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Mark Godden enjoys a free-lance career from his home in Montreal. He
studied theater at Carnegie-Melon University and dance in Denton, Texas
before being accepted into the Royal Winnipeg Ballet Professional
Division. In 1984, Artistic Director Arnold Spohr invited Godden to join
the Royal Winnipeg Ballet. In 1989, he was appointed soloist under the
direction of the late Henry Jurriens. At RWB, Godden danced many leading
roles in ballets by Petipa, Balanchine, Martins, DeMille, Tudor, van Manen,
van Danzig, and Kylian.
Godden began choreographing in 1987. In 1989, he was the recipient of the
Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award. This award from The Banff Centre led to his first commission for the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Sequoia.
The RWB toured Sequoia
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Photo:
David Cooper |
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through-out Canada, the US, the Soviet
Union, Hungary, West Germany, Holland and East Berlin. In 1990, Godden won
top honors for his pas de deux, Myth, at the International Ballet
Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. In 1991, he shared 2nd prize prize for his
pas de deux, La Princesse et le Soldat, at the International
Ballet Competition in Helsinki, Finland.
He was the Royal Winnipeg Ballets Resident Choreographer (1990-1993)
appointed by Artistic Director John Meeham and after leaving Winnipeg in
1994, Godden created seventeen ballets for RWB.
Godden has created ballets for Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, Boston
Ballet, American Ballet Theatre-Studio company, Ballet British Columbia,
Alberta Ballet, Ballet Jörgen, Compania National de Danza Mexico, Ballet
Florida, BalletMet, and the Santa Fe Festival Ballet. He was recipient of
the Choo San Goh Choreography Award in 1997. Aside from staging two
ballets for Indiana University's dance department, he is also the
Permanent Guest Choreographer for The Harid Conservatory.
Some of Godden's most notable ballets include: Dracula (Mahler), Conversation
Piece (Beethoven), Minor Threat (Mozart), Miroirs
(Ravel), A Darkness Between Us (Webern), Angels in the
Architecture (Copland), The Rite of Spring (Stravinsky) and Symphony
#1 (Rouse). |
