Christine Cox
Artistic Director

Christine Cox began her ballet training with the Pennsylvania Ballet School and continued at the Philadelphia High School for the Performing Arts, spending summer sessions at the Joffrey and San Francisco Ballet schools. After high school, she danced with Balletmet in Columbus, Ohio for five years before moving to New York. There, Christine danced as a guest artist with Ballet Hispanico and performed for President George H.W. Bush at the Ford Theatre. She then spent one year with America Repertory Ballet Theatre before joining Pennsylvania Ballet in 1993.

Christine has premiered works by a number of gifted choreographers, including Ib Anderson, Rennie Harris, James Kudelka, John McFall, Trey McIntyre, Matthew Neenan, Kevin O'Day, David Parsons, Kirk Peterson, and Christopher Wheeldon. Some of her featured roles include Rum and Coca-Cola in Paul Taylor’s Company B; Vortex in Alvin Ailey’s The River; Choleric in George Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments; Eve in Margo Sappington’s Rodin, Mis En Vie; the Cowgirl in Agnus DeMille’s Rodeo; and one of the principal females in Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free and The Concert.

Christine co-founded Phrenic New Ballet in 2000 and choreographed several works for the company as well as for Shut Up and Dance, an annual AIDS benefit presented by the Dancers of Pennsylvania Ballet. She has been awarded fellowship grants from the Independence Foundation and The Pennsylvania Council on the Arts for her choreography.

In 2004 Christine co-founded BalletX with her long time collaborator Matthew Neenan. They have received critical acclaim and most recently were invited to perform at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. In May of 2006, she staged Mr. Neenan’s 11:11 on Pennsylvania Ballet and rehearsed the company for the New York premiere at The City Center. She has received two Rocky Awards for outstanding achievement in the arts and has worked for 7 years as Assistant Rehearsal Director for the children in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. She currently choreographs and teaches at The University of the Arts, Swarthmore College and surrounding studios in the area.

---

Matthew Neenan
Artistic Director

Matthew Neenan began his dance training at the Boston Ballet School and with noted teachers Nan C. Keating and Jacqueline Cronsberg. He later attended the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and the School of American Ballet in New York. From 1994-2007, Matthew danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet where he danced numerous principal roles in works by George Balanchine, John Cranko, Paul Taylor, Peter Martins, Val Caniparoli, Jorma Elo, Lila York, Meredith Rainey, Jeffrey Gribler, Christopher Wheeldon and Jerome Robbins. In October 2007, Matthew was named choreographer in residence at Pennsylvania Ballet.

Matthew’s choreography has been featured by the Pennsylvania Ballet (totaling nine commissions), The Washington Ballet, Juilliard Dance Ensemble, New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, Indiana University, BalletX,  Phrenic New Ballet,  Opera Company of Philadelphia, LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts, New York Theatre Ballet, Brandywine Ballet and Ballet Pacifica. He has received numerous awards and grants for his choreography from the National Endowment of the Arts, Dance Advance funded by the Pew Charitable Trusts, the Choo San Goh Foundation, and the Independence Foundation. In 2006, Matthew received the New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute’s Fellowship Initiative Award.  Matthew received a 2008 fellowship from the  Pennsylvania Council on the Arts. This marks his fourth time receiving the PCA fellowship.

In 2000, Matthew co-founded and co-directed Phrenic New Ballet, which toured extensively and featured his choreography in New York City, Baltimore and at the Jacob’s Pillow Festival in Becket, Massachusetts. In 2005, Matthew co-founded BalletX with fellow dancer Christine Cox. BalletX had its world premier at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival in September 2005 and is now the resident dance company at the prestigious Wilma Theatre. BalletX has toured and performed Neenan’s choreography in New York City at Symphony Space, Jacob’s Pillow Festival, Cali, Colombia and Seoul, Korea.

In 2002, Matthew accepted an invitation to perform and teach at the Silesian International Dance Festival in Poland.  In June 2004, Dance Theatre of Pennsylvania premiered his first full-length ballet, A Midsummer’s Nights Dream. Matthew was recently named Best Dance Talent by the editors of Philadelphia Magazine’s annual “Best of Philly” list.

---

Guest Choreographers:

Zane Booker
Jorma Elo
Jodie Gates
Adam Hougland
Edwaard Liang
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa
Helen Pickett
Lauri Stallings
Ryan Brooke Taylor