Meet Our Founder

Founder and Director Mr. Jean-Hugues Feray (Photo: Steven Caras),a native of France, began his dance training at nine years of age. The following year, he auditioned for the Paris Opera Ballet School at the Paris Opera Ballet where he was one of six boys chosen out of the 250 that applied for admission. Jean-Hugues studied with the school for 5 years and went on to attend the National Conservatory of Paris. He graduated from the conservatory with a first prize in Ballet awarded by a unanimous jury decision. This was the highest Ballet Award a student could receive, enabling Jean-Hugues to choose from several contract offers in European Companies. 

In 1990, Jean-Hugues was hired by Rudolph Nureyev to perform in his version of Cinderella, which premiered at the San Carlo Theatre in Naples, Italy. In 1991, Pierre Lacotte hired him for the National Ballet of Nancy, where he performed for seven years in many leading roles. Jean-Hugues was promoted to soloist at the age of twenty. With the National Ballet of Nancy, he toured all over the world including Moscow, Russia where the company was invited by Vladimir Vasiliev to perform at the Bolshoi Theatre. Jean-Hugues received a standing ovation for his performance of the Harlequin in Georges Balanchine’s La Somnambule.

In 1998, Jean-Hugues was hired by Marie-Claude Pietragalla at the National Ballet of Marseille. Miss Pietragalla was a principal with the Paris Opera Ballet and the new Artistic Director in Marseille. While in Marseille, Jean-Hugues performed numerous roles including the leads in Giselle, Raymonda, George Balanchine’s Tzigane, and was also chosen by Maurice Bejart to be in his version of Le Bolero de Ravel.

In 2000, Jean-Hugues moved to the United States when Marie Hale invited him to join Ballet Florida. Before coming to the United States, Mr. Feray applied for and acquired his Employment Based Green Card: EB-1 Priority Worker: Extraordinary Ability Status. To get this status to enter the country one must have “...extraordinary ability in science, arts, education, or athletics which has been demonstrated by sustained national or international acclaim and whose achievements have been recognized in the field through extensive documentation.” One must be “at that small percentage who have risen to the very top of the field of endeavor to qualify for this classification.”