Dance Past Faculty

Noah Gelber

Noah Gelber headshot

About

Noah Gelber was born in New York City and began his dance and singing training there at the age of 5. He attended the High School of Performing Arts and the Professional Children's School. He studied for 11 years at the School of American Ballet, performing often with the New York City Ballet. At 16, Noah became principal guest-artist with the American Ballet Company, dancing numerous lead roles from the Balanchine repertoire. He performed in a New York production of ‘West Side Story’ before leaving the U.S. to pursue his career in Europe.

Noah earned widespread critical acclaim for his speed, dynamism and technical precision, plus the ability to excel in the classical ballet genre as well as inspire contemporary choreographers. He was a soloist with the Royal Ballet of Flanders (Antwerp, Belgium) for 3 years, then toured the U.S. and Mexico as a principal guest-artist before William Forsythe invited him to the Frankfurt Ballet.

Over 8 seasons of dancing with William Forsythe, he performed the greater portion of the Frankfurt Ballet’s repertoire, notably premiering in the original cast of “The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude”. Most recently, Noah appeared as an invited guest in numerous international ballet galas around the globe, performing solos and pas de deux created especially for him by William Forsythe and other notable choreographers.

Expert in the complex improvisation techniques Forsythe utilizes, Noah was chosen as an ambassador to demonstrate examples of these on the ‘William Forsythe Improvisation Technologies’ CD-ROM. He is regularly invited to conduct master classes and workshops teaching these improvisation modalities at international institutions.

Noah was active in the choreographic processes at the Frankfurt Ballet, creating considerable solo and pas de deux material contained in some Forsythe pieces. His most recent choreographic premiers were 2 large-scale productions for the Kirov Ballet at the Mariinsky Theater.

His very first story ballet, ‘The Overcoat’ after Nikolai Gogol (2006), won St. Petersburg’s ‘Golden Lantern’ award for Best Ballet of the year, and a ‘Golden Mask’ - Russia’s highest theatrical prize. His other creations include ‘The Golden Age’ for the Mariinsky Ballet, ‘Object Ours’ for dancers of the Royal Ballet, ‘Running Time’ duet, and his own solos ‘Gnos Naos’ and ‘Opus 3/1-3’. These choreographic works have been presented in Moscow, St. Petersburg, New York, London, Montreal, Tel Aviv and Frankfurt. Noah also has choreographed for the TV show ‘Born to Dance’ in Israel.

Since 1997 while still dancing, Noah has maintained the responsibility of Choreographic Assistant for 12 different ballets from William Forsythe's repertoire. The companies with which he has collaborated includes the Royal Ballet, Mariinsky (Kirov) Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, La Scala Ballet, Nederlans Dans Teater (The Hague), Royal Swedish Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Ballet de Monte Carlo, Vienna State Ballet, Lyon Opera Ballet, Berlin State Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, National Ballet of Portugal, Compañia Nacional de Danza (Madrid), Scottish Ballet, Ballet du Grand Theatre (Geneva), Ballet de Marseille, Bavarian State Ballet (Munich), Zurich Ballet, Basel Ballet, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Perm Tchaikovsky State Ballet, Yekatrinburg State Ballet, National Ballet of the Republic of Belarus (Minsk), Badische State Ballet (Karlsruhe), Ballet am Rhein (Düsseldorf), Les Grands Ballets Canadiens (Montreal), Hannover Ballet, Sao Paulo Dance Company, Ballet de Lorraine (Nancy), Queensland Ballet (Brisbane), Introdans (Arnhem), Israel Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater and Dortmund Ballet (Germany).