Karen Denise Gabay was born in San Diego, California and began her ballet training at the age of eight at the California Ballet School, and later studied at the School of American Ballet in New York City. A principal dancer with Ballet San Jose, Miss Gabay's diverse repertoire includes Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, the title role in Giselle, Swanhilda in Coppelia, the pupil in Fleming Flindt's The Lesson, the title role in Roland Petit's Carmen, the principal female in George Balanchine's Theme and Variations, Tarantella, and Serenade, the Cowgirl in Agnes DeMille's Rodeo, and is most recognized for her roles as Maria and the Tsarina in Dennis Nahat’s The Nutcracker.
Always an audience favorite, Miss Gabay has been a guest artist with North Carolina Dance Theater, Ballet Tucson, Ballet Nuevo Mundo, The Eglevsky Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, and Los Angeles Classical Ballet and has toured with Cynthia Gregory's Dance Galaxy throughout South America. She has performed at various galas and festivals that include the Vail International Dance Festival, the Career Transitions for Dancers Gala in New York City, and the Spoleto and Edinburgh Festivals with Rudolph Nureyev. In 2006, she assisted the late Fleming Flindt in rehearsing The Lesson, for the Kings of the Dance with Angel Corella, Johann Kobberg, and Nikolay Tsiskaridze, and later that year performed in the Hungarian Festival of Freedom Tribute with members of the Cleveland Orchestra.
In 2011, Miss Gabay was honored by the Arts Council SIlicon Valley and was given the Artist Fellowship Award for Choreography. She has created over forty ballets in her repertory, twenty of those ballets for Pointe of Departure. Miss Gabay is the founding director and co-artistic director/ Resident Choreographer of Pointe of Departure. She has also been a guest choreographer, creating world premieres for Ballet San Jose, the Cleveland Orchestra, Minnesota Ballet, Chautauqua Dance Company, Cuyahoga Youth Ballet, Dancing Wheels, and the Cleveland Composer's Guild.
Miss Gabay enjoys her role as rehearsal assistant for Ballet San Jose, staging and rehearsing the repertoire of the company and is Company class Teacher. She is frequently invited as a guest teacher for many ballet schools across the nation, and is brought in as a guest instructor for master classes in the Bay Area.
Miss Gabay has worked for the Ford Model Agency branch in Cleveland, Ohio and her film and television credits include the feature film, RENT, The Drew Carey Show, the PBS Emmy-nominated Blue Suede Shoes, the independent film, Twisted, the Queen of Denmark’s silver anniversary gala for Scandinavian television and the KTEH show, This is US! , that profiles her career of thirty years as a Prima Ballerina.
The summer of 2011 brings delight to Miss Gabay as Pointe of Departure brings their dancing to Northeast Ohio. Presenting another premiere for the company, she looks forward to the opening night of the work, and will continue to create and present new works of choreography in California, Ohio and abroad.
Raymond Rodriguez was born in New York City and began tap dancing at the age of six.. While attending the High School of Performing Arts in Manhattan, he was required to study ballet and began training at the American Ballet Theater School. While on scholarship he was privately taught by Jurgen Schneider, and gained performing experience with American Ballet Theater in children's roles and later as an apprentice. He later joined Cleveland San Jose Ballet, which is now Ballet San Jose.
Mr. Rodriguez has a diverse repertoire as a principal dancer which includes the role of Albrecht in Giselle, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, the Peruvian in Gaite Parisian, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, Don Jose in Roland Petit's Carmen, the Profiteer in The Green Table, the principal male in Balanchine's Who Cares?, Theme and Variations, Agon, Rubies, Tarantella and the title role in The Toreador, to name a few. Mr. Rodriguez is currently the Regisseur (Ballet Master) for BSJ.
He is also an invited guest with many companies around the United States that include the Atlanta Ballet, Ballet Theater of New Mexico, the Eglevsky Ballet, Ballet Tucson, Oakland Festival Ballet and Ballet du Nord in Roubaix, France.
Partnered with Miss Gabay, he has performed at the Anniversary Gala for the Queen of Denmark's Silver Anniversary. He toured with Cynthia Gregory's Dance Galaxy in South America and performed at the Vail International Dance Festival and Career Transitions for Dancers.
His television credits include the starring role of Arthur in the Emmy nominated national broadcast of Blue Suede Shoes, the opening dance sequence and the 100th episode of the Drew Carey Show, and he was a featured dancer in the television special Christopher Reeve: A Celebration of Hope which won the American Choreographer's award. He has been seen on season II of ABC's "Dancing with the Stars" coaching football legend Jerry Rice and he also made his film debut in the Broadway adaptation of RENT.
Mr. Rodriguez has co-founded his own dance agency on the web calledElite Dance Artist Managementand is one of the founding directors of Ballet America, an innovative website for audiences to view up and coming dancers and choreography.
Mr. Rodriguez is Co-Artistic Director of Pointe of Departure and looks forward to bringing classical ballet back to the Cleveland area in the summer of 2011.
