Professional ballet dancers John Gardner and Amanda McKerrow
demonstrate technique during a Master Class for St. Johnsbury Academy
Dance students.
St. Johnsbury Academy Dance students received lessons from
John Gardner and Amanda McKerrow, two of the nation’s foremost ballet dancers,
during April 13 Master Classes.
Gardner, who also has won international acclaim as a choreographer,
has worked with internationally acclaimed choreographers Antony Tudor, Jerome
Robbins, Agnes de Mille and George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor,
Mark Morris, Lar Lubovitch and Martha Graham, as well as Mikail Baryshnikov’s
White Oak Dance Project.
He
received a scholarship to the American Ballet Theatre’s School at age 16,
joined the Theatre’s second company three months later, advanced to the main
company in a year, and was later promoted to soloist.
He returned to the American Ballet Theatre in 1995 and
danced a wide variety of roles with the company until 2002.
During
his Academy visit, Gardner will be working with students enrolled in the
school’s Introduction to Dance and Advanced Dance classes.
McKerrow, who is Gardner’s wife, is first American to
receive a gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow, in
1981. Since then, she has received several other awards, including the Princess
Grace Foundation Dance Fellowship.
She
joined the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) under the direction of Mikhail
Baryshnikov in 1982, was appointed to soloist in 1983, and became a principal
dancer in 1987.
Her
repertoire includes: the leading roles in Cinderella, Don Quixote, The Sleeping
Beauty, Swan Lake, La Sylphide, and The Nutcracker. She has been acclaimed for
performance s of shorter works by George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Sir Frederick
Ashton, Jerome Robbins, and Juri Kilian. Ms. McKerrow has created roles in
ballets by choreographers such as Twyla Tharpe, Clark Tippet, James Kudelka,
Agnes De Mille, Choo San Goh, and Mark Morris. She has also appeared as a guest
artist throughout the world.
In
2000, McKerrow and Gardner began working
for the Antony Tudor Trust, staging and coaching his ballet The Leaves are
Fading throughout the United States. She has also staged numerous other ballets
for professional companies and schools across the United States.
During
her last 10 years performing as a principal ballerina with the American Ballet
Theatre, she worked extensively with students and young dancers. Since retiring
from ABT in 2005, she has devoted the majority of her time to teaching and
coaching ballet.
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