More Change for Pennsylvania Ballet

There has been tremendous turnover at Pennsylvania Ballet in the last few months, starting in May with the resignation of long-time artistic director Roy Kaiser. Executive director Michael Scolamiero soon followed, moving on to Miami City Ballet.

In July, the company announced that former American Ballet Theatre star and former artistic director of Barcelona Ballet, Ángel Corella, would step in as the new artistic director.

Now, the Philadelphia Inquirer has reported that the PAB board of directors has let go of most of the company’s senior artistic staff. Recently retired principal Julie Diana and her husband Zachary Hench have replaced ballet master Jeffrey Gribler and ballet mistress Tamara Hadley.

Arantxa Ochoa, Pennsylvania Ballet School’s principal instructor, will replace William DeGregory as the director of the school, and the company is still searching for a new director for Pennsylvania Ballet II.

Pennsylvania Ballet has committed itself to a serious makeover, and it will be interesting to see the effect of all these changes as the season continues.