New Haven Ballet Announces New Faculty

NEW HAVEN, CT, August 27, 2019 – Artistic Director Lisa Sanborn is excited to introduce three new faculty members who will be joining New Haven Ballet’s illustrious faculty.

New Haven Ballet’s New Faculty:

Sara Adams

Sara Adams was born in Dennis, Massachusetts, and studied at the Boston Ballet School before taking a summer course at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet (NYCB), during the summer of 2003. She enrolled as a full-time student at SAB from 2003 to 2008. She became an apprentice with NYCB in June 2008 and became a member of the corps de ballet in September 2009. In February 2017, Ms. Adams was promoted to soloist. In addition to her busy career with NYCB, Ms. Adams will join the faculty of New Haven Ballet in September 2019.

Above: Kaitlyn Gilliland appeared as the featured dancer in March 2015 Dance Magazine

Kaitlyn Gilliland

Kaitlyn Gilliland began her dance training at the Minnesota Dance Theatre and continued her studies at the School of American Ballet, where she received the Mae L. Wien Award for outstanding promise in 2004. From 2006 to 2011, Ms. Gilliland performed corps, soloist, and principal roles with the company and was named the New York City Ballet’s Janice Levin Dancer Honoree for 2009­‐2010. Following her departure from NYCB, Ms. Gilliland appeared with several New York City-­‐based dance companies, joining Twyla Tharp for her 2015 50th Anniversary National Tour and two subsequent performance seasons and Benjamin Millepied’s L.A. Dance Project for their 2017-‐ 2018 season. Ms. Gilliland served on the faculty of the School of American Ballet and as an instructor for The New York City Public School for Dance (The Ballet Tech School). In May of 2015, she graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa from Columbia University with a degree in Psychology. She is currently an MBA candidate at the Yale School of Management and Program Director for Minnesota Dance Theatre’s CAN Dance Education Program. Ms. Gilliland will join the faculty of New Haven Ballet in September 2019.

Laura Manzella

Laura Manzella received her MFA in Choreography from Sarah Lawrence College and her BFA from The Boston Conservatory. Originally from Connecticut, she began her formal training at The School of Hartford Ballet. She danced with Jose Mateo’s Ballet Theatre, Ken Pierce Baroque Dance Co, Ballet New England, and Kathy Westwater, among others. Her choreographic, film, and collaborative work has been presented at several venues throughout NYC and beyond. In October 2019 she will co-present at the 2019 NDEO conference, The Creative Process: Choreography, Choice-Making, and Communication. Ms. Manzella is currently a faculty member at ACES/Educational Center of the Arts in New Haven and will join the faculty of New Haven Ballet in September 2019.

New Haven Ballet Artistic Director Lisa Sanborn notes, “With the addition of these phenomenal professional faculty to our already highly experienced, talented pool of instructors, New Haven Ballet (NHB) offers girls and boys an opportunity to improve their technical skills and artistry through a truly premiere ballet experience. Students who train at NHB can achieve marked improvement in strength, flexibility and technical ability. To give the public a chance to meet and get to know NHB, we invite new boys and girls ages 8-19 years to come in for a FREE trial class. We hope you will join us!”

Widely regarded as the standard for classical ballet training throughout the greater New Haven region, New Haven Ballet is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization, which offers classes to students, ages 3 years to adult in Bethany, Branford and New Haven. New Haven Ballet’s programs are made possible in part by the generosity of New Haven Ballet’s devoted patrons and supporters, including: State of Connecticut Department of Economic Community Development, Office of the Arts, City of New Haven Department of Arts, Culture & Tourism, National Endowment for the Arts, Ethel & Abe Lapides Foundation, Theresa Foundation, The Community Foundation for Greater New Haven, United Illuminating, Lighting Up the Arts, The Frankel Foundation, and Bank of America.

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If you would like more information about reserving a FREE TRIAL CLASS or New Haven Ballet please call Ruth Barker at tel. 203-782-9038 or email: administrator@newhavenballet.org.