-
Born
Albany, Georgia -
Period: to
New York Ballet Schools
Harkness School of Ballet, Alvin Ailey School, American Ballet Theatre School, and School of American Ballet -
Signature Work
Zulu (Pygmy Music) Maya (Alice Coltrane; Kitaro) -
Signature Work
Five Dances for Piano (Igor Stravinsky) -
Period: to
The Dance Theater of Harlem
Performed with The Dance Theater of Harlem -
LINES Ballet Company
Founded by King and opened in San Francisco -
New York City - San Francisco
moved -
Signature Work
Danse Poulenc (Francis Poulenc) Christine (Claude Debussy) Sonata for Three Dancers (Igor Stravinsky) -
Signature Work
Ictus (Music by Harry Partch, Gamelan) -
Signature Work
Songs (Victoria de los Angeles) -
Signature Work
IV Short Stories (Dan Dugan, commissioned score) -
Signature Work
Prayer (Bouchaib Abdelhadi commissioned score, Lighting by Craig Miller, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser & Sandra Woodall) Stealing Light (Music by Samuel Barber) Jeux des Enfants (Georges Bizet) Eight (Ingram Marshall) Après un rêve, Solo for Natalia Makarova (Gabriel Faure) Quand ma mene m'appr enait, Solo for Natalia Makarova (Antonin Dvorak) La Vergine degli Angeli (Giuseppe Verdi) Chi il bel sogno di Doretta (Giacomo Puccini) Solo, for June Watanabe -
Signature Work
Rain Dreaming (Music, Aboriginal) Granados Pas de Deux (Music by de Falla) Allegro Barbaro (Bela Bartok, Performed by David Berryessa) Make me the Sea, for Joanna Haigood (Le Mystere des Voix Bulgares) -
Signature Work
Awake in the Dream (Music by Donald Fontowitz, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser) Ligeti Variations (Music by Gyorgi Ligeti) Reoccurrence (Music by Bulgarian State Choir, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser) -
Signature Work
Lila (Music by Donald Fontowitz, Lighting by Craig Miller, Costumes by Sandra Woodall & Robert Rosenwasser) Alkan (Charles-Valentin Alkan) Fallen Angel (Music, Etta James) Estudioa (For Lourdes Unanua, Music by Mikel Laboa) -
Signature Work
Without Wax (Ballett Frankfurt, Music by Sophia Gubaidulina and Bohuslav Martinu, Lighting by Craig Miller, Costumes by Sandra Woodall & Robert Rosenwasser) Toccatta in D Minor (Music, Bach) -
Signature Work
Song of the Aka (Music, Pygmy and Gospel) Cante (Music, Traditional Gypsy Songs, Lighting by Craig Miller, Costumes by Sandra Woodall) -
Signature Work
Gurdjieff Piano Music (Music by G.I. Gurdjieff and Thomas De Hartmann, Lighting by Craig Miller, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser) Four Traditional Spirituals -
Signature Work
Bach Cello Suite (Music by J. S. Bach, Lighting by Craig Miller, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser) Compelling Geological Evidence (Music by Donald Fontowitz, Lighting by Craig Miller, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser) Pavane (Music by Dmitri Shostokovich) -
Signature Work
Poulenc Pas de Deux (Music by Francis Poulenc, Lighting by Lisa Pinkham, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser) Ocean (Music by Pharoah Sanders, El Hamideen commissioned score, Lighting by Lisa Pinkham, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser) Garland Music by Peter Garland, John Oswald, Lighting by Lisa Pinkham, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser) Along the Path (Music by Donald Fontowitz) -
Signature Work
Signs and Wonders (Music, Traditional African Music, Lighting by Lisa Pinkham, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser & Sandra Woodall) Rock (Music, Spirituals arranged and performed by Bernice Johnson Reagon, Lighting by Lisa Pinkham, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser & Sandra Woodall) String Quartet (Music by Pawel Szymanski, Lighting by Lisa Pinkham, Costumes by Robert Rosenwasser) -
Signature Work - Choreography
Sacred Text (Original glass music by Miguel Frasconi, North Indian Ragas by Michael Irvine, Tabla duet arranged by Tim Witter and Jim Santi Owen, Traditional Indian song by Rita Sahai) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiere April 18, 1996, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work - Choreography
Ground (Arvo Pärt, Henryk Gorecki, David LaMarche) Dance Theater of Harlem, premiere April 30, 1996, Kennedy Center - commissioned work; Alonzo King LINES Ballet, October 1996, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work - Choreography
Handel Pas de Deux (Handel) Muriel Maffre and Benjamin Pierce guesting with Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiere June 8, 1996, The Joyce Theater; Spring 1997 Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work - Choreography
Klang (Miguel Frasconi, commissioned score; Blue Thunder Mountain Nation Singers) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere October 18, 1996, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work - Choreography
Three Stops On the Way Home (Pharoah Sanders, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 4, 1997, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Handel Trio (Handel) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 4, 1997, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work - Choreography
String Trio (Moses Sedler, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere September 26, 1997, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Suite Etta (Music recorded by Etta James) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere September 26, 1997, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work
Map (Arvo Pärt) North Carolina Dance Theatre, Premiere March 1998, commissioned work -
Signature Work
Land Forms (Donald Fontowitz) Dallas Black Dance Theatre, Premiere January 28, 1998, commissioned work -
Signature Work - Choreography
Tarab (Hamza El Din, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 10, 1998, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Long Straight Line (Miguel Frasconi, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 10, 1998, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work - Choreography
Who Dressed You Like a Foreigner? (Zakir Hussain, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere September 11, 1998, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work
Hovering Slightly Above Ground (Paul Giger, Gorecki) Oakland Ballet, Premiere November 13, 1998, UC Berkeley, commissioned work -
Signature Work - Choreography
Shostokovich String Quartet LINES (Music by Dmitri Shostokovich) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere Spring 1999, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work
Love Dogs (Francis Poulenc) -
Signature Work
Following the Subtle Current Upstream (Zakir Hussain, Miriam Makeba, Miguel Frasconi) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Premiere December, 2000 -
Signature Work - Choreography
Tango (Astor Piazzolla) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 7, 2000, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts In to Get Out (Somei Satoh) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 7, 2000, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work - Choreography
Soothing the Enemy (Leslie Stuck, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere October 20, 2000, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Riley (Terry Riley) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere October 20, 2000, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts -
Signature Work - Choreography
The Heart's Natural Inclination (Leslie Stuck, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere February 23, 2001 -
Signature Work - Choreography
The People of the Forest (Nzamba Lela, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere October 5, 2001 -
Signature Work - Choreography
Splash (Nino Rota, Francis Poulenc, with commissioned score by Leslie Stuck) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 19, 2002, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA Koto (Miya Masaoka, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 19, 2002, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Road (Hildegard von Bingen, J.S. Bach, and commissioned scores by Leslie Stuck, Pharoah Sanders, and Miguel Frasconi) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere October 10, 2002, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Syzmanski's Vibraphone Quartet (Pawel Szymanski, commissioned score). Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere October 16, 2003, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work
Heart Song (El Hamideen commissioned score) Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Premiere December 12, 2003, City Center, New York, NY -
Signature Work - Choreography
Rite of Spring (Igor Stravinsky) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 9, 2004, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA Baker Fix (Josephine Baker) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 9, 2004, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Coleman Hawkins (Coleman Hawkins) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 9, 2004, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA
The Patience of Aridity, Waiting for Petrichor (Edgar Meyer and Miguel Frasconi, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 9, 2004, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Before the Blues (Pharoah Sanders, Danny Glover and Jim McKee commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere November 5, 2004, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Bessie Award for Choreographer/Creator
New York -
Kennedy Center Master of Choreography
-
Signature Work
Steal Away (Miguel Frasconi) -
Signature Work - Choreography
Odd Fellow (Jim McKee and Wieslaw Pogorzelski, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 14, 2005, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Satoh (Somei Satoh, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 14, 2005, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work
Salt (El Hamideen commissioned score) North Carolina Dance Theatre, Premiere May 5, 2005, Belk Theatre, Charlotte, NC -
Signature Work - Choreography
The Moroccan Project (Music arranged and performed by El Hamideen) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere November 4, 2005, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Handel (Georg Friederich Handel) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere November 4, 2005, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
US Artists Fellowship Award
-
LINES Ballet Partnership
Dominican University of California; Created West Coast's first joint Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance: only program offered in the United States that is led by an active master choreographer. -
Signature Work - Choreography
Migration (Pharoah Sanders, Leslie Stuck, Miguel Frasoni, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 26, 2006, Movimentos Arts Festival, Wolfsburg, Germany -
Signature Work - Choreography
Sky Clad (Rita Sahai, commissioned score) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere September 30, 2006, California Center for the Arts, Escondido, CA -
San Francisco Foundation Community Leadership Award
-
Signature Work - Choreography
Long River, High Sky A Project with the Shaolin Monks (Melody of China and Miguel Frasconi, commissioned score), Alonzo King LINES Ballet and the Shaolin Monks, Premiere April 13, 2007, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Irregular Pearl (Baroque score by Arcangelo Corelli, George Frederic Handel, Marin Marais, Augustin Dautrecort Sainte-Colombe, Domenico Scarlatti and Antonio Vivaldi, with commissioned interludes by Roy Whelden performed by the Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere Nov 2, 2007, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Rasa (Zakir Hussain, commissioned score with performance by Kala Ramnath), Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere Nov 2, 2007, Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Jacob's Pillow Creativity Award
For recognition of his contribution to "moving ballet in a very 21st-century direction". -
Mayor's Art Award
San Francisco Mayor Gavin Newsom presented the award, calling him a "San Francisco treasure." -
Signature Work - Choreography
The Steady Articulation of Perseverance (Music Composed by Pharoah Sanders, Weislaw Pogorzelski and James McKee), Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere June 26, 2008, Venice Biennale, Venice, Italy -
Signature Work - Choreography
The Radius of Convergence (Live Music by Pharoah Sanders; Music composed by Miguel Frasconi, Leo Hurley and Leslie Stuck, commissioned score, Edgar Meyer Violin Concerto Mvt. 1, excerpt), Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere October 17, 2008, Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Refraction (Music composed by Jason Moran), Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere October, 2009, Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Dust and Light (Arcangelo Corelli, Francis Poulenc) Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 23, 2009, Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Scheherazade (Zakir Hussain, commissioned score), Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere December 9, 2009 Grimaldi Forum Theater, Monte Carlo, Monaco -
Signature Work - Choreography
Wheel in the Middle of the Field, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Premiere April 16, 2010, Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts, San Francisco CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Writing Ground, Ballets Monte Carlo, Premiere July 12, 2010, Terrasses du Casino de Monte-Carlo, Monte Carlo, Monaco -
Signature Work - Choreography
Triangle of the Squinches, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA. -
Signature Work - Choreography
Figures of Thought, Ballet Bejart commission, premiered at Theatre Beaulieu in Lausanne, Switzerland -
Signature Work - Choreography
Resin, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered Novellus Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA. -
Lifetime Achievement Award
Received by the CORPS de Ballet International Teacher Conference -
San Francisco Museum & Historical Society
Named King a "San Francisco Treasure" in recognition of the significant contributions he has made to the historic fabric of San Francisco over the last 30 years. -
Signature Work - Choreography
Constellation, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered, LAM Research Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA. -
Barney Choreographic Prize
Received from White Bird Dance: King was the first ever to receive this prize. -
President's Award
Dance Masters of America -
Signature Work - Choreography
AZIMUTH, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and Alonzo King LINES Ballet, Harris Theater for Music and Dance commission, premiered at Zellerbach Hall, Presented by Cal Performances, Berkeley, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Meyer, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA. -
Signature Work - Choreography
Concerto for Two Violins, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered LAM Research Theater at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA. -
Advisory Council
appointed to the advisory council of the newly established Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University -
Signature Work - Choreography
The Steady Heart, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA. -
Signature Work - Choreography
Shostakovich, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA. -
Doris Duke Foundation Artist Award
named one of America's Irreplaceable Dance Treasures by the Dance Heritage Coalition -
Award
Dance Heritage Coalition's "Irreplaceable Dance Treasure" List -
Signature Work - Choreography
Biphony, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA. -
Signature Work - Choreography
The Propelled Heart, Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA. -
Signature Work - Choreography
SAND: Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA -
Signature Work - Choreography
Arts Songs: Alonzo King LINES Ballet, premiered at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Theater, San Francisco, CA