Christopher Mohnani

Christopher is originally from Makati City in the Philippines. He was a soloist and principal dancer with Ballet Manila, Krasnoyarsk State Opera and Ballet Theater of Russia and for almost 10 seasons, as the top male Principal Danseur at Nashville Ballet. During the course of his dance career, he has had the privilege of dancing a wide range of soloist and principal roles, most notable of which are Romeo in the world premiere of Nashville Ballet’s Romeo and Juliet, Snow King in the World Premiere of Tennessee’s brand new full-length Nutcracker, Conrad in the Asian premiere of Le Corsaire, Dracula in the Asian premiere of Dracula, Prince Desire in the Tennessee premiere of a full-length The Sleeping Beauty, Albrecht in the full-length Giselle and Young Warrior and Faun in the Nashville premieres of The Rite of Spring and Afternoon of a Faun. He also was the Waltz Boy in Serenade, Phlegmatic in Four Temperaments and The Lead Boy in Square Dance – all George Balanchine ballets revived in its full form for a professional company in Tennessee. He completed two rounds and received a certificate at the 6th Asia Pacific International Ballet Competition held in Japan and has regularly performed as a principal guest artist for companies around the United States as well as in his hometown in the Philippines. In 2004 he founded the Asian American Performing Arts Society (AAPAS) – a non-profit, tax-exempt organization that promotes and celebrates the beauty and diversity of Asian American Performing arts and artists. He was a nominee for Most Outstanding Alumnus and Citizen of the University of St. Thomas – Philippines in 1998 and was named the Asian Bank Artist in 1999. For the year 2006-2007, Mohnani was the sole recipient of the Individual Artist Fellowship Award for Dance given by the State of Tennessee and the Tennessee Arts Commission, the first time it was given to only one individual exemplifying the best performing arts contribution in the state. Most recently he was awarded by Career Transition for Dancers with the 2008-09 Sono Osato Fellowship Award— the highest award given to any single professional dancer in the United States. As a teacher, instructor, choreographer, ballet restager and dance school director, he has trained and coached numerous students who have gone on to pursue successful professional careers in dance. Most recently, one of his very first dance students, Christine Joy Rocas, was the top medalist at the recently concluded New York International Ballet Competition and is now one of the leading ballerinas at the prestigious Joffrey Ballet based in Chicago. As an artistic director and non profit arts organization leader, he presented and directed two (2) International United States Tours of Asia’s most prolific ballet company Ballet Manila, twice appearing in Nashville with critical and commercial success, presented the Tennessee premiere of International Japanese pianist and jazz musician sensation Hiromi and the Tennessee premiere of Oscar and Cannes Film Festival winning documentary – Imelda. In 2009, he launched the performing arm of AAPAS – Dance Theatre of Tennessee (DTT) and Youth Ensemble. Premiering with the first Southeast Nashville’s Mini Nutcracker – an abridged, narrated version of the full-length holiday classic The Nutcracker. It signaled the start of a fresh, alternative approach to performing arts entertainment in Middle Tennessee. He continues to share his knowledge, experience, passion and love for dance as Director at the Academy of Performing Arts and as the artistic director of the Asian American Performing Arts Society (AAPAS) and Dance Theatre of Tennessee (DTT) and Youth Ensemble.