Artistic Director
Ms. Kathleen Rathbun combines a strong history
of artistic achievement, dance education, and superb artistic
vision. One of its founding members, she is the Artistic Director
of Upstate NY Ballet, Inc. and the Director of the Ballet &
Dance of Upstate NY, Inc. school. An accomplished professional
dancer and Julliard scholarship winner, Ms. Rathbun was formerly
a principal dancer with the Company of American Dance (NYC)
and former soloist with the Princeton Ballet Society of New
Jersey and the Dancer’s Ensemble of Syracuse.
Ms. Rathbun has brought “big city”
ballet back to Central New York. Playing to capacity houses
and Four Star reviews, she has re-staged and choreographed many
full-length classics including “Swan Lake”, “Cinderella”,
“Sleeping Beauty”, Dracula, and Snow White.
For the past thirteen years, Ms. Rathbun has
served as the Director of the Ballet and Dance of Upstate New
York, Inc. school. Her expertise in developing a young dancer’s
technique, strength, and artistry is widely recognized within
the arts community. She has studied with world renowned teachers
such as Madam Darvash, Finis Young, Melissa Hayden, and David
Howard. Ms. Rathbun formerly taught classical ballet at Syracuse
University and was the former Director of Syracuse’s Metropolitan
School of the Art’s Dance Department.
By hiring a few outstanding national and international
professionals for each production, Ms. Rathbun provides our
local dancers with an opportunity to work together with successful
artists. Her genius for blending student and pre-professional
dancers with mentoring professionals enhances each production’s
overall artistry and appeal. The students not only perform at
their optimal level, but her ability to seamlessly and artistically
blend the many levels of technical development into a “Four
Star” quality production is the hallmark of our company’s
success.
