Toni Pimble, Artistic Director,
was born in England, and studied at Elmhurst Ballet School and the Royal Academy of Dance in London. Her professional experience includes dancing in three German ballet companies.
Since becoming Artistic Director of Eugene Ballet Company in 1978, Ms. Pimble has choreographed over 60 works for the company, many of those productions, involving collaborations with composers and literary and visual artists.
Ms. Pimble’s creative work has brought her a number of awards and fellowships, including two Oregon Arts Commission Artist Fellowship Awards and a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographer’s Fellowship Grant.
Ms. Pimble choreographed a work entitled Two’s Company for New York City Ballet as part of its “Diamond Project.” She was also commissioned to create a new work for Atlanta Ballet in collaboration with Emmy-award winning composer, James Oliverio through the Meet The Composer project titled, Common Ground.
Ms. Pimble’s work has been seen with many companies in the United States including Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Omaha, Washington Ballet, Nevada Dance Theatre, Oregon Ballet Theater, and Dance Galaxy, among others.
Under Ms. Pimble’s leadership, the Eugene Ballet Company has toured to 32 states and internationally. Her work has been presented as part of a United States Information Agency (USIA) Tour by Eugene Ballet Company, visiting India, Sri Lanka, Bangladesh, Syria, Jordan, and Tunisia. From 1994 to 2008, Ms. Pimble was the Artistic Director of Ballet Idaho when Eugene Ballet Company and Ballet Idaho created an alliance to produce a joint season combining artistic resources.
The 1997 May edition of Dance Magazine highlighted Ms. Pimble’s leadership as an Artistic Director and choreographer. In 1999, she premiered Slipstream and a collaboration with artist, Steve Oshatz, Silk and Steel and also The Skinwalkers, a contemporary work inspired by artist, Helen Hardin.
Ms. Pimble has created three original ballets for The Shedd Institute for the Arts, two original works for the Bach Festival, collaborated with guest artist, Curtis Salgado on The Bluesman and with the Pink Martini band in their guest appearance with Eugene Ballet.
The company recently appeared with San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Oregon Ballet Theatre in White Bird presenting organization’s 4X4 Ballet Project at the Arlene Schnitzer Hall in Portland performing Ms. Pimble’s contemporary ballet, Still Falls the Rain which was also presented with her ballet Silk & Steel as part of a residency with Alaska Dance Theatre in Anchorage, Alaska.

Jennifer Martin, Ballet Mistress,
Jennifer Martin began working for the Eugene Ballet Company in 1994. She has performed the principal roles in the company’s classical and contemporary repertory.  In addition, she has had the honor of staging many of Toni Pimble’s choreographies; most notably, Silk and Steel for Point Park College in Pittsburgh as well as setting several of the Eugene Ballet’s full length classics for Summer Dance Lab at Whitman College. Each summer, Jennifer teaches throughout the northwest for various summer programs including Whitman College, Boise State University, and Northern California Ballet. Her accolades include the Boise Mayor’s award for Excellence in the Arts and the Canadian National Award for the Arts.

Hyuk-Ku Kwon, Ballet Master,

Hyuk-Ku studied ballet at Sejong University in Korea. He took a Silver Medal in 1991, and a Gold Medal in 1993 in the Korean Dance Association Competition, and a Gold Medal in the First Kirov-Universal Ballet Competition. He joined Universal Ballet in 1992, was promoted to soloist in 1994 and to principal in 1996 dancing principal roles in Coppelia, La Bayadere, The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Giselle and Don Quixote. In 2001, he participated as a guest in the World Stars at Opera International Ballet Gala in Budapest. Hyuk-Ku danced principal roles with Ballet Arizona before joining Eugene Ballet. With the company he has danced Prince Desiré in The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Charming in Cinderella, Oberon in Toni Pimble’s, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, the title role in Bruce Steivel’s Peter Pan and the Golden Slave in Dennis Spaight’s Scheherazade. Last season Hyuk-Ku was featured as Escamillo and Don José in Toni Pimble’s Carmen, the pas de deux First Meeting, May Dances and the Cavalier in The Nutcracker.