Edward A. Zawacki - Dancer, Teacher, and Choreographer

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Edward A. Zawacki - Dancer, Teacher, and Choreographer

Born October 4, 1953 in New Haven CT, Eddie Zawacki began his early training at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet where he studied as a Ford scholarship student. During this time at the age of sixteen he taught dance at Yale University in Connecticut and was a faculty member of Chicago National Association of Dance Masters summer training program. His performances have been hailed by the New Haven Register as “a special dancer, technically beautiful.” He was offered a full academic scholarship to Yale but declined the offer to continue at SAB. Graduating he moved into a principal role with the Harkness Ballet. Edward Zawacki has been seen as a featured modern dancer in the works of Martha Graham, Jose Limon, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Elisabeth Keene, Milton Meyers, Larry Richardson, and Hannah Kahn. He has danced in and restaged several Broadway musical productions including; Promises Promises, On The Town, West Side Story, South Pacific, Oliver, Candide, and Fiddler On The Roof.

Some credits include; The Harkness Ballet, Radio City Music Hall Ballet, New York City Opera Ballet, New Haven Ballet, Greater Bridgeport Ballet, Rondo Dance Theater, Luigi Jazz Dance Company, Ron Forella’s Second Century Dancers, and the Bernhard Ballet.

In 1976 he opened the first Zawacki Dance Centre in Great Neck New York. Forming his own company the “Zawacki Ballet” he created an entire body of choreographic work with dancers from companies such as Elliot Feld, NYC Ballet, Joffrey, etc. Pemiering his first ballet company, Zawacki and Featured Dancers, at the Hudson Guild Theater NYC, was quoted by Dance Magazine as “a company of seven gorgeous School of American and Joffrey trained dancers, creating an uninterrupted rush of exhilarating motion”. He created ballets for Alvin Ailey principal dancer Sara Yarborough, American Ballet Theater’s Garland Deaderick, Joffrey dancer Katherina Rumpler, and Robert Tracy dancer-author of Balanchine’s Ballerinas, all members of the Zawacki ballet.

Ballerina Karen Kelly of the Elliot Feld, Harkness, Pennsylvania and Hartford Ballet companies joined the Zawacki Ballet as a principal dancer with such works as Scherzino fr. Suite Italienne-Stravinsky reviewed by NY Times as “a sensitive work, full of body and richness of movement.”

He has taught and choreographed for several dance teachers associations including; Dance Masters of America Southern Chapter, Professional Dance Teachers Association, Dance Educators of America, Boston Dance Teachers Club, and Dance Congress. And was an adjunct professor of dance at the Long Island University – C. W. Post campus. In 1995 he completed a year with ballet icon David Howard at their sixteen thousand square foot studio located at 211 West 61st Street, NYC, together they taught and hosted several dance concerts with guests from NYCB, ABT, and Joffrey Ballet. Ed was a guest teacher at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in the same facility. The Broadway Show “Fosse” started as a workshop in his studio and retained many of its original cast from Zawacki alumni. The next year he opened another dance loft on 23rd Street in Chelsea, NYC to serve as a teaching facility and performing space for workshops, and choreographic projects. He continues to accept commissions from London where he choreographed and performed in the adult video awards show, Paris, where he taught at the Paris Opera Ballet, and L.A., where he did various modeling and music video projects. Credits include: • NBC’s "Law and Order", Levi’s "Taxi" commercial (Bartle, Bogle, Hegarty, LTD London) • A Current Affair "The Making of A Pop Star" • The Dennis Prager Show "Under The Knife: Men Who Want The Perfect Body" • Nivea "Visage"(Stawasz/Drucker Communications), and Polo Sport. Music videos include: • Motown Records’ Kiss The Sky " Its You", director Frank Drucker • Epic Records’ Oscar "I’m Calling You", choreographer Otis Sallid. Having made his mark in the fashion world with IMG model Julie Pewitt, brought him to the attention of Interview Magazine (Sept/94, July/95 Sly Stallone Unzipped). Runway shows include Istante and D&G. He currently maintains three locations in Long Island NY of his current business Zawacki Dance and Workout, Inc.

  • www.zawackidanceandworkout.com

--Slaraway (talk) 04:13, 10 March 2010 (UTC)