Alumni Spotlight – Rosalie O’Connor

We’re thrilled to share this month’s SAB Alumni Spotlight video featuring former dancer, professional photographer, and our inaugural recipient of the SAB Alumni of Distinction Award: Rosalie O’Connor! Watch as she shares a bit about her experience as an SAB student, what it’s like to come back to the School and photograph our students today, and how her friendship with her fellow SAB student and current SAB faculty member, Arch Higgins, is a shining example of how lifelong friendships can take root at the SAB Summer Course!

Rosalie O’Connor began her training at SAB in 1982. She spent four summers attending our Summer Course before being invited to stay for the Winter Term. In 1987, Mikhail Baryshnikov invited her to join American Ballet Theatre where she went on to have a 15-year career. Having had an interest in dance photography from a young age, she began photographing ABT from within during her last six years as a performer, and upon her retirement, she became an Associate Staff Photographer at the company and launched Rosalie O’Connor Photography.

Since 1996, Rosalie has developed a prolific body of photographic work, and her services are in high demand. Her images have appeared in Vogue, Vanity Fair, The New York Times and most dance periodicals, as well as right here on SAB’s website! Rosalie’s photographs have been displayed in solo exhibitions at Lincoln Center and at The John F. Kennedy Center in Washington, DC.

For more than twenty years, Rosalie has beautifully captured life at SAB in the studios, on the stage, and in our hallways.