Christopher d'Amboise

Born into a family of dancers, Christopher has had many careers:  dancer, director, choreographer, playwright, teacher and educator.  d'Amboise became a principal dancer in the New York City Ballet, where he worked closely with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, dancing all the major roles as well as originating several new works. He left the company in 1983 to pursue other interests, including performing in the Broadway production of Song and Dance, which earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for a role in which he only danced.  From 1990-94, d'Amboise was the Artistic Director, President, and CEO of the Pennsylvania Ballet, where he presented classic repertoire as well as introduced new works by contemporary choreographers.  His choreography explores the integration of text, dance, music and drama and seeks to reinforce a positive perspective of humanity. He has created more than eighty ballets for numerous international companies, including those in San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Flanders. His latest work, Tribute, premiered with NYCB at Lincoln Center in 2007. For the musical theatre, he has choreographed productions of High Society and the rock musical William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a project conceived by his brother-in-law, Terrence Mann.  Television credits include two appearances on the Kennedy Center Honors, Live from Studio 8H, and the Emmy Award-winning documentary He Makes Me Feel Like Dancing.  As an educator Christopher has initiated outreach programs, community development initiatives and taught master classes and workshops at schools and universities world wide.  He also developed MOVING STORY, a unique visual storytelling curriculum specially designed to integrate image based drama into contemporary theatre.