Choreography
Summer Lee Rhatigan
Teacher/artistic director, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance; former dancer with London Festival Ballet (now the English National Ballet), National Ballet of Canada, Oakland Ballet, LINES Ballet, and the San Francisco Opera Ballet
Biography
Throughout a professional dance career which spanned more than twenty years, Summer took advantage of every opportunity to develop and refine her teaching skills. She has taught virtually every level of student in settings as diverse as dance schools, universities, and professional dance companies (see Teaching Experience below).
During her dance career, Summer was a soloist and principal dancer with London Festival Ballet (now English National Ballet), Oakland Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, LINES Ballet, and the San Francisco Opera Ballet, as well as a guest artist with other dance companies internationally. She received her early training at the Elmhurst Ballet School in Surrey, England, and then the Royal Ballet School in London, and was the youngest winner at the time to receive the prestigious Adeline Genée Gold Medal.
While she was dancing, Summer had the privilege of working with many choreographers of distinction on the creation of new and existing works. Among these were Rudolf Nureyev, Agnes de Mille, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Léonide Massine, Sir Frederick Ashton, Robert North, Nicholas (Papa) Beriosov, Ruthanna Boris, John Butler, Mary Skeaping, Anna Sokolow, Ben Stevenson, Glen Tetley, Anthony Tudor, Tandy Beal, Ronald Hynd, Bronislava Nijinska, Michael Clark, John Hart, Matthew Hawkins, Barry Moreland, Dame Marie Rambert, Beryl Grey, John Field, Eugene Loring, Michael Corder and David Allan, as well as Bay Area choreographers Alonzo King, Michael Smuin, Ronn Guidi, Val Caniparoli, Carlos Carvajal, Betsy Erickson, Julia Adam, Lawrence Pech, Robert Moses, John Pasqualetti, Ron Thiele, Kirk Peterson, Tomi Paasonen, Alex Ketley, Christian Burns, Arturo Fernandez and Stephen Pelton.
Her classical repertoire included principal roles in Swan Lake, Giselle, Coppelia, Romeo and Juliet, Don Quixote, La Sylphide, Les Sylphides, The Sleeping Beauty, The Taming of the Shrew and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
Selected press quotes:
- “Rhatigan shapes the dance into coherent utterance—enigmatic, yet full of emotion” – The Village Voice
- “riveting” – San Francisco Chronicle
- “led with exciting brio” – The New York Times
- “exquisitely musical” – Oakland Tribune
- “commanding presence” – Toronto Sun
- “radiantly expressive” – Bay Area Reporter
- “[Rhatigan’s] sensual recklessness soared” – San Francisco Examiner
- “once the assoluta of the Oakland Ballet and currently filling that role with LINES Ballet” – San Francisco Examiner (2000)
"How creative can you be with vegetables?” Summer Lee Rhatigan asks ... " – A Different Breed of Ballet Teacher, Dance Teacher Magazine, January 2010 Cover Story. Read the story
Teaching Experience
San Francisco Conservatory of Dance – Artistic Director/Ballet Teacher, 2004-Present
Prior Teaching — Companies
- Joffrey Ballet Company, Guest Teacher
- Milwaukee Ballet, Guest Teacher
- Kansas City Ballet, Guest Teacher
- North Carolina Dance Theater, Guest Teacher
- Smuin Ballets/San Francisco, Guest Teacher
- Washington Ballet, Guest Teacher
Prior Teaching — Dance Schools
- LINES Ballet School & Pre-Professional Program, San Francisco, California – (Founding) Artistic Director and Ballet Teacher, 2002-2004
- San Francisco Dance Center, San Francisco, California – Faculty Member, 1988-2004
- City Ballet School, San Francisco, California – Faculty Member, 1990-1999
- The Performers Ballet & Jazz Company, Albuquerque, New Mexico – Guest Faculty Member, 1998-2002
- Marin Ballet School, San Rafael, California – Guest Faculty Member, 1992-2002
- The Washington Ballet School, Washington DC – Guest Teacher, 2009
- Marin Dance Theater, San Rafael, California – Guest Teacher, 1996-2004
- Pineapple Covent Garden, London, England – Guest Teacher, Summer 1981
Prior Teaching — University Master Classes
University of Utah; University of Michigan; University of Hawaii; University of Maryland; University of Arizona; Florida State University; George Mason University; Townsend University; Southern Methodist University; Brigham Young University; Texas Christian University; Cornish College of the Arts; Mt. Holyoke College; Skidmore College; University of California, Los Angeles; University of California, Santa Barbara; University of California, Irvine; California Institute of the Arts; California State University, Long Beach; California State University, Los Angeles; San Francisco State University
Prior Teaching — Other Master Classes
Booker T. Washington High School (Dallas); North Carolina School of the Arts; Orange County High School of the Arts; Los Angeles County High School for the Arts; Cornish Preparatory Dance (Seattle); and several dozen dance schools around the United States.
