Biography
If the stage is a choreographer's playground, Jill Eathorne Bahr is having the time of her life. She strives to be innovative in her choreography ... to push the limits of the dancer and make audiences reconceptualize not just their ideas about the art form but also about movement and space.

During her 19-year tenure she has created more than 30 ballets, representing more than half of the company's dance repertory.Bahr is a fearless woman with a mission in many ways like a sprint runner busting out of the blocks, racing into the new 21st century with open arms and promises of wild rides as she strives to make Charleston Ballet Theatre bigger and better each year. Recognized for her unique and personal choreographic approach, Eathorne-Bahr has been heralded as being sleek and explosive in her range of choreographic styles.

Bahr has choreographed a nihilistic version of Firebird, captured a World War II slant on life in Last Vestiges of a Torch Song Cafe, and painted a primal tale of a matriarch society turned upside down in her version ofThe Rite of Spring. Bahr's other works include Wings, Drastic Measures, Mona Lisas and Mad Hatters, Fox-trot Circa 1990, Captured Angel, as well as, the length story ballets Romeo & Juliet, Carmen, The Great Gatsby, A Midsummer Night's Dream and the Seven Deadly Sins. Bahr's, acclaimed signature work, Poetry with a Splash of Red Blood has thrilled Charleston audiences since 1987.

Her choreography can be found in the repertory of Atlanta Ballet, Boston Ballet, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Ballet Eddy Toussaint USA, Eugene Ballet, Indianapolis Ballet Theatre, Nevada Dance Theatre, North Carolina Dance Theatre, State of Alabama Ballet, Joffrey II Dancers and the Fort Wayne Ballet. Jill Eathorne Bahr's Dracula with Flying by Foy is in the repertory of four national dance companies.

Jill Eathorne Bahr has been awarded three National Endowment for the Arts Choreographic Fellowships, four Monticello Choreographic Fellowships, the William Habich Choreography Award, the South Carolina Arts Commission Choreography Fellowship in 1997 (the first time offered in 10 years), two Astral Choreography Awards, and was part of the Celebration of the Uncommon Woman in Oregon. She has taught at many colleges including her alma mater University of Akron, and adjudicated American College Dance Festivals and Regional Dance America Festivals.