The Eglevsky Ballet, founded in Massapequa in 1957 by the late, great New York City Ballet star, André Eglevsky, hosts a Gala event on Sunday, December 20 at 4:30. The elegant cocktail party, held at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts in conjunction with the company’s four performances of the beloved holiday classic, The Nutcracker, salutes Eglevsky’s daughter, Marina, who has carried her father’s work forward throughout her long career in dance. Her brothers, André Eglevsky, Jr. and Paul Eglevsky, will also be special guests at the December 20 Gala.

Marina Eglevsky also will teach a Master Class on Monday, December 14 at 10:30 am at the Herricks Community Center in New Hyde Park. The fee is $20 per person.

Born into a family steeped in the classical ballet tradition, Marina Eglevsky grew up backstage at the New York City Ballet, taking classes from her earliest years with the legendary George Balanchine. Later study was at the school founded by her parents, as well as the School of American Ballet and the American Ballet Theater School. She appeared in Balanchine’s Nutcracker and in the Eglevsky Ballet’s Nutcracker, collaboration between Balanchine and André Eglevsky.

She joined the company of the New York City Ballet at the age of 14 and became a soloist with the Rebecca Harkness Ballet the next year. She later was a principal dancer with the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Hamburg Ballet, becoming particularly associated with the roles of Juliet in Romeo and Juliet and Marie in Nutcracker. Other lead roles for Marina Eglevsky were in Coppelia, Cinderella, Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Rodeo and Giselle. She partnered such famed dance stars as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Fernando Bujones, Robert Weiss and Lawrence Rhodes. Additional career highlights for Eglevsky include an appearance with Rudolph Nureyev at a Lincoln Center dance festival, dancing the role of Maggie in the Broadway production of Brigadoon under the direction of Agnes DeMille and staging Balanchine works for the American Ballet Theater, NYC Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet and Kennedy Center Honors.

Eglevsky’s work in staging Balanchine ballets throughout the world has been recognized with the prestigious Issie Award. Teaching posts have been with the North Carolina School of Arts, Pacific Northwest Ballet and San Francisco Ballet. She is a staff member of the Shawl-Anderson Dance Center in Berkeley, CA.

Tickets for the Eglevsky Ballet’s Gala on Sunday, December 20 are $60 and $15 for children 12 and under. For information or to purchase tickets, please call (516) 746-1115 or write to info@eglevskyballet.com.

Tickets for The Eglevsky Ballet’s 2009 production of The Nutcracker, Saturday, December 19 through Monday, December 21 at Tilles Center, are $60, $50 and $35 (seniors: $57, $47, $32). Group discounts are available; call (516) 299-3100 or log onto tillescenter.org.

Long Island University’s Tilles Center for the Performing Arts is located on the C.W. Post Campus, Route 25A in Brookville.