John Clifford is an American producer, director, and choreographer. At eighteen years old, George Balanchine offered him to join the New York City Ballet where, over the years,  he became one of the star dancers performing many leading roles in about 45 ballets of Balanchine but also of Jerome Robbins and others. At age twenty, Balanchine offered him to choreograph for the company. It was here under the tutelage of Balanchine and Robbins that Clifford honed his craft as a choreographer. Clifford was also the first American male dancer to be a guest artist with the Paris Opera Ballet but also in galas in Berlin, London. By his 20’s his own original ballets were danced by several North American companies.

At age twenty-six, he founded the Los Angeles Ballet. For over ten years this company gave over one-hundred performances annually, performed with the Los Angeles Philharmonic at both the Hollywood Bowl and the Chandler Pavilion at the Los Angeles Music Center. performances were also given at the Greek Theater, The Pantages Theater, and at every university of note in Southern California. This company also toured three times to New York City, Mexico, Canada, Taipei, the Philippines, Korea, and five national USA tours.

Also during these very productive years, Mr. Clifford choreographed, and his company appeared in, numerous films and TV productions. He has created dances to music of Sting, Chicago, Van Halen, Annie Lennox, Ravi Shankar, George Gershwin, Scott Joplin, as well as to Mozart, Stravinsky, and Tchaikovsky. His company performed his choreography with the Rock group Chicago and the Jazz great George Benson. Clifford also directed and choreographed the Broadway musical Li’l Abner.  Balanchine personally invited Clifford to return to the New York City Ballet on many occasions to dance as a guest artist…a very rare honor. He staged the Balanchine 100th Anniversary Galas for the Bolshoi and Mariinsky Ballet companies, and has staged Balanchine’s and his own ballets internationally.

Clifford created history again as the only person Warner Bros. Studios has ever allowed to adapt their cherished film, Casablanca for the stage. Casablanca, The Dance was premiered by his new company, the Los Angeles Dance Theater for several sold-out performances and standing ovations at the historic Great Hall of People in Beijing, China. John Clifford produced the video The Art of Classical Pas de Deux, and was invited by Robert Redford to direct and oversee the video choreographer workshop at his Sundance Institute.

John Clifford continues to teach and stage all over the world. He started collaborating with European School of Ballet in 2025.