Georgia ballet

Kristy Nilsson trained & performed with Atlanta Ballet, Charleston Ballet Theatre & Houston Repertory Ballet, & trained under principal dancers from American Ballet Theatre, National Ballet of Canada & Martha Graham. A Dance Pedagogy Honors student at University of Oklahoma & graduated Cum Laude from the High School for the Performing & Visual Arts in Houston. Ms. Nilsson has been introduced as “A very talented young choreographer” by Atlanta Ballet Director John McFall. Her style has been compared by company directors to Frederick Ashton & Twyla Tharp, & also to Kenneth Macmillan. Over 20 of Ms. Nilsson's works have been performed by 10 companies in 6 states. In 2004, Ms. Nilsson was honored to set a new full-length Nutcracker for the Gwinnett Ballet Theatre, reprised in 2005. In 2006, her new work Jagannat was performed by the professional company, The Georgia Ballet; her commissioned work Amasea, was selected for performance at the 2006 SERBA Festival. In 2003, Ms. Nilsson received Regional Dance America's second highest choreographic award at the 2003 Southeastern Regional Ballet Association (SERBA) for La Deseada - out of over a hundred choreographers adjudicated; Georgia Youth Ballet’s Sublimation was performed at the 2004 SERBA Festival; Gwinnett Ballet Theatre works Sententia and Summertime were both performed in concert with the Joffrey Ballet Ensemble. Kristy regularly choreographs for Gwinnett Ballet Theatre, Georgia Youth Ballet, Atlanta Dance Company & the Student Ensemble of The Georgia Ballet. Ms. Nilsson enjoys teaching an average of 30 classes a week of ballet, pointe, modern dance & jazz to hundreds of students through pre-professionals. She teaches Master Classes in modern dance, and workshops in introductory-to-advanced choreography, theatrical dance and stage makeup; and, has coached both dancers and gymnasts to top awards in statewide and national competitions.