Jodie Gates has substantiated a wide-ranging career as an innovative choreographer, director, educator, producer, and dancer.

She is a leader in the dance field and has established herself among the elite in neo classical choreography. Characterized by vivid articulation of balletic vocabulary and rich musicality her work has been called “visually compelling, powerful, beautiful,” Philadelphia Inquirer, and praised by the Denver Post, "Gates has emerged as one of the genre's most-admired dance makers and for good reason: Her sensibilities are right in line with an era that respects ballet's past, but wants to see it continue in truly new directions." Recognized by American Ballet Theatre for her choreographic excellence after being named the Altria/ABT Fellow, a recent recipient of the Jerome Robbins New Essential Works (NEW) Program for her ballet Embellish, created for Colorado Ballet, and honored by the American Association of University Women for her achievement in the arts, all of which are achievements representing the scope and breathe of her work. She has danced as a principal ballerina with the Joffrey Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and as an international guest artist. She has recently choreographed ballets for the Staatsballett Berlin in Germany, Colorado Ballet, Ballet West, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, American Ballet Theatre II, CorbinDances, BalletX, The Juilliard School, Washington Ballet, Company C Contemporary Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and several other companies nationally. She is also responsible for teaching, staging, and producing William Forsythe’s ballets world-wide including productions at Paris Opera Ballet, Scottish Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Zurich Opera Ballet, Teatro La Scala, Houston Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. She is a guest master teacher for professional dance companies internationally, and is a Professor of Dance at the University of California, Irvine.

Gates is also founder and artistic director of the award winning Laguna Dance Festival based in Southern California. She has toured internationally as a choreographer, master teacher, and artist throughout North and South America, Mexico, Russia, Asia, Australia, and Europe. She has been featured as a dancer in two television programs from the PBS Great Performance series and can be seen on video in Billboards, the Joffrey Ballet’s rock-ballet by the musical artist Prince. Jodie has also appeared on ‘The Tonight Show’ with Jay Leno, a special presentation at the White House, and has been featured at several international festivals and in numerous television events.

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