Paola Hartley

Miss Hartley was born in Bonn, Germany, and grew up in South Africa and Chile, where her parents danced for P.A.C.T. Ballet and Ballet de Santiago. She studied at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with teachers such as Melissa Hayden, Duncan Noble, Gyula Pandi , Dianne Markham and Trish Casey.

In 1993 she joined Ballet de Santiago with Marcia Haydee as her director. In 1997 Ivan Nagy took over the company and Miss Hartley was promoted to soloist after performing the role of Myrtha in “Giselle” with guest artist Igor Zelensky. During her years with Ballet de Santiago, she worked with other guest artists such as Jose Manuel Carreño, Maximiliano Guerra, Carlos Acosta, and Lauren Anderson. She performed leading roles such as Olga in John Cranko’s “Eugene Onieguin”, The Mad Lady in Ben Stevenson’s “Peer Gynt”, Mercedes in “Don Quijote”, The Countess in Ronal Hynd’s “The Devil to pay” and Stella in Mauricio Wainrot’s World Premiere of “Streetcar named Desire”. She had the opportunity to work with choreographers such as Ronald Hynd, Ben Stevenson, Trey Mc Intyre, David Parsons and Natalia Makarova.

In July of 1998 Miss Hartley was invited to join Ballet Arizona. Since arriving, she has expanded her modern repertoire by working and performing pieces from Kevin O’Day (“Hellblondegroove”), Paul Taylor (“Company B”), Twyla Tharp (“Sinatra Suite” and “The Golden Section”), Julia Adams (“Before”), and world premieres by Moses Pendleton (“Opus Cactus”) and Dwight Rhoden (“Skinny Puzzle”, “Scarlet Symphony” and “Ave Maria”). She performed with guest artists such as Marcelo Gomes ( “Fille mal Gardee “pas de deux), Nikolaj Hubbe  (“Napoli”) and Gael Lambiotte (“Swan Lake”). Her leading roles in full length productions include  Aurora in “Sleeping Beauty”, Odette/Odile in “Swan Lake”, Giselle in “Giselle”, Juliet in “Romeo and Juliet”, Swanilda in “Coppelia”, The Sylph in “La Sylphide”, and Kitri in “Don Quijote”. Her Balanchine repertoire includes principal roles in ballets such as “Theme and Variations”, “Agon”, “Allegro Brillante”, “Apollo”, “Serenade”, “Four Temperaments”, “Divertimento No 15”, “Duo Concertante”, “Episodes”, “Concerto Barroco”, “Stravinsky Violin Concerto” and “Rubies”. She has received extensive coaching from stagers such as Olga Eivrenoff, Freddie Franklin, Sandra Jennings, Susan Hendl and Elaine Kudo.

  During the summers of 2009 and 2008, Miss Hartley co directed and performed with local company Novaballet. She worked with upcoming choreographer Emery Le Crone in “Pulling to Break”, performed Vicente Nebrada’s “Our Waltzes”, and restaged David Palmer and Yanis Pikieris’ “Adiemus”. Miss Hartley has toured in Stuttgart, Buenos Aires, Budapest and New York. She performed with partner Astrit Zejnati at a Gala in Albania in 2005 and at the Miami International Dance Festival in 2006. She has been seen by millions performing as a guest artist in the Chilean TV talent show “Rojo Fama Contrafama”, where her father is a judge. In her spare time she teaches ballet at several dance academies of the valley, such as Tempe Dance Academy, Master Ballet Academy, Scottsdale School of Ballet, Studio R and The School of Ballet Arizona.

In the summer of 2011 and 2012, Miss Hartley was invited as a guest faculty member at the Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver, Canada.

In 2013, Miss Hartley joined The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, where she performed principal roles in George Balanchine’s “Pas de Dix”, “Episodes”, “Agon”, “Allegro Brillante”, “Swan Lake”, and Jerome Robbins’ “The Concert”.

In May of 2015, Miss Hartley retired from Ballet Arizona, and became Shoe Manager for the Company.

In the Fall of 2018, Miss Hartley joined State Street Ballet as Ballet Master for the company, and currently divides her time between CA and teaching in AZ.