PORTLAND, Maine — A former professional dancer with experience in international business has been named executive director of Portland Ballet.
Michael Greer studied at the Joffrey Ballet School, Pittsburgh Ballet School, School of American Ballet and The Royal Ballet School in London, among others, and then danced professionally with Ballet West in Salt Lake City, according to a news release.
Greer also studied economics at Hampshire College and was offered a scholarship to Stanford University before working with companies in India and China for nine years.
“The board chose Michael after conducting, quite literally, a world-wide search,” Jim Shaffer, resident of the Portland Ballet board of directors, said in the release. “His background as a dancer, his continuing passion for the art, and his practical business experience has prepared him well to sustain the legacy of one of the area’s premier arts organizations.”
“Once you have been a dancer, you will always be a dancer,” Greer said in the release. “Rarely in my life have so many pieces so effortlessly fallen into place. If I had to sum it up: Why did I come to Portland Ballet? It just feels right.”