Donate in Honor of Michael Fothergill, Executive and Artistic Director

Michael was introduced to dance at the young age of 7 while attending the Betty Hill Dance Studios in Des Moines, Iowa. He furthered his training with Robert Thomas and Miyoko Kato of the Harkness and Joffrey Ballets at the Robert Thomas Dancenter. He was a full scholarship recipient of the Milwaukee Ballet School, Boston Ballet School, and the School of American Ballet and completed his training with American Ballet Theatre following an early graduation from high school,

Michael's 20-year's career as a dancer took him across the United States, Europe, and Asia. He performed leading roles in the classics and in prominent works by Ashton, Balanchine, Baryshnikov, De Mille, Dow, Duato, Fokine, Fosse, Gamonet, KyliÃÆ'Æ'Æ'ÃÆ'ââ'¬ 'ÃÆ'Æ'ââ'¬ 'ÃÆ'Æ'Æ''ÃÆ'Æ''ÃÆ''Ã'Ã'¡n, Massine, MacMillan, Nureyev, Prokovsky, Robbins, Tharp, Tudor, Van Fleteren, and others. Michael graced stages from Milwaukee to Tokyo until his retirement as a principal dancer and choreographer with the Alabama Ballet in 2017. Succeeding Michael Bearden, Michael was named Artistic Director of Ballet Arkansas in the same year, and appointed Executive and Artistic Director in 2018.

Since that time, Michael has transformed the organization's vision, image, and programming, eliminated its debt, and doubled its gross operating budget to exceed 1M USD. Ballet Arkansas now presents a vibrant repertory of the classics, celebrated works of American dance, and premieres by some of the world's most daring dancemakers.