• Programming
• Leader of the Arts

Nena Gilreath and Waverly T. Lucas, II

December 2006

Nena Gilreath

(Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director)

Ms. Gilreath is a graduate of the North Carolina School of the Arts where she received a Bachelor of Fine Arts in Dance. She began her career by moving to Atlanta and joining the Ruth Mitchell Dance Theatre. She later joined the Dance Theatre of Harlem, touring nationally and internationally. In 1988, Ms. Gilreath returned to Atlanta to dance with the Atlanta Ballet. Finally, on January 15, 1990, along with husband and choreographer Waverly T. Lucas, II they created Ballethnic Dance Company. She has implemented numerous outreach programs including the BUDDY Project through the Atlanta Project, which served as a model for the existing Danseur Development Project. Ms. Gilreath currently serves as Co-Founder and Co-Artistic Director of Ballethnic Dance Company and Ballethnic Academy of Dance. She continues her original role as a dance artist and mentor for many young dancers as well as assisting Mr. Lucas in creating Ballethnic’s unique style.

Ms. Gilreath was creative Loafing’s 2000 Best of Atlanta Critics Pick-Best Dancer; she received Atlanta Business League’s Success Against The Odds Award in 2001. She, along with Mr. Lucas, received the 2002 Global Diversity Business Exchange Atlanta Entrepreneur Award. In addition, Ms. Gilreath is a recipient of the 2003 Pinnacle Leadership Award.

Waverly T. Lucas, II

(Co-Founder/Co-Artistic Director)

Mr. Lucas attended Marygrove College in Detroit, Michigan, where he conceived the concept and name for Ballethnic Dance Company. In Ballethnic’s short history, Mr. Lucas created more than 30 ballets, including two full-length ballets: Urban Nutcracker and The Leopard Tale. He is the creator of Ballethnicize, an evolving dance/fitness discipline that combines African dance styles with classical ballet, as well as established the Danseur Development Project, a dance-training program for young males.

Mr. Lucas’ choreography has been performed at the 1996 Olympic Arts Festival, the 1997 Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors Concert Series, the National Black Arts Festival, and the Atlanta Symphony Orchestra Outreach Program. Most recently, Mr. Lucas has choreographed Aida for the Atlanta Opera. Mr. Lucas is excited about his upcoming collaboration with Pearl Cleage and Zaron Burnett in his adaptation of Cleage’s play Flying West, which is scheduled to premiere in 2009.

Internationally, Mr. Lucas has studied West African dance and drumming in Senegal and taught at the International Association of Blacks In Dance Conference. He has also taught Ballethnicize workshops and gave lectures at the Universidade Technicale Lisboa in Portugal. In 2003, he presented workshops in Sao Paulo Brazil at the Taina Cultural Arts Center.

Mr. Lucas is the recipient of numerous awards and honors including the Princess Grace Scholarship, National Choreographers Award, McPheeters Medallion Award for Community Service by the Auburn Avenue Research Library, listed as one of Atlanta’s Community Leaders in the 2002-2003 edition of Who’s Who in Black Atlanta, and a recipient of the 2003 TBS Trumpet Awards for Dancer/Choreographer.