Jonathan Chapman

Guest Faculty

Jonathan Chapman was raised in Atlanta, Georgia and began his dance training at the age of 13 with Stacey Herrington, Mandy Neeley, Amy Lindsey, Jeremy K and Tara Drew - training in ballet, modern, contemporary, jazz, and tap. He was accepted on full scholarship into the Belhaven University Dance Department in Jackson, Mississippi where he received training from instructors that included Stephen Wynne, Laura Morton and Cynthia Newland. Jonathan then spent two years training under the guidance of Jiri Voborsky and Sol Nazario in the Professional Training Program at Ballet Magnificat, and he also received training from Rinat Mousafarov of the Bolshoi. In 2008 he was promoted to apprentice with Ballet Magnificat, and then to Company Artist, which he held from 2009-2014. He has over 10 years of experience as a performing artist in classical and contemporary ballet, traveling in most of the continental United States and fifteen countries worldwide. He has performed at the International Ballet Festival in Barranquilla, Colombia, and in partnership with the Suzhou Ballet Theatre in Suzhou, China. Jonathan has also appeared as a guest artist and/or instructor with Shechah Touring Company in Japan, Project Dance, Boca Ballet Theatre, Alabama Dance Theatre, At Marah Dance Theatre in Russia and Poland, Roswell Dance Theatre, and others. In 2014, he and his wife opened The Perla Ballet School – a hybrid dance school in St. Augustine, FL – where he seeks to inspire students to pursue technical excellence and creative expression. Students from this program have been accepted and received scholarships to programs around the world, such as, Joffrey Ballet, Butler University, Kirov Academy, The Bolshoi Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, French Academie of Ballet, North Carolina School of the Arts and many others. Along with directing The Perla Ballet School he currently works as a freelance master class teacher, choreographer and guest performing artist.