Career
Bissell joined the corps de ballet of the American Ballet Theatre in 1977 and, after three months there, he danced the lead male rôle in La Bayadère. He moved to the Boston Ballet but returned the following year. In 1978 he was promoted to soloist and to principal dancer in 1979 at the American Ballet Theatre due to the shortage of men in the company. For much of his career, however, Bissell was plagued with injuries, and there were reports of drug and alcohol problems. Bissell and Gelsey Kirkland were dismissed from the American Ballet Theatre in 1980 and 1981 on the grounds of chronic lateness and missed rehearsals—in particular for failing to attend a dress rehearsal on the eve of the company's opening at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. on December 9, 1980. Bissell and Kirkland then appeared as guest artists with the Eglevsky Ballet in its production of Act II of Giselle in 1982 at the Hofstra Playhouse in Hempstead, Long Island, New York. Subsequently Bissell rejoined the American Ballet Theatre.
His repertory of lead rôles was wide and varied, including Don Jose in Roland Petit's Carmen, Franz in Coppélia, Basil and Espada in Don Quixote, Albrecht in Giselle, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, James in La Sylphide, Prince Desire in Sir Kenneth MacMillan's Sleeping Beauty and lead rôles in George Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Symphonie Concertante and Theme and Variations. He created the rôle of the Prince in Mikhail Baryshnikov's production of Cinderella, the leading male rôle in Antony Tudor's The Tiller in the Fields (1978), Glen Tetley's Contredances (1979), the title rôle of Peter Darrell's Chéri (1980) and the lead rôle in Lynne Taylor-Corbett's Estuary (1983). In 1984, Bissell starred as a guest artist with the Universal Ballet Company in its first production, Adrienne Dellas's Cinderella. He was partnered by its leading ballerina and general director, Julia Moon. He also performed as a guest artist with the National Ballet of Canada, Scottish Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. This is a start contrast to Patrick's brother William, who trained to be a minister, but then went on to work in manufacturing.
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