Ali Pourfarrokh

Ali Pourfarrokh

Ali Pourfarrokh, choreographer and ballet director (b at Kermanshah, Iran 27 Nov 1938). As artistic director of the Alberta Ballet Company from 1988 to 1998, he played a major role in giving the troupe a fresh image. He strengthened its position as a regional troupe in western Canada and enhanced its national and international visibility.

Although he staged successful evening-length versions of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker (1995) and Prokofiev's Romeo and Juliet (1998), for Alberta Ballet the main thrust of Pourfarrokh's directorship was to reshape the company in a more contemporary image and to programme evenings made up of several varied works. He engaged Canadian and foreign choreographers who blended traditional ballet and modern-dance movement, and generally contributed one new ballet of his own to the repertoire each season. He is credited with having raised the company's national and international profile and with giving it a more coherent aesthetic and stylistic identity.

Pourfarrokh moved to New York upon his retirement at the end of the 1998 season and became artistic director of the Eglevsky Ballet.