Joseph Morrissey

About Joseph

Joseph Morrissey is the Director of Dance at Interlochen Center for the Arts. He formerly served as Director of Artistic Planning and Touring for The Hong Kong Ballet. Morrissey has danced with the Bavarian State Ballet in Munich, Germany and Boston Ballet in USA. Performed repertoire includes the late 19th century classical ballets by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov along with works by choreographers including George Balanchine, John Cranko, Mikhail Fokine, Maina Gielgud, Terrence Kohler, Jiri Kylian, Graeme Murphy, John Neumeier, Martin Schlapfer, and Lila York.

Morrissey has twice been invited to choreograph for the Stuttgart Ballet’s Noverre Society, and was later selected to choreograph for the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of The New York City Ballet where he created work for students at the School of American Ballet together with an original score commissioned by students at The Juilliard School. He has also choreographed for the Inside/Out series at The School of Ballet at Jacob’s Pillow, a program of which he is a two-time alumnus, and was invited to choreograph for Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet’s 2017 ChoreoPlan. Morrissey’s work was also shown at the 2015 Beijing International Ballet Competition; Ballet Philippines 50th anniversary gala; and in Italy at the Festival Ballet d’Adriactico and with Roberto Bolle and Stars from American Ballet Theatre.

Morrissey was a selected participant in the 2015 Dance/USA Institute for Leadership Training, a platform pairing emerging and notable leaders in the dance field sponsored by the American Express and Andrew W. Mellon Foundations. Holding a Master of Arts in Performing Arts Administration from New York University, Morrissey previously earned his Bachelor of Science in Classical Ballet from The Jacobs School of Music at Indiana University and was a recipient of the Kenneth C. Whitener Award for Ballet Excellence and the Jacobs School of Music Dean’s Award. He is a four-year graduate of The Harid Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida—where he received distinguished achievement awards in dance, music, and leadership. He further trained at summer programs including The Royal Ballet School in London, England and The Houston Ballet Academy in Houston, Texas.

Morrissey completed the Preservation and Development of the Vaganova Methodology training seminar at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia and has instructed classical ballet classes at the Warsaw State Ballet School and Wroclaw State Opera Ballet in Poland; American Ballet Theatre Studio Company; Australian Conservatory of Ballet in Melbourne, Australia; and the Senior Men’s class at English National Ballet School in London, England. He is profiled in the January / February 2020 issue of Dance Teacher Magazine and currently serves on the jury for the Youth America Grand Prix nationwide and in Paris, France; the International Baltic Ballet Competition in Riga, Latvia; and the Japan Grand Prix in Tokyo. He has been featured in 2022 on the Apple Podcast 5,6,7 eight subtitled “It’s a Privilege to Lead” along with Shine your Light for Dancers in 2023.

At Interlochen, Morrissey has staged new productions of The Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet featuring all-new original choreography. He has also staged performances of Swan Lake and Sleeping Beauty. Several of these productions have been broadcast by Detroit Public Television and been featured on the PBS app. In addition, two of Morrissey’s students at Arts Academy have won first place in the Youth America Grand Prix.

In February 2021, Morrissey opened the doors to Interlochen’s brand new, award-winning dance center, having found and partnered with the Boston-based Flansburgh Architects on the project. He was invited to deliver the 2021 NYU Performing Arts Administration graduates’ Commencement Address and honored to receive the NYU Performing Arts Administration program’s Distinguished Alumni Award at its 50th anniversary celebration.