Honoring Principal Dancer and Ballet Master Jeffrey Gribler on the occasion of his retirement from the Pennsylvania Ballet.

WHEREAS, Jeffrey Gribler, a Principal Dancer at the Pennsylvania Ballet, is an unusually gifted ballet dancer, who began dancing at the age of seven in his hometown of Dayton, Ohio, and at the age of seventeen was offered an apprenticeship with Pennsylvania Ballet, one of the premier ballet companies in the nation, joining its Corps de Ballet in 1976 and promoted to Principal Dancer in 1982; and

WHEREAS, Jeffrey Gribler has demonstrated remarkable versatility over the years, with an extensive repertoire of both classical and modern works, including dancing leading roles in numerous ballets by George Balanchine such as

Midsummer Night’s Dream

,

Prodigal Son

,

Agon

, and

The Four Temperaments

; leading roles in other classical repertoire, such as Siegfried in

Swan Lake

, Albrecht in

Giselle

, Franz in

Coppelia

, a Stepsister in

Cinderella

and Mercutio in

Romeo and Juliet

; and modern works such as Paul Taylor’s

Company B

, Merce Cunningham’s

Arcade

, Kevin O’Day’s

Col Legno

, and Lar Lubovitch’s

Concerto 622

; and

WHEREAS, Jeffrey Gribler has choreographed several works for Shut Up and Dance, the annual benefit for MANNA, and has had several pieces included in the Company’s annual program of new works, and has staged works by Lynne Taylor Corbett and Peter Martins around the U.S. and Europe; and

WHEREAS, After entertaining so many audiences throughout the region and the world, Jeffrey Gribler has recently announced his retirement as Principal Dancer at age forty-three, marking an extraordinarily long and distinguished career after 26 years with the Pennsylvania Ballet; and

WHEREAS, Jeffrey Gribler has also been Ballet Master for the Pennsylvania Ballet since 1986, a position he will continue to hold, responsible for rehearsing the students who appear in the Company’s annual production of The Nutcracker, and he will henceforth also be responsible for teaching the ballet’s contemporary repertoire; now therefore

RESOLVED, BY THE COUNCIL OF THE CITY OF PHILADELPHIA, That we honor Principal Dancer and Ballet Master Jeffrey Gribler on the occasion of his retirement from the Pennsylvania Ballet.

FURTHER RESOLVED, That an Engrossed copy of this resolution be presented to Jeffrey Gribler as evidence of the sincere sentiments of this legislative body.

End