Global Regional Jury Biography

Hazel Sabas holds a Master of Fine Arts degree from New York University's Tisch School of the Arts. A Fulbright award recipient and former Principal Dancer of Ballet Philippines, Ms. Sabas trained in the Royal Academy of Dance Syllabus and performed internationally with Ballet Philippines and Dance Theatre Philippines working with world-renowned ballet masters and choreographers. She performed lead roles in Don Quixote, La Fille Mal Gardee, La Bayadere and Carmen, to name a few, and had the privilege of performing alongside Yoko Morishita, Fernando Bujones, Alicia Alonso, Patrick Bissell, Martin Van Hamel, Leslie Brown, Joyce Cuoco, Julio Bocca and featured at a gala alongside Wes Chapman and Stars of American Ballet Theatre.

 

Ms Sabas currently works as Rehearsal Director of Sacramento Ballet. She was artistic director of Ballet Lubbock and ballet mistress with Ballet Memphis. A ballet master and university professor, teaching credits also include Texas Ballet Theatre Academy, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, Ballet Academy East NY, The Dallas Conservatory, Michigan Ballet Academy, School of the Arts Singapore, Alma College, University of Massachusetts, University of North Texas, Texas Christian University, Taipei National University of the Arts and University of the Philippines Diliman, Ms. Sabas is also a Registered Yoga Teacher(RYT® 200) and STOTT Pilates- trained.

 

Ms Sabas’ works are represented at New York Public Library's Jerome Robbins Dance Division. Her critically-acclaimed works include Cinderella, Green, Synchronicity, Dracula, Firebird, Deconstructing Gershwin, Rite of Spring, Carmen Suite, Nutcracker, and Daragang Magayon. Representing the USA in the finals of the first Classical Choreographic Competition in Paris, French dance critic René Sirvin noted, "From the seven competitors, only one showed real invention and originality, Hazel Sabas-Gower, whose six excellent dancers of Ballet Memphis performed the ingenious choreography Deconstructing Gershwin”.