Armenian dancer joins Joffrey Ballet

PanARMENIAN.Net - Ashley Wheater, Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, has announced the addition of three dancers to the Joffrey's international roster for the 2014-2015 season: Artur Babajanyan (Armenia), Edson Barbosa (Brazil) and Brooke Linford, a former Joffrey Academy of Dance Trainee (Alpine, Utah). The three new dancers officially began rehearsing with the company July 21, Broadway World reports.

Artur Babajanyan was born in Yerevan, Armenia. He received his training at the Armenian National Ballet School of Yerevan and at the Tanz Academy of Zurich under the direction of Ricardo Duze. He then became of member of Heinz Spoerli's Junior Zurich Ballet before becoming a Demi Soloist for the Zurich Ballet in 2006 and most recently a soloist at Aalto Ballett Theater of Essen.

The Joffrey Ballet is a professional dance company resident in Chicago, Illinois. The company regularly performs classical ballets, including Romeo & Juliet and The Nutcracker, while balancing those classics with pioneering modern dance pieces.