Gibson, 55, is the newly appointed artistic director for the Nittany Ballet, the dance division of the Performing Arts School of Central Pennsylvania. The company presents the holiday classic “The Nutcracker” this weekend and Gibson’s first for the school in his new role.

Gibson performed as a soloist for the San Francisco Ballet and as principal dancer for the Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle, Wash. The companies are among the top five companies in the United States. Throughout his career, he’s also choreographed shows extensively and won the Choo San Goh Award for “The Piano Dance” in 1995.

“I’ve worked with the most amazing people, the most amazing choreographers, stagers and artists,” Gibson said. “And the traveling — I’ve been to Paris three times, London twice, Hong Kong, Istanbul, Scotland, Australia, Poland. It’s amazing what opportunities I had being a professional ballet dancer.”

He shares his expertise with students at Nittany Ballet, who say he has the ability to bring out their best through his attention to detail, encouragement and kindness.

Paul Gibson is pictured at the Performing Arts School of Central Pennsylvania in State College. Mirror photo by Patrick Waksmunski

“He has worked with some of the best choreographers and dancers in the world,” said school director Becca Beck. “And I have no doubt in my mind that he shows our students the same level of respect for the work that they are putting in as he would to the professionals he has worked with. That is the true gift I think he brings to our students: an honoring of who they are as people and the work they do.”

For Gibson, being a ballet instructor and now artistic director is a way to share his love of performing.

“It was amazing to be on stage. It makes you feel good. It’s so empowering,” he said. “You’re out there dancing and there’s thousands of people with their eyes on you as you’re doing your thing. There’s nothing like it. It’s just so amazing.”

Beck said Gibson “brings his A game to everything he does and expects the same from those around him, yet he manages to lay those standards for all with genuine kindness. He really embodies the phrase, ‘Do your job well and treat people kindly.’ Paul also brings a deep love, understanding and respect for Ballet as an art form.”

All began in Altoona

His journey began in the eighth grade when he began dance instruction under Deborah Anthony of The Allegheny Ballet Dance School in Altoona, where “his talent was obvious from the beginning,” Anthony said. He distinguished himself as a dancer and especially as a choreographer at a young age with his “very special talent,” she said, adding that he came back and choreographed for the local school after he was accepted on full scholarship to the San Francisco Ballet School in 1986.

Off stage, Anthony described Gibson as “very reserved. He’s a very humble person who doesn’t brag about himself. He’s very kind.”

His rise through the San Francisco school was rocket-like due to his advanced skills. A ballet company has four levels of dancers: apprentice, corps de ballet, soloist and principal.

“After three weeks of being an apprentice, everyone was using me so much that the artistic director promoted me to corps. So, in two years, I did what should have taken five years. It was crazy that it happened so fast. I’m glad it did because I loved that job, but it was very fast,” Gibson explained.

His last performance week with the San Francisco Ballet was in Paris in 1994. From there, he flew to Seattle to become principal dancer with the Pacific Northwest Ballet. “It was crazy and wonderful all at the same time,” he said.

Anthony attended many of her former student’s performances and recalled an especially spectacular night where Pacific Northwest honored Gibson with a night devoted to his choreography. Anthony was “so bursting with pride,” she told the cab driver who picked her up at the airport when a promo aired on the radio.

At the performance, Gibson introduced her to the crowd.

“Paul is so warm and wonderful. It was so nice to see my student and to have him stand up there and recognize me — it meant so much to me,” she said.

After stepping off the stage as a performer in 2004, Gibson became ballet master for the company. His responsibilities included scheduling for all rehearsals and performances, teaching/preparing/rehearsing dancers for all productions and performances and maintaining overall quality among many other duties.

“I was always choreographing ballets of my own, with the Allegheny Ballet and helping friends and others stage things,” Gibson said. “So, it was a very natural transition to do that. It’s just fun working with dancers on choreography and helping make them better dancers and to have them look amazing and then seeing that rewarded through them on the stage is one of the best things.”

In 2019, Gibson returned to Altoona for what he expected to be a year off — his first in 25 years of dance. The COVID-19 pandemic shutdown extended his “break” to two years. In 2021, he joined the dance faculty at Nittany Ballet and was promoted to its Artistic director in July.

‘Magical’ experience

For 12 weeks, the company has been preparing for its annual performance of “The Nutcracker” at Eisenhower Auditorium at 7 p.m. Dec. 14, and 2 p.m. Dec. 15. The two-act story ballet is getting an update with Gibson’s new choreography, sets and “tweaks” to the storyline.

“I want to make it magical for the audience,” he said.

For senior Nittany Ballet dancers, the Nutcracker performance is extra special this year.

Maggie Yang plays Snow Queen and calls the role “a full-circle moment in her ballet journey” because she “looked up to the Snow Queen role as a symbol of beauty and mastery, and now I have the chance to step into that role and inspire the next generation of dancers. It’s important to me that I take all the lessons I’ve learned in ballet to create something magical and meaningful for the audience.”

Dew Drop in Act 11 has been Maia Barber’s “dream role for as long as I can remember. To me, the character embodies both power and grace, and I find it inspirational. The way she is so light on her feet and floats through the air would mesmerize me as a young dancer.”

The role has shown her how far she’s developed and advanced her skills.

Sullivan and the other students cited Gibson’s professional experiences and his ability to challenge them to become better dancers while also providing needed guidance so they improve.

“Paul’s teaching style is the perfect balance between encouragement and constructive critique, all while being funny, passionate and kind-hearted,” Yang said. “His eye for detail is unmatched — he notices the subtle adjustments that can take our dancing from good to extraordinary, and he guides us in understanding how to make those changes. Most importantly, he pushes us to improve while ensuring we always know he believes in us.”

Barber said she has learned “that it’s okay to be proud of something even if I’m still working on it.” It’s a lesson that has reduced her fear of taking risks in and outside the dance studio, and she credits Gibson with helping her “challenge my limits.”

For ballet student Sienna Sullivan, Gibson has “a contagious energy and has shown me that coming in and working hard on a daily basis can be rewarding in itself. I have been able to apply this not only in the studio, but to many other aspects of my life.”

As for Gibson, he said, “I’m having such a great time. I love working with the kids.”