Thor Sutowski passed away in February. This fundraiser is to pay for his obituary (as below with different photo) in the San Diego Union Tribune, as his daughter, Ariane, cannot afford to do it on her own. Those of you who were influenced and inspired by his amazing and inspiring talents as a ballet dancer, teacher and choreographer are asked to donate as you can. Thank you.
Mr. Sutowski is considered to be one of America’s foremost dance artists, universally respected for the quality and depth of his work. Sutowski’s career as a leading male dancer and choreographer spanned Europe, Asia, America, Scandinavia and Africa. He performed and worked with some of the greatest artists of the time (Kirsten Simone, Patricia Neary, Erik Bruhn, Rudolph Nureyev), and under the finest choreographers (Balanchine, Tudor, Butler, Bejart, Tetley, Cullberg, Bruhn). The outstanding quality about the dancing of Thor Sutowski was his excellent artistry and fine interpretation of his role which critics and audiences praised wherever he performed. His classic line was pure in the Russian tradition, and his bearing elegantly, noble and masculine. As the author and critic P. W. Manchester stated: “… one of the finest Apollos I have ever seen since the young Lifar.”
Thor Sutowski was a member of the original San Diego Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, National Ballet and a guest performer with the Boston Ballet and ABT. In Europe, he danced principal roles with the National Ballet of Norway, Hamburg State Opera Ballet, Ballet de Geneve and as a guest artist in all the major cities of Europe, Scandinavia and Africa. In 1971, he was co-director of the San Diego Ballet and in 1975 he became chairman of the Alabama School of Fine Arts.
He received three Emmy Awards for dance programs produced on PBS and produced several successful domestic and foreign tours under Columbia Artists. He was resident choreographer for Atlanta Ballet for several years and created original works for the Birmingham Children’s Ballet, Nutcracker for Ballet Hawaii, Side Three for Beyerische State Ballet in Munich, Germany; Fenice Opera’s Aida in Venice Italy; and restage Gian Carlo Minotti’s The Globelinks for the San Diego Opera and Birmingham Civic Opera. The ballets he choreographed for the Amami Maki Ballet in Japan were consistently presented to standing ovations.He also coached the American team for the Third International Competition de Danse in Paris.
Mr. Sutowski returned to San Diego with his wife in 1997 after 20 years as Co-Director for Ballet South and Dance Chairperson for the Alabama School of Fine Arts, recognized by famed dancer Mikhail Baryshnikov as on the of the top three schools in the county which train classical ballet dancers. Upon his return, Thor became associate director/choreographer with California Ballet and San Diego Ballet as well as a member of the UCSD dance faculty. Six of his works were in the California Ballet Company repertoire, including the full-length Swan Lake in 1997.