Draft:Stevan Grebel

Stevan Grebel (also Grebeldinger) is a Serbian-born ballet dancer, choreographer, and teacher who performed internationally before becoming the founding director of the ballet program at the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB). He danced as a premier danseur with the National Ballet of Washington, D.C., appeared in major Yugoslav and European productions, and performed in the award-winning French ballet film Les amants de Teruel (1962). Grebel later founded the Grebel Center for Dance and served as artistic director of the Alabama Youth Ballet Company.

Early life and training

Grebel was born in Yugoslavia (present-day Serbia) and trained in Belgrade, where he became a member of the Belgrade National Theater Ballet. His name appears in archival documentation and performance histories from the 1950s as Stevan Grebeldinger, performing in classical works such as Swan Lake, Giselle, and ballets by choreographer Dimitrije Parlić.^[1] He performed alongside notable Yugoslav artists including Jovanka Bjegojević, Vera Kostić, Branko Marković, Žarko Prebil, and others associated with the postwar generation of Serbian ballet.^[2]

A Yugoslav television series profiling prominent dancers, Igra koja život znači ("Living Through Dance"), also includes Grebel’s work among the featured performers of the period.^[3] Grebel is shown performing Giselle (choreography, Leonid Lavrovsky; music, Adolphe Adam) with Dušanka Sifnios, and the ballet of the Belgrade National Theater. His choreography of the ballet Cleopatra is also depicted (music, Bazil Polidoris), danced by Biljana Njegovan, Rastislav Varga, and the ballet of the Serbian National Theatre, Novi Sad.

Grebel received additional training with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, training with Asaf Messerer, and the Kirov Ballet in Leningrad (now the Mariinsky Ballet), training with Alexander Pushkin.^[4]

Performance career

Europe

Grebel partnered French star Ludmilla Tchérina in Paris productions, including Les Feux aux Poudres (1959), documented in international photo archives.^[5] Video footage also survives of the two dancing Giselle at the Bolshoi Theatre during guest engagements in 1959.^[6]

National Ballet of Washington, D.C. (1965-1971)

Grebel joined the National Ballet of Washington, D.C. as a premier danseur and remained with the company from 1965 to 1971. Frederic Franklin, the director of the Ballet, was a former Maitre de Ballet of the Ballet Russe de Monte-Carlo.^[7] Grebel received national attention for performing the title role in Juan Corelli’s Othello. A review by Clive Barnes in The New York Times noted his “conventionally noble” interpretation of the Moor.^[8] He also received praise for his performance as Iskender in La Péri ^[9]

A 1967 review in The New Yorker also discussed the company’s touring season and its principal dancers.^[10] Western Michigan University Magazine lists Grebel among the company’s premier danseurs during its national touring season.^[11]

While in Washington D.C., Grebel worked with esteemed choreographers including George Balanchine and performed in Serenade. In Tomboy Ballerina, dancer Roni Mahler recounts partnering with Grebel in the ballet’s Dark Angel section, noting the precision and physical coordination required of the role.^[12]

University of Alabama at Birmingham (1971-1990s)

On September 1, 1971, Stevan Grebel became the first Director of Ballet at the University of Alabama at Birmingham. His wife, Melanie Mihalic Grebel, was appointed assistant to the director.^[13] During his tenure at UAB, Grebel staged original works including In the Beginning^[14]; Uprising^[15]; and Adagio Lento, which won first place in contemporary ballet at the sixth annual Panoply Arts Festival choreography competition.^[16] He also taught widely known “Perfection Classes” for professional dancers from the United States and Europe.^[17] Grebel’s work at UAB is discussed in Tennant S. McWilliams’ institutional history New Lights in the Valley: The Emergence of UAB.^[18]

Later teaching and Alabama Youth Ballet Company

Grebel and his wife Deborah Russell Grebel co-founded the Grebel Center for Dance in Pelham, Alabama, presenting an annual performance of The Nutcracker that drew around 1,000 people each year.^[19][20] He also served as artistic director of the Alabama Youth Ballet Company (AYBC), which presented pre-professional performances.^[21] Grebel taught numerous students who advanced to professional training programs or companies, including dancers accepted into the Alabama School of Fine Arts.^[22]

Film career

Les amants de Teruel (1962) Grebel appeared in the French ballet film Les amants de Teruel (The Lovers of Teruel), directed by Raymond Rouleau and starring Ludmilla Tchérina, as a character named Grebelito.

References

1. "Swan Lake". National Theatre in Belgrade. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
2. "Prima ballerina Jovanka Bjegojević (1931-2015) - Time". https://vreme.com/en/. Retrieved 21 December 2025. {{cite web}}: External link in |website= (help)
3. "Igra koja zivot znaci = Living through dance | WorldCat.org". search.worldcat.org. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
4. digitalcommons.library.uab.edu https://digitalcommons.library.uab.edu/cgi/viewcontent.cgi?article=2591&context=ereporter. Retrieved 21 December 2025. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
5. www.bridgemanimages.com https://www.bridgemanimages.com/en-US/noartistknown/ludmilla-tcherina-and-steven-grebel-in-ballet-les-feux-aux-poudres-february-18-1959-b-w-photo/photograph/asset/1659011. Retrieved 21 December 2025. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)
6. "Черина (Tcherina) балет "Жизель" Большой театр 1959 г." 30 October 2015. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
7. Belair, Alida (November 15, 2013). Out of Step: A Dancer Reflects. ISBN 9780987320803. Retrieved 26 December 2025.
8. Barnes, Clive (November 21, 1966). "Dance: Not Wisely, But Not Too Well; New 'Othello' Presented by National Ballet Andrea Vodehnal Stars in Corelli Production". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
9. Barnes, Clive (March 28, 1967). "Dance: National Ballet Opens City Center Season". The New York Times. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
10. Sargeant, Winthrop (1 April 1967). "Visiting Fireballs". The New Yorker. ISSN 0028-792X. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
11. "Grand Opening Festival". Western Michigan University Magazine. 26 (1): 6. Winter 1968. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
12. Mahler, Roni; O’Connor, Caroline (17 April 2025). Tomboy Ballerina: My Life from Baseball to American Ballet Theatre and Beyond. McFarland. pp. 99–100. ISBN 978-1-4766-5453-9.
13. Pennycuff, Tim L. "UAB History | Libraries". library.uab.edu. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
14. "Dance UAB's production features six dance routines". digitalcommons.library.uab.edu. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
15. Perley, Barbara. "This original ballet by Grebel reflects a world in turmoil". digitalcommons.library.uab.edu. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
16. "Grebel's work takes top award". digitalcommons.library.uab.edu. July 10 1987. Retrieved 21 December 2025. {{cite news}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
17. Perley, Barbara. "This original ballet by Grebel reflects a world in turmoil". digitalcommons.library.uab.edu. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
18. McWilliams, Tennant S. (16 August 2007). New Lights in the Valley: The Emergence of UAB. University of Alabama Press. pp. 234, 294. ISBN 978-0-8173-1546-7. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
19. Harris, Briana. "Grebel Dance settling in to new studio". Shelby County Reporter. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
20. "Stevan Grebel Center for Dance". Birmingham365.org. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
21. "Alabama Youth Ballet Company (AYBC)". Birmingham365.org. Retrieved 21 December 2025.
22. Boys and Ballet https://boysballet.wordpress.com/?s=grebel. Retrieved 21 December 2025. {{cite web}}: Missing or empty |title= (help)

External links