Ballet master/Artistic Director

Joseph Gatti

Formerly a Principal Dancer with the Cincinnati Ballet and Corella Ballet, and First Soloist with Boston Ballet, Joseph Gatti is the Artistic Director for the United Ballet Theatre in Orlando, FL. He was born in Warwick, New York and raised in Orlando, Florida, where he began dancing at the Orlando Ballet School and continued his training with Vadim Fedotov and Irina Depler. Joseph danced at Orlando Ballet as an apprentice from 2001-2003, under the direction of Fernando Bujones.

 

In 2003, he was coached by Orlando Molina for the Youth American Grand Prix Ballet Competition in New York, where he was awarded the gold medal and a scholarship to the Royal Ballet School in London. Upon graduating with honors, he received the Dame Ruth Railton Award for Excellence in Dance in 2004. After attending the American Ballet Theater Summer Intensive in 2003, he joined the American Ballet Theater Studio Company for the 2004-2005 season. In 2005, he became the first American male dancer to win the prestigious gold medal at the New York International Ballet Competition.

 

Joseph was nominated as Best Male Dancer for the 2006 Benois de la Danse in Moscow, Russia. The Benois de la Danse is one of the most prestigious ballet competitions and was founded by the International Dance Association in Moscow in 1991. The members of this jury consist of only top ballet personages such as Carla Fracci, Alessandra Ferri, Irina Kolpakova, Yuri Grigorovich, John Neumeier and Rudolph Nureyev. That same year, he became a bronze medalist at the USA International Ballet Competition and a silver medalist at the Seoul International Ballet Competition in Korea.

 

He was also chosen to be featured in a video entitled “The Male Ballet Dancer” presented by master teacher Finis Jhung. In 2007, Joseph was coached by Magaly Suarez for the first World Ballet Competition in Orlando, Florida, where he received the gold medal. Mr. Gatti also received the bronze medal at the 2010 Istanbul International Ballet Competition. In 2013, Joseph received the Mr. Virtuosity Award at the Dance Open Ballet Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia. In 2014, he also received the “Best Pas De Deux” award at the Dance Open Festival in St. Petersburg, Russia.

 

Joseph has had the privilege to work with many choreographers and master teachers such a as Natalia Makarova, Val Caniparoli, Wayne McGregor, Angel Corella, Jorma Elo, Jiri Kylian, Twyla Tharp and Christopher Wheeldon. He is also a master teacher of ballet, guest teaching around the world from the Ballet Philippines Company and School, National Capital School Of Ballet (Australia) and Youth America Grand Prix. He has also had the privilege to work with some of today’s top fitness experts and physical therapists including Peter Donohoe and Doctor of Physical Therapy for the Boston Ballet, Heather Southwick. As of result of his experience and his desire to train and treat dancers not only as artists but athletes as well, he Founded the United Ballet Theatre in 2018, focusing on dancer health and sustainability through a radically different approach to training designed to maintain overall dancer health.

Ballet Mistress

Paola McCormick-Quintero Gatti
Paola McCormick-Quintero received her training in California as a scholarship student at the Ballet San Jose School under the
direction of Dennis Nahat and Lise LaCour prior to joining their trainee program by Wes Chapman, Raymond Rodriguez, and Dalia Rawson. She then went on to receive graduate training at San Francisco Ballet School, where she was awarded a scholarship by Artistic Director Patrick Armand. Other merited short-term stays include the Royal Ballet School under Jay Jolly and Bartholin International Seminar at the Royal Danish Ballet in Denmark by Vivi Flindt. She has additionally studied at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, American Ballet Theater, and with world-renowned teacher Magaly Suarez. Paola danced professionally with Oklahoma City Ballet where she had the opportunity to perform many demi-soloist roles. She concurrently served as a guest artist and featured dancer with Mark Foehringer Dance Company, Benoit Maubry’s “Audio Ballerina’s”, and several productions for Opera San Jose. Paola is currently delighted to be an artist with United Ballet Theatre.