Salt Lake Ballet Theater

Mark Lanham began formal ballet training at the remarkably late age of nineteen years in his native home, Amarillo, Texas, with Neil and Camille Hess. Under their watchful eyes he progressed quickly enough to receive two scholarships to the San Francisco Ballet School, the first after only two months of training. Under the direction of Harold Christensen and Anatol Vilzak, his vision of style continued to unfold; a style rich with virtuosity and romance, yet tempered with restraint. He returned to Texas to perform with Ballet El Paso, under the direction of Ingeborg Heuser, where he also continued university studies at UTEP and taught ballet classes as well.

 

In the summer of 1975 Mark received a scholarship to Ballet West's school in Aspen, Colorado, and was taken into the company as a regular member in the fall of that year. In an exciting and dramatic association with Willam F. Christensen, Bruce Marks, and Toni Lander, he rose to the rank of Principal Dancer, performing such roles as the Cavalier in Christensen's The Nutcracker, Bruce Mark's Inscape, and Billy in Eugene Loring's Billy the Kid. In 1978 he competed in the World Ballet Concours in Tokyo, Japan, and was awarded a Bronze Medal with his partner, Stacey Swaner.

 

At the invitation of Michael Smuin and Lew Christensen, Mr. Lanham returned to California to join the San Francisco Ballet in 1980 as a principal dancer, performing in such noted works as Smuin's Duettino and A Song For Dead Warriors, and Lew Christensen's Con Amore and Filling Station. In addition to these well known ballets, the diverse repertoire of that celebrated company gave Mr. Lanham a rich experience. Mr. Lanham was invited to join Canada's Royal Winnipeg Ballet for the 1984- ’85 season where he was promoted quickly to Principal Dancer. He has since been a regular Guest Artist with The California Ballet in San Diego, as well as a visiting Guest Artist with Ballet West, Ballet El Paso, Columbia City Ballet, Universal Ballet Company Oriental Tour 1985, and "From Balanchine to Broadway" 1983 Tour with Leonid and Valentina Koslov. His associations with these companies and tours have taken him throughout the United States and Canada, and to Mexico, Venezuela, Belgium, Greece, Egypt, Japan, Korea, and China. He has performed virtually all the principal male roles in all the major classics, and has been privileged to perform works by such outstanding contemporary choreographers as Jiri Kilian and Maurice Bejart. Mr. Lanham has twice been a Bronze Medalist in international ballet competitions, once in 1978 at the 2nd International Ballet Concours in Tokyo, Japan, and again in 1982 at the International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi.

 

Mr. Lanham was a faculty member at Brigham Young University from 1985 until 1997, where his primary concern was directing the BYU Theatre Ballet, BYU's resident ballet company. During the 2000-2001 season he was Ballet Master for Eugene Ballet Company, directed by Toni Pimble. He still performs occasionally, and in the last few years has appeared as The Cavalier in Nutcracker in Yuma, Arizona, as Romeo in Charles Bennett’s Romeo and Juliet, and in Bennett’s Albinoni Adagio in San Diego; and as Lord Capulet in Jaqueline Colledge’s Romeo and Juliet with the Utah Regional Ballet Company. Mark performed in Legacy Dance Theater’s production of Pioneer Legacy in the summer of 2008 partnering his wife, Stephanie Parker. He was Ballet Master for Columbia City Ballet in Columbia, SC, for their 2009 -2010 season.

 

Mark has been a guest artist internationally, and has become familiar in major cities in the USA. He has received critical acclaim from many of the major dance critics such as Walter Terry of The New Yorker Magazine, Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times, and Clive Barnes of The New York Post, who have commented on his elevation, style, clean technique, and partnering skills, which characterize him as a truly American dancer, born-and-bred in the tradition of dance in the West. Mr. Lanham is married to ballerina Stephanie Parker, and is the father of seven children; two daughters who are serious ballet dancers, and five sons, all Eagle Scouts, who are involved in gymnastics, theater, lacrosse, and fly fishing.