John Magnus received his dance training at the University of Cape Town Ballet School. He soon joined the Cape Town City Ballet Company performing a wide range of classical ballet roles. In 1980, Mr Magnus moved to the United States and began working as Ballet Master for Nevada Ballet Theatre. He then moved to New York City and served as ballet Master for the New Jersey Ballet Company and its school. Concurrently, he taught classes for the Metropolitan Opera Ballet. In 1986 he joined the faculty of the Joffrey Ballet School where he has been teaching for the past 20 years. As Ballet Master, he has set some of the world’s favorite ballets, including Don Quixote, La Bayadere and Swan Lake. Mr Magnus has been working with students and professional dancers at the Joffrey Ballet School beginning at age 7 to the most seasoned performer. Mr Magnus teaches ballet , pas de deux, and men’s classes and conducts the national auditions for the Joffrey’s New York and Flint, Michigan Summer Programs each year. He is also the artistic director of the highly successful Joffrey Midwest Summer Workshop in Flint, Michigan and in 2005 he was appointed artistic director of the Joffrey Ballet School New York and choreographed the Schools first full length production of Nutcracker which will be performed yearly. In addition to his active teaching schedule in New York City, Mr Magnus regularly conducts master classes throughout the country. He has also served as adjudicator for the International Dance Association in Paris and has been a faculty member for the Regional Dance America/SW Festivals from 1995 - 2006 and on Louisiana Dance Foundation’s Summer Dance Festival faculty from 2001 - 2005.
