Elizabeth Gaither
Elizabeth Gaither, of Miami, Florida, is in her seventh season with The Washington Ballet after dancing with American Ballet Theatre for seven seasons. She began her ballet studies with her mother, Gloria Gaither, and received three years of high honors in the Royal Academy of Dance examinations. She continued her training at the Houston Ballet Academy, joining Houston Ballet at age 15, before moving on to Memphis Ballet. Ms. Gaither was a finalist at the 1990 Jackson International Ballet Competition and won the Amilita Hoffman Award. Ms. Gaither has performed numerous roles during her career including Zulma in Giselle, the pas de deux in Fancy Free; Blue Bird in Puss in Boots, Silver Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty; Clara, Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, and cygnets in Swan Lake. She has also performed in George Balanchine's Theme and Variations, Symphony in C and Symphonie Concertant. Ms. Gaither has worked with renowned choreographers such as Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, Lar Lubovitch, Christopher Bruce, and Twyla Tharp. Her roles with The Washington Ballet have included Titania and Lover in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Swanilda in Coppélia, Giselle in Giselle, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Dark Angel in Serenade, and the Sylph in La Sylphide. While at TWB, she has also performed In In the Middle Somewhat Elevated, Jerome Robbins' In the Night, Nacho Duato's Na Floresta, Christopher Wheeldon's Morphoses and There Where She Loved, Septime Webre's Oui/Non and Juanita & Alicia, and Edwaard Liang's Wunderland. Her second passion is yoga, and she is now a certified teacher in vinyasa yoga. This year, Ms. Gaither became the proud wife of the love of her life, photographer Theo Kossenas.