Assistant Artistic Director
Cleveland, Ohio
Russell Kaiser was born in Cleveland, Ohio and raised in Seattle, Washington. He began his dance training at the age of five and entered the School of Pacific Northwest Ballet at age 13 studying under the direction of former New York City Ballet dancers Kent Stowell and Francia Russell. In 1984, Russell entered the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet, and was asked to join the Company one year later. As a member of the corps de ballet he danced a variety of principal, soloist and corps roles by such choreographers as George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Twyla Tharp, and Richard Tanner among others.
Russell retired from dancing in 1996 was invited by Peter Martins, current Ballet Master in Chief of the New York City Ballet, to become a Ballet Master with the Company. In addition to this, Russell also rehearsed ballets by Balanchine, Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon and Eliot Feld and assisted Mr. Martins in the scheduling of the NYCB’s performances as well as teaching company class. Russell has staged Mr. Martins' works on numerous companies around the world including Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, The Royal Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Ballet Florida and Atlanta Ballet as well as staging Balanchine works for the Balanchine Trust. Russell joined Boston Ballet in 2009 as Assistant Artistic Director to Mikko Nissinen teaching company classes and rehearsals as well as staging works on the company and overseeing Boston Ballet II, Boston Ballet’s second company.
