Edwaard Liang
Artistic Director
A former dancer with New York City Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater, Edwaard Liang has built an international reputation as a choreographer. Over the last decade, he has created work for the Bolshoi Ballet, Houston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Kirov Ballet, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Shanghai Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre and Washington Ballet.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan and raised in Marin County, California, Mr. Liang began his dance training at age five with Marin Ballet. After studying at the School of American Ballet, he joined New York City Ballet in 1993. That same year, he was a medal winner at the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition and won the Mae L. Wien Award. By 1998, he was promoted to Soloist. In 2001, Mr. Liang joined the Tony Award® winning Broadway cast of Fosse. His performance in Fosse was later televised nationally on PBS’ Great Performances series – Dance in America: From Broadway: Fosse, and subsequently released on DVD. By 2002, Mr. Liang was invited by Jiri Kylian to become a member of the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater 1.
While dancing with NDT 1, Mr. Liang discovered his passion and love for choreography. Since establishing himself as a choreographer, his works have been performed by dance companies around the world and he has won numerous awards for his choreography including the 2006 National Choreographic Competition.
In 2013, Mr. Liang was named Artistic Director at BalletMet where he continues to choreograph new works for companies both domestically and abroad. In 2017, he received an Emmy® Award for his short dance film, Vaulted. In 2018, he created a new ballet with Roberto Bolle for the opening of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Sue Porter
Executive Director
Sue Porter was named BalletMet’s Executive Director in August 2015. Sue is an attorney who started her legal career as an associate attorney and later a partner specializing in labor and employment law with Schottenstein, Zox & Dunn LPA (now Ice Miller LLP). In her over 30 years as an attorney, she has been recognized as a Leading Lawyer for Business in Chambers USA, as a Best Lawyer in America, an Ohio Super Lawyer, a Top 50 Women Lawyer in Ohio and a Top 25 Women Lawyer in Columbus. She also received a 40 under Forty Award and a Top Executive Women award from Business First. In 2018, she was recognized as a Smart Woman Award Honoree in the Progressive Woman category. Sue was a long time Board member with BalletMet and a number of other not-for-profit organizations including Dance/USA where she chaired the mid-size company Manager’s Council. She currently serves on the Board of Directors of Ohio Mutual Insurance Group, Ohio Citizens for the Arts and the Columbus Bar Foundation. Sue and her husband, Mike Sayre, have three children and live in New Albany.
Olivia Clark Omardien
Rehearsal Director, BalletMet 2 Associate Director
Olivia Clark is originally from Bellville, Ohio. She received her ballet training in Columbus, Ohio as part of the BalletMet Dance Academy Pre-Professional Program, where she was recipient of the Lucy Porter Scholarship. Her dance career included work with Festival Ballet of Rhode Island, Nashville Ballet and BalletMet, where she was a company member for 18 seasons. With BalletMet she performed roles such as Mina in David Nixon’s Dracula, the Solo Girl in George Balanchine’s Rubies, the principal role in Maurice Hines’ High C, Clara in The Nutcracker, Fortuna in Dwight Rhoden’s Carmina Burana, Autumn in James Kudelka’s The Four Seasons, and the title role in Amadeo Amodio’s Carmen among many others. She was also in the original cast of James Kudelka’s Man in Black. In 2006, Ms. Clark performed in Poland as part of the International Contemporary Dance Festival, and in 2010 toured with BalletMet to perform in Moscow and St. Petersburg, Russia. Also In 2010, Ms. Clark was awarded the Violetta Boft Memorial Award in recognition of personal achievements in and dedication to the world of dance. In addition to onstage efforts, in 2007 she began to take on the duties of an Assistant Ballet Mistress for BalletMet. Throughout the rest of her career, she assisted with the staging and rehearsing of company productions including work on Jimmy Orrante’s The Great Gatsby, James Kudelka’s Man in Black, Gerard Charles’ The Nutcracker and others. In 2013, she assisted James Kudelka as he created his world premiere Rite of Spring for the BalletMet Company.
Andres Estevez
Rehearsal Director, BalletMet 2 Associate Director
Andres Estevez began his training in Havana, Cuba, and joined Ballet Nacional de Cuba under the direction of Alicia Alonso. After several seasons Mr. Estevez joined Ballet Clasico de la Havana under the direction of Laura Alonso; here his career flourished, and he became a soloist and then a principal dancer. His career includes tours and galas of several countries as well as winning silver and bronze in the Alicia Alonso competition in Cuba and a gold medal in a competition in Brazil. In 1996, Andres joined Miami City Ballet where he performed as a soloist in many Balanchine choreographies including Stars and Stripes, Scotch Symphony, and Allegro Brilliante. In 1998, he joined Orlando Ballet as a principal dancer under the direction of Fernando Bujones. His extensive career at the Orlando Ballet includes roles such as Solor in La Bayadere, Albrecht in Giselle, Colas in La Fille Mal Gardee, Franz in Coppélia, Basilio in Don Quixote, Krassus in Spartacus, Siegfried in Swan Lake, Prince Charming in Cinderella, Jean de Brienne in Raymonda, Prince Desire in Sleeping Beauty, Oberon in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, King Arthur in Camelot, and many others. He has also had the pleasure to perform the works of choreographers like Twyla Tharp, David Parson, Robert North, Val Caniparoli and Lila York. In 2009, he joined BalletMet, performing a variety of classical, Balanchine, and contemporary repertoire including works from BalletMet’s Artistic Director Edwaard Liang. In 2017 he retired from the stage and became the Associate Director of BalletMet 2 and in 2018 was promoted to the role of Company Rehearsal Director. Through the years, Mr. Estevez has staged Edwaard Liang ballets in Kansas City, Pittsburgh, Sarasota and Slovakia. After time as co-director of United Ballet Theatre in Florida, Mr. Estevez returned to BalletMet in 2022 as a BalletMet 2 Associate Director and Company Rehearsal Director.