Myron Johnson is the Founder and Artistic Director of Ballet of the Dolls. Myron’s background is varied and has included a variety of disciplines. He started in theater and dance at the age of 7, training and performing with The Children’s Theatre Company and Minnesota Dance Theatre. He also trained in Paris with Marcel Marceau and at The Paris Opera Ballet. In NYC he studied with Maggie Black, Luigi and New York Conservatory. At the age of 18 he became Associate Artistic Director at The Children’s Theatre Company in Minneapolis, where he directed and choreographed over 50 productions. In 1986 Myron formed Ballet of the Dolls with a group of dancers, designers and actors for the purpose of creating dance that combines dance with theatre, music, mime and design into full-length evenings of original work.

Artist Philosophy
My mission has always been to help develop an audience for dance by making work that walks the line between art and entertainment. My understanding of story telling and the technical side of theatre has played an enormous part in my dance works. I use a classical vocabulary based in ballet, jazz and contemporary. I like to think that over the past 40 years I have developed a signature voice of my own.

In the past 21 years I have created over 150 full-length ballets using every possible style of music, topics and themes. From Mozart’s Requiem to deconstructions of the classics such as The Nutcracker, I have continued to put emphasis on challenging myself, the company and our audience. The artists I work with continue to inspire me and the growth in this community of new companies and young artists drives me with renewed energy. With every new ballet I discover something new about myself, dancers and audiences which pushes me on to keep working and to keep encouraging artists and myself to commit, explore and be fearless in a pursuit for new ways to communicate through dance.

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