Dancer, choreographer and director, John Paul Bishop has long been associated with prominent dance companies and schools in the US and abroad and has worked with some of the most notable artists in the world of dance. He began studying classical ballet and piano at the age of 8 and began his professional career at 16 with the Milwaukee Ballet Company.  He has since performed with over twenty professional companies from New York to Japan. He has worked with such dance luminaries as George Balanchine, Mikhail Barishnikov, Andre Eglevsky and many others. As a principal dancer he has performed an array of roles in both classical and contemporary repertoire including Albrecht in Giselle, Prince Ziegfried in Swan Lake, Basil in Don Quixote, Franz in Coppelia, Prince Florimund in Sleeping Beauty, Jean Brienne in 'Raymonda', Oberon in A Midsummer Nights Dream and Bryaxis in Daphnis et Chloe. His contemporary reppertoire include Balanchine's Allegro Brilliante, Serenade and Vienna Waltzes.

  After a long professional career as a dancer, Mr. Bishop has transitioned into a well-respected choreographer creating over fifty original ballets. In his 22 year tenure as Artistic Director at Northwest Ballet Theater, he has staged full-length ballets including Coppelia, La Fille Mal Gardee, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Cinderella, Don Quixote,  Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, Dracula and The Nutcracker. Some of his classical one-act ballets include Les Sylphides, Paquita, Graduation Ball, The Firebird, Petrushka, Spectre de la Rose, Beethoven's 7th Symphony, Four Seasons and Daphnis et Chloe.  In 2004, he and six of his dancers competed in the St. Petersburg International Ballet Competition in Russia where he received the Award for Best Choreography and his dancers placed high in the competition.  He has also coached a number of dancers who placed as high as 1st in YAGP's Regional Dance Competition(Junior/Senior Classical and Contemporary) 4 years in a row (2016-2019). Former students of Mr. Bishop's now dance with prestigious dance programs and companies in The United States and overseas. He has also trained several professional figure skaters, including Shizuka Arakawa, gold medalist at the 2006 Olympics in Turin. Mr. Bishop's ballet productions for NBT have also attracted students and professional dancers from Washington to Russia. Currently John lives in Port Townsend Washington where he serves as Artistic Director/Choreographer for the Port Townsend Ballet. He hopes to share his long years of experience and love for ballet to more students in the region. He will be staging and choreographing an original ballet of 'The Magical Toy Shop' for PTB in June of 2024.