Robert has directed the Central Ohio Youth Ballet for 28 years. For the company, he has restaged a number of full length story ballets including La Fille Mal Gardée, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Giselle and The Nutracker and he has set dozens of shorter original ballets. Robert’s solid background in classical ballet gives him a solid foundation upon which to draw his ideas and to engage his skill in adapting these works to his young cast of dancers, while maintaining much of the character, story and movement of the traditional works.

Robert danced for five years with the National Ballet of Canada, considered one of the world’s top tier ballet companies. While there, he was fortunate to have worked under the direction of Alexander Grant and Eric Bruhn. While with the company, he toured throughout Canada, Europe and the United States performing numerous character and soloist roles. A few that he particularly enjoyed were Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Alain in La Fille Mal Gardée and The Short Guy (hamming it up) in Elite Syncopations.

Robert’s early training was in response to an ankle injury he sustained as a high school athlete. Upon the advice of his physical therapist, he began classes at Mary Lynn’s Ballet Arts (now California’s Riverside Ballet Arts), where he studied alongside noted dancers Darci Kistler and Kip Houston. Robert was a passionate student, finding that his athleticism and ability to perform blended into a field of study where he excelled. From his California base, he went on to train at the National Ballet School on a full scholarship and subsequently as a corps member of National Ballet of Canada.

Following his five years with the National Ballet of Canada, Bob turned his attention to develop his artistic skills as a photographer, as his foster father taught photography at the college level and was thrilled to mentor him. Robert worked professionally in photography for a few years, but was not quite finished with ballet and chose to go to New York to take a take a position with Dennis Wayne’s Dancers for a three month tour in Italy. Additionally, Robert has been a guest dancer with many regional companies and from 1994-2004, he taught ballet and choreographed numerous works for the Denison dance department.

Robert also founded The Ballet Academy in Newark, Ohio, a dance school that shares its home with the Central Ohio Youth Ballet, both emphasizing solid technique in primarily ballet and modern dance. He has continued his connection with the National Ballet School by periodically attending their summer teacher training sessions, working with neuromuscular specialist, Irene Dowd as well as the faculty at The NBS. Robert’s students have been accepted, many with scholarships, for further training at such schools as The National Ballet School, Julliard, Pacific Northwest Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, The Rock School, The Joffrey Ballet, The Kirov Academy, North Carolina School of the Arts, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, the Gelsey Kirkland Academy and with David Howard. His students have also gone on to train, apprentice or dance professionally with companies including Munich Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, BalletMet, The Joffrey Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Rochester City Ballet, Light of the World Ballet, and others.