Falk, a Pittsburgh arts patron and philanthropist. She attended a summer performance by the Playhouse ballet company and, while not a ballet lover at the time, she certainly became one after having seen Nicolas’s company of artists. In the fall of 1969, Nicolas and Loti founded Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre.
During his time at PBT, Nicolas brought many of the great classical ballets and dozens of contemporary works to Pittsburgh audiences. He also brought acclaimed artists to dance with and mentor the company – Edward Villella, Violette Verdy, Natalia Makarova, Ruth Page, Leonide Massine, Freddie Franklin and more. And he choreographed and created numerous original ballets, including the nation’s first Romeo and Juliet set to the Prokofiev orchestral score.
In 1977, Nicolas stepped down from his role at PBT to focus on the dance department at Point Park. He later became director of the Dance Division of Fine, Applied and Performing Arts and continued to teach and inspire students for more than 40 years. We are incredibly proud that, 55 years later, we have the capacity to continue the legacy that he first imagined.
