Name: James Kopecky
Title: Adjunct Professor of Dance
E-mail: kopeckyj@winthrop.edu
Born and raised in the suburbs of Chicago, James trained in ballet, jazz, tap, modern and musical theater at Dancenter North in Libertyville, IL. During his high school years, James started performing with a professional Tap company Especially Tap Chicago, later called Cartier Collective. He then attended Butler University under Marek Cholewa, Susan McGuire, Derek Reid, Cynthia Pratt, Tong Wang, Stephan Laurent and Michelle Jarvis, to list a few. In 2010, he graduated with a BFA in Dance Performance and was offered an apprenticeship at Ballet San Jose under the artistic leadership of Dennis Nahat. In his second season, James was promoted to Corps de Ballet. With Ballet San Jose, he was featured in a number of works, such as Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16, Jorma Elo’s Glow/stop, and Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room. After 5 years at Ballet San Jose, James joined Charlotte Ballet where he continues to perform leading roles as a principal dancer. Some of his favorite pieces he has performed are Dwight Rhoden’s The Groove, Jiri Kylian’s Sechs Tänze, Medhi Waleriski’s Petite Ceremonie, Jerome Robbins’s Fancy Free and Johan Inger’s Walking Mad. James has always been choreographing through-out his professional career. He has set works on Butler Ballet, Ballet San Jose’s Academy, Los Gatos Ballet, Opera San Jose, Charlotte Ballet 2, and Charlotte Ballet. James is very excited to be selected as 2022 UBCI Choreographic Fellow, and cannot wait to start creating on the bright and gifted dancers.
