Pedro Szalay - Artisitc Director

Pedro was born to Hungarian parents and is a native of La Guaira, Venezuela where he started dancing in a local school. He received a scholarship for Ballet Nacional de Caracas School and was later promoted to a company dancer for the National Ballet of Caracas. There he danced many of Nebrada's choreographed pieces. Later he traveled to New York City to be coached by Madame Darvish and performed with New York Dance Theatre. Szalay was a company dancer with the Richmond Ballet from 1996 to 2006 where he danced pieces from Stevenson, Orff, Canaporoli, Wainrot, Lang, Burn, Balanchine, Soleau, Winslett, and many others. He has also been a guest performer with the Latin Ballet of Virginia.

He has been a guest teacher throughout South Carolina as well as in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the Virginia School of the Arts, and Washington and Lee University. He served as a coach, choreographer for the School of Richmond Ballet and other Richmond, Virginia dance schools and was the artistic advisor for Chesterfield Ballet School. Szalay was a coach for the Wheel Chair Miss Richmond. He currently teaches at the Dance Centre of Southwest Virginia.

He has been with the Minds in Motion program of the Richmond Ballet since 2003. Since 2006 he had been instructing the Minds in Motion program in Martinsville, Virginia and in 2007 he brought the program to the City of Roanoke. As of January 2007, Szalay became Artistic director of Southwest Virginia Ballet in the Roanoke Valley. In 2009 he was awarded the Perry F. Kendig Awards for Outstanding Performing Artist and in 2010 named the Best Local Celebrity for Charity Events by the Roanoker Magazine.

Szalay's choreography credits include: The Long Christmas Ride Home, for Flournoy Playwright Festival, TIES: A Railroad Ballet, Cinderella, the Miss Richmond Pageant (2002-2003), and the Miss Virginia Pageant (2009-2011)

Abigail Williams - Rehearsal Assistant

Abigail is from Roanoke and received her training at The Dance Centre, formerly Post School of Ballet.  She has danced many leading roles, including Sugar Plum Fairy "The Nutcracker," Odette in "Swan Lake," Blue Bird and Fairy of the Crystal Fountain in "Sleeping Beauty." Abigail teaches ballet at the Dance Centre of Southwest Virginia and is an instructor with Minds in Motion, a Richmond Ballet-founded program in elementary schools in Roanoke and Salem.

 

 

 

Southwest Virginia Ballet is overseen by a volunteer Board of Directors.  Board members represent SVB with the highest standard of ethical conduct.  This means being correct from the standpoint of law, making sound financial decisions, and modeling honesty and integrity.

Executive Board
Pedro Szalay - Artistic Director
Executive Director - Mike Lawson
President - Nancy Kelderhouse
Vice President - Karen Kalbfleisch
Treasurer - Niki Justice
Secretary - Stacy Potter

Board Members	Backstage Coordinators
Shelby Bingham	Shelby Bingham - Boutique
Linda Doolittle	Denise Flemming - Membership
Jon Dorsey	Carol Jesse - Event Planner
Peter Jessee	Lenore Willis - Volunteer Coordinator
Beth Lewis
Sue Munson
Cristina Siegel
Larry Van Daventer
Nancy Simpson - Company Member