Muriel Maffre Named New Chief Executive Officer at LINES Ballet

Alonzo King LINES Ballet has announced the appointment of Muriel Maffre as its new Chief Executive Officer, effective November 15, 2017. This appointment marks new leadership at LINES Ballet and coincides with the organization's upcoming 35th Anniversary celebration in 2018.

Maffre brings experience in executive leadership, dance education, public humanities, and programming to Alonzo King LINES Ballet. She also brings over three decades of experience as a dancer and a deep history with LINES Ballet - as collaborator, performer, and educator.

"We are so pleased to have a visionary like Muriel Maffre take the helm at LINES Ballet," said Artistic Director & Choreographer Alonzo King. "She is an innovative thinker, a brilliant communicator and strategist, and, of course, a beautiful artist who understands the spirit of LINESBallet and the core of what we do. She is the ideal person to lead LINES Ballet into our 35th Anniversary and beyond."

"Taking on this new challenge at Alonzo King LINES Ballet brings me back to my first love. My history with Alonzo dates back to 1990 when I first arrived in San Francisco and when the company was in its early development stages," said Maffre. "Today, I am honored, humbled and, most importantly, inspired to collaborate in this new capacity with Alonzo and an organization that has become the prime home for dance and creative expression in San Francisco. I hope to establish and implement a vision that takes root in LINES's great achievements of the past 35 years and propels the organization into the next phase of its life."

Most recently Maffre served as the Executive Director of the Museum of Performance + Design in San Francisco. During her five-year tenure Maffre stabilized the organization's finances and launched several major fundraising efforts. She refocused the museum's mission and operations, directed the relocation of the museum, and organized numerous large-scale preservation and conservation projects.

But Maffre is best known for her celebrated career at San Francisco Ballet, where she was a Principal dancer for 17 years. She retired from San Francisco Ballet with a Farewell Gala in 2007 and refocused her career on dance education, the arts and public humanities. She directed stage productions and curated exhibitions and public programs for the Aurora Theater, San Francisco Ballet, Oakland Museum of California, Cantor Art Center and Richmond Art Center. She also served as a Lecturer at TAPS/ Dance Division at Stanford University from 2009-2013.

Maffre earned a BA in Performing Arts from Saint Mary's College of California and a Masters in Museum Studies from John F. Kennedy University. Her recognitions include a Medal of Chevalier des Arts et Lettres, a Gold Medal from Paris International Ballet Competition and two Isadora Duncan Awards for Outstanding Achievement in Individual Performance. She is a Graduate from the Paris Opera Ballet School and the Paris National Conservatory of Music and Dance.

Maffre succeeds Karim Baer, who served as Executive Director from 2015 until September 2017. She assumes the role on the opening night of LINES Ballet's Fall Season, when the company presents The Propelled Heart, a collaboration with vocalist Lisa Fischer. The Propelled Heart runs November 15-19.

Alonzo King LINES Ballet is a celebrated contemporary ballet company that has been guided since 1982 by the unique artistic vision of Alonzo King. Collaborating with noted composers, musicians, and visual artists from around the world, Alonzo King creates works that draw on a diverse set of deeply rooted cultural traditions, imbuing classical ballet with new expressive potential. Alonzo King understands ballet as a science - founded on universal, geometric principles of energy and evolution - and continues to develop a new language of movement from its classical forms and techniques. Alonzo King's visionary choreography, brought to life by the extraordinary LINES Balletdancers, is renowned for connecting audiences to a profound sense of shared humanity.

"Alonzo King is one of the few bona fide visionaries in the ballet world today, and we are fortunate to have him and his LINES Ballet in San Francisco," the San Francisco Chronicle proclaims. While the Company's spring and fall home seasons bring new works of illuminating beauty to Bay Area audiences, LINES Ballet's global tours allow us to share our vision of transformative, revelatory dance worldwide. LINES Ballet has been featured at venues such as the Venice Biennale, Monaco Dance Forum, Maison de la Dance, the Edinburgh International Festival, Montpellier Danse, the Wolfsburg Festival, the Holland Dance Festival, and most recently Théâtre National de Chaillot in Paris.

For more information, visit www.linesballet.org.

Pictured: Muriel Maffre (photo by Steven Gregory Photography)

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