Pennsylvania Ballet

A California native, Francis Veyette began his dance training at age 10 at Dance Arts in Visalia, CA. He also studied at Westside Ballet in Santa Monica and took summer sessions at The School of American Ballet in New York City and The Rock School for Dance Education in Philadelphia.
 
Mr. Veyette began as an Apprentice with Pennsylvania Ballet in 1997 and was promoted to the Corps de Ballet in September 1999. His featured roles included Candy Cane and Tea in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™, Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Petruchio in The Taming of the Shrew, and Titania's Cavalier in A Midsummer Night's Dream. In August 2003, Mr. Veyette joined Kansas City Ballet under the artistic direction of William Whitener, where he danced for two seasons. His featured roles include the principal couple in Balanchine's Square Dance and Theme and Variations, Cavalier and Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker, the Husband in Jerome Robbins' The Concert, the principal couple in Paquita, and the Peasant pas de deux in Giselle. He has created featured roles in several Matthew Neenan ballets including 11:11, As It's Going, Penumbra, and Pampeana No. 2. He appeared as a guest artist for Pennsylvania Ballet on three occasions during the 2004-2005 Season, before returning to the Company for the 2005-2006 Season as a member of the Corps de Ballet. Mr. Veyette was promoted to Soloist for the 2007-2008 Season and to Principal for the 2011-2012 Season. In 2011, he danced the principal role of Prince Siegfried in Christopher Wheeldon’s Swan Lake and originated featured roles in the world premieres of Jorma Elo’s Pulcinella and Benjamin Millepied’s This Part in Darkness. His principal roles have included the Pas de Deux in George Balanchine’s Agon and Colas in Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée.
 
In addition, Mr. Veyette has made guest appearances with Massachusetts Youth Ballet, Westside Ballet and Festival Ballet Theatre. He also appeared in Japan during the summers of 2002 and 2004, dancing Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, Giselle, and Le Corsaire. He has also had the opportunity to work with cutting edge choreographers as a guest dancer with Matthew Neenan and Christine Cox's BalletX, and has created several of his own works over the years for both Shut Up and Dance and Kansas City Ballet's "In the Wings" program.  Mr. Veyette is married to Principal Dancer Lauren Fadeley.