Simone Messmer to Receive Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship

American Ballet Theatre Soloist Simone Messmer has been awarded a 2010 Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship. The two-year fellowship recognizes young artists of extraordinary talent with the goal of providing them with additional resources in order to realize their full potential.

To encourage the personal and artistic development of young artists, the Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship will provide funds to cover training and expenses outside of ABT's regular season including guest coaches/teachers, master teachers, a physical therapist/trainer, specialty teachers to explore artistic areas outside of dance, pianists, studio space and mentors. Support and guidance throughout the term of Ms. Messmer's fellowship will be offered by ABT Ballet Master Clinton Luckett.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota, Simone Messmer began studying dance at the age of nine at Ballet Arts Minnesota. At 14, she trained at the Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida and resumed her training at Ballet Arts Minnesota two years later under the direction of Bonnie Mathis. Ms. Messmer attended American Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensive Program in 2001 and joined ABT's Studio Company (now ABT II) in the same year. She became an Apprentice with the main Company in August 2002 and joined the corps de ballet in January 2003. In January 2010, she was promoted to Soloist. Her repertoire with ABT includes Myrta and Moyna in Giselle, Olga in On the Dnieper, an Odalisque in Le Corsaire, a flower girl in Don Quixote, the pas de trois in Swan Lake and roles in Airs, Baker's Dozen, Ballo della Regina, Company B, Sinfonietta, Some Assembly Required and Theme and Variations.

The Leonore Annenberg Scholarship and School Funds were established by the Annenberg Foundation in June 2007. The Funds operate through the Annenberg Public Policy Center at the University of Pennsylvania. The Funds' benefactor is the late Leonore Annenberg, a former Chief of Protocol of the United States and chairman and president of the Annenberg Foundation.