Diversity and Inclusion
The School of American Ballet (SAB) considers the artistic representation of cultural and racial diversity as essential to the art form. As a premier training academy whose graduates are poised to join and ultimately head dance organizations worldwide, SAB recognizes its responsibility in creating a community that embodies equity and inclusion through its behaviors, policies, and practices. SAB believes that it must be proactive in ensuring access to its auditions and training, as well as in providing the necessary financial, developmental, and social support for qualified students of all backgrounds.
SAB’s Diversity Initiative first launched in 2012 with the intention of bringing more dancers of color to professional stages. Since then, the School has experienced significant changes in the student body which has inspired deeper organizational learning for all members of the organization in regard to diversity, equity, and inclusion. No longer an initiative, the School’s commitment to diversity, equity, and inclusion is now becoming a lived-priority of the organization and its members.
Recruiting and Outreach
The School of American Ballet believes that it can best influence diversity in ballet through seeking and training a racially diverse student body prepared to enter the professional dance world. The Recruiting and Outreach Department works to support this mission and is committed to expanding access to SAB’s programs to students from all backgrounds. For the 2019-2020 Winter Term, SAB’s student body is composed of 45% self-reporting students of color.
Community Performances
SAB’s free lecture-demonstration, The Beauty of Ballet, provides a child-friendly introduction to ballet for family audiences in the Bronx, Brooklyn, Harlem, and Queens. In performances presented annually since 2009, SAB faculty member Katrina Killian and SAB’s advanced students demonstrate the principles of classical training and perform variations from well-known ballets, offering children and families the opportunity to connect with the world of ballet right in their own backyards. SAB is pleased to partner with Aaron Davis Hall, Queen’s Theater, Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts, and Hostos Center for the Arts & Culture to present The Beauty of Ballet in 2020.
Community Auditions
In 1998, SAB expanded recruiting for the Children’s Division by offering free Community Auditions to children aged 6-10 at neighborhood sites in Harlem, Queens, the Bronx, Brooklyn and Chinatown. These annual spring auditions have led to a marked increase in the diversity of the student body. For example, 74% students of color who auditioned for SAB’s Children’s Division for the 2019-20 Winter Term auditioned at a community location.
National Audition Tour
The National Audition Tour provides SAB with the opportunity to audition serious ballet students from around the country for its annual Summer Course and Young Dancer Series. To increase the number of applicants of color who participate at these auditions and subsequently enroll in its programs, SAB has increased communication with local teachers and schools, as well as collaborated with alumni who maintain significant ties to diverse dance communities nationwide.
Student Life
Student Life at SAB is committed to fostering a welcoming, inclusive environment for students in all divisions. The Student Life staff considers ‘diversity’ to be an umbrella term designating an abundance of scales on which students, faculty and staff may differ from one another, and is dedicated to promoting conversation and awareness about these differences.
- Professional development for faculty and staff, focusing on diversity, equity, and inclusion in the workplace as it relates to SAB’s mission and goals.
- New Student Experience’ Programming: a series of workshops for new Intermediate and Advanced students that covers topics such as inclusivity and leadership.
- Personal Enrichment Program: a series of workshops for students in all divisions that cover topics such as identity, implicit bias, microaggressions, and empathy.
- Mentoring and networking experiences for students of color through conferences and symposiums with partnering organizations.
- Student Life and Residence Life Professional Development, with explicit focus on topics of identity, equity, and inclusion.
Alumni Advisory Committee on Diversity & Inclusion
The School of American Ballet’s Alumni Advisory Committee on Diversity and Inclusion was formed in 2015 to provide essential support and guidance for the School’s Diversity Initiative. The Committee is comprised of alumni of color with significant ties to the professional dance world who have been invited by SAB’s leadership to serve in this consultative role.
The focus of the work of the Committee includes, but is not limited to, national outreach, the building and strengthening of alumni networks, and diversity programming for current SAB students.
2022-2023 Alumni Advisory Committee
Ross Allen†, Corps de Ballet at National Ballet of Canada
Aesha Ash, Associate Chair of Faculty, School of American Ballet; Founder, Swan Dreams Project
Debra Austin, Ballet Mistress at Carolina Ballet
Darius Barnes*, Broadway Performer and Choreographer
Hinton Battle, Director, Choreographer, Producer, and Tony Award Winner
Kelby Brown, Dancer, Choreographer, and Dance Teacher at Broadway Dance Center, The Ailey School, Pace University
Kareen Camargo, Faculty, Miami City Ballet School & New World School of the Arts
Darius Crenshaw, Broadway Performer
Heidi Cruz-Austin, Faculty, Muhlenberg College, and University of the Arts
Maurice Brandon Curry, Executive Artistic Director at Eglevsky Ballet
Duane Cyrus, Director for the University of Arizona School of Dance
Sandra Fortune-Green, Artistic Director, Jones-Haywood Dance School, Inc.
Kiyon Gaines-Ross, Associate Artistic Director, Pacific Northwest Ballet
Robyn Gardenhire, Founder, City Ballet of Los Angeles; Faculty, Colburn School
Gladisa Guadalupe, Artistic Director, Cleveland Ballet
Craig Hall, Repertory Director, New York City Ballet; Faculty, School of American Ballet
Kahina Haynes, Executive Director at The Dance Institute of Washington
Francesca Harper, Artistic Director of Ailey II
Gen Horiuchi, Executive and Artistic Director of Saint Louis Ballet
Aaron Jackson, Faculty, The Washington Ballet School & The Dance Institute of Washington
Damien Johnson, Faculty member, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet
Jermel Johnson, Former Principal dancer with Pennsylvania Ballet
Andrea Long-Naidu, Principal, Upper-Middle School, School of Philadelphia Ballet
Joseph Malbrough, Lecturer in Dance, Purchase College; Faculty, Ballet Academy East
Steven Melendez, Artistic Director, New York Theatre Ballet
Arthur Mitchell*, Co-Founder of Dance Theatre of Harlem
Nikkia Parish, Subcontracts Analyst V at Amentum
Shomaree Potter, Costume Director at Carolina Ballet
Renee Robinson, Lecturer Theatre Studies, Yale University
Gabrielle Salvatto, Dancer at Saarländisches Staatstheater
Taylor Stanley, Principal Dancer at New York City Ballet
Henry Seth, Freelance Artist, Ballet Instructor, and Coach
Margaret Severin-Hansen, Principal Dancer, Founding Member of Carolina Ballet
Leyland Simmons, Dance Chair, Harlem School for the Arts; Choreographer
*Committee Members in Memoriam
†Young Alumni Member
National Visiting Fellows
The School of American Ballet (SAB) established the National Visiting Fellows program in 2015 with the intention of cultivating relationships with teaching professionals from around the country who are committed to training students from diverse backgrounds. This aids in our effort to build partnerships with dance institutions around the country and investigate potential strategies for national development. Since it began, SAB has awarded fellowships to over 25 teaching professionals across the United States and continues to maintain relationships with past Fellows. Beginning in 2018 and in partnership with past Fellows, SAB implemented National Outreach programs in Atlanta and New Orleans with free masterclasses and teacher training workshops for local students and dance educators.
Artistic Directors’ Coalition for Ballet in America
Following the murder of George Floyd, a group of leaders in the classical ballet and dance fields began meeting regularly to discuss and address how to instigate positive and lasting change within our art form. This collective, the Artistic Directors’ Coalition for Ballet in America, has turned a critical lens on their organizations and has been working since June 2020 to evaluate practices, policies and biases, to brainstorm and share, and to listen and learn from one another.