Ashley Ellis

Last updated

Ashley Ellis
Ashley Ellis for Swans for Relief 02.jpg
Ellis dancing for Swans for Relief in 2020
Born1983/1984(age 38–39)
NationalityAmerican
OccupationBallet dancer
Partner(s)George Birkadze
Children2
Current groupDallas Conservatory
Former groups
Website www.ellisashley.com

Ashley Ellis (born 1983or1984 [1] ) is an American ballet dancer. She joined the American Ballet Theatre in 2002. She danced at Corella Ballet from 2007 to 2010 and then Sarasota Ballet for a year. In 2011, she joined the Boston Ballet, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2013. Ellis retired from performing in 2021.

Contents

Early life and training

Ellis is from Torrance, California. She trained at South Bay Ballet in her hometown. [2] She participated in the summer intensive program at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) between 1999 and 2001. [3] [4] [5]

Career

In 2001, Ellis was invited to join the ABT Studio Company. The following year, she moved to the main company. Throughout her time at ABT, she was a member of the corps de ballet. [2] In 2007, Ellis learned that ABT principal dancer Ángel Corella was going to start a company in Spain, and approached him about joining his company. She spent six months at his touring troupe before the Corella Ballet officially started. She held the position of soloist, and she danced as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake . [2] In 2010, Ellis returned to the United States, and danced at the Sarasota Ballet as a soloist for a year. [2]

In 2011, Ellis joined the Boston Ballet as a second soloist. [2] In 2013, she was promoted to principal dancer. [6] Among the ballets she danced in Boston were Swan Lake, [7] The Sleeping Beauty , [8] The Nutcracker [9] and Le Corsaire , [10] Balanchine's Serenade , [11] Jewels , [12] Episodes , [13] and Coppélia , [14] Robbins' The Concert [15] and Fancy Free , [2] Ashton's Cinderella , [16] Cranko's Onegin , [17] Landar's Études , [18] Wheeldon's Polyphonia [2] and McGregor's Chroma . [19]

Outside of the Boston Ballet, in 2014, Ellis started her dancewear brand RubiaWear, which focuses on warm-up attires and accessories. [20] She conceived the idea after her colleagues noticed her handmade leg warmers and asked her to make some for them. [21] In 2020, when performances were canceled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, Ellis was among the 32 ballerinas that participated in Misty Copeland's "Swans for Relief" fundraiser. All of the ballerinas filmed themselves dancing Fokine's The Dying Swan to raise funds for the participating dancers' companies and the arts. [22]

In 2021, Ellis retired from dancing. She did not have a farewell performance due to the pandemic, and she was on maternity leave after giving birth to her second child. [1] She then became the associate director of the Dallas Conservatory's newly founded professional division, with her husband George Birkadze as the director. Ellis said the position came about when the couple were looking for opportunities in Dallas, where her parents reside. The couple contacted the conservatory, and Birkadze pitched the idea of a program that prepares older students for professional careers. [1]

Personal life

Ellis is married to dance teacher and choreographer George Birkadze. The couple met while dancing at Corella Ballet. They have two children. [1]

Related Research Articles

Xiomara Reyes is a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. After retiring from performing she was appointed the Head of School of The Washington Ballet School.

Misa Kuranaga Japanese ballerina

Misa Kuranaga is a Japanese ballerina. She is a principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet. She was formerly a dancer at Boston Ballet, and was the first Asian person to be promoted to principal dancer there.

Yuriko Kajiya Japanese ballet dancer

Yuriko Kajiya is a Japanese ballet dancer who currently performs as a principal dancer with Houston Ballet. Prior to joining Houston Ballet, she danced as a soloist with American Ballet Theatre for seven years.

Maria Kochetkova Russian ballet dancer

Maria Olegovna Kochetkova is a Russian ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet between 2007 and 2018, and with the American Ballet Theatre between 2015 and 2017. After that, she became a freelance dancer for several years, before joining the Finnish National Ballet in the 2020/21 season.

Marcelo Gomes (dancer) Brazilian ballet dancer (born 1979)

Marcelo Mourão Gomes is a Brazilian ballet dancer who performed for two decades with the American Ballet Theatre.

Misty Copeland American ballet dancer (born 1982)

Misty Danielle Copeland is an American ballet dancer for American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. On June 30, 2015, Copeland became the first African American woman to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT's 75-year history.

Sarah Lane American ballet dancer (born 1984)

Sarah Lane is an American ballet dancer who was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT). She served as a "dance double" for Natalie Portman in the 2010 film Black Swan.

Isabella Boylston American ballet dancer

Hildur Isabella Boylston is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT).

Hee Seo South Korean ballet dancer

Hee Seo is a South Korean ballet dancer who is a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre (ABT), one of the three leading classical ballet companies in the United States. She became the company's first Korean ballerina to be promoted to principal dancer in ABT's 75-year history. She is also one of the youngest dancers in ABT history to be promoted to principal at the age of twenty-six. The New York Times has described her style and dancing to "exude an unhurried purity that sums up all that is lovely about ballet" and by Vogue as "unspeakably lissome". Several critics have noted her style as "lyrical and open" and she has been critically acclaimed for her "humility" and "unique feminine strength".

Christine Shevchenko Ukrainian-American ballet dancer

Christine Shevchenko is a Ukrainian-American ballet dancer. She currently performs as a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre.

Natalia Osipova Russian ballerina (born 1986)

Natalia Petrovna Osipova is a Russian ballerina, currently a principal ballerina with The Royal Ballet in London.

Cynthia Harvey is an American former ballet dancer, ballet mistress and educator. She joined the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1974 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1982. In 1986, she joined The Royal Ballet, becoming the company's first American principal dancer. She returned to ABT two years later, and retired in 1996. She then started teaching and staging ballets across the world. In 2016, she was named artistic director of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, the affiliated school of ABT. She stepped down from the position in May 2022.

Whitney Jensen American ballet dancer

Whitney Jensen is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo and previously at the Boston Ballet.

Dores André Rodríguez is a Spanish ballet dancer. She is currently a principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet.

Herman Cornejo

Herman Cornejo is an Argentine-born ballet dancer and a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. He has had leading roles created for him by Alexei Ratmansky and Twyla Tharp; his signature roles include Puck in A Midsummer Night's Dream, Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, and the leading male role in Ratmansky's Symphony No. 9.

Anastasia Stashkevich Russian principal dancer of the Bolshoi Ballet

Anastasia Stashkevich is a Russian principal dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet.

Stella Abrera Filipina-American ballet dancer

Stella Abrera is a Filipina-American ballet dancer. She danced as a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre until her retirement in 2020, and is the company's first Filipina principal ballerina. She is now the artistic director of the dance cultural park Kaatsbaan.

Skylar Brandt American ballet dancer

Skylar Paley Brandt is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre.

Nikisha Fogo Swedish ballet dancer

Nikisha Fogo is a Swedish ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the San Francisco Ballet and previously a principal at the Vienna State Ballet.

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 Deocariza, April (March 11, 2021). "Boston Ballet's Ashley Ellis Talks About Retirement and Her New Role at The Dallas Conservatory". Pointe.
  2. 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 Rivers, Ashley (December 15, 2011). "On the Rise: Ashley Ellis". Dance Magazine.
  3. ↑ Dunning, Jennifer (August 2, 1999). "Dance View; A Study In Ballet Both Clean And Lively". New York Times.
  4. ↑ Dunning, Jennifer (August 8, 2000). "Dance View; Ballet Theater Shows Off a Nation's Students". New York Times.
  5. ↑ Dunning, Jennifer (August 8, 2001). "Dance View; Ballets With Fresh Twists and Fresh Faces". New York Times.
  6. ↑ Ellis, Ashley (October 17, 2018). "Boston Ballet Prima Ashley Ellis Writes a Letter to Her Teenage Self". Dance Spirit.
  7. ↑ Knox, Lawrence Elizabeth (October 30, 2014). "Mikko Nissinen's 'Swan Lake' Premieres In Boston". WBUR.
  8. ↑ Feinberg, Jody (April 24, 2017). "'Sleeping Beauty' is the ultimate fairy-tale ballet". The Patriot Ledger.
  9. ↑ Bilis, Madeline; Khvan, Olga (December 1, 2015). "Meet the Sugar Plum Fairies of Boston". Boston Magazine.
  10. ↑ Schrock, Madeline (October 18, 2016). "Ashley Ellis Dishes on Boston Ballet's New Le Corsaire". Pointe.
  11. ↑ Jennings, Luke (July 7, 2013). "Boston Ballet – review". The Guardian.
  12. ↑ Helms, Alan (May 27, 2014). "Boston Ballet – Jewels: Emeralds, Rubies, Diamonds – Boston". DanceTabs.
  13. ↑ Gantz, Jeffrey (March 20, 2015). "Boston Ballet finds many colors in 'Shades of Sound'". Boston Globe.
  14. ↑ Maus, Kathryn (May 21, 2013). "Boston Ballet's Coppélia delights, but gives few chances for stars to shine". Backtrack.
  15. ↑ Gantz, Jeffrey (May 15, 2015). "Boston Ballet provides some season-ending thrills". Boston Globe.
  16. ↑ Helms, Alan (March 26, 2014). "Boston Ballet – Cinderella – Boston". DanceTabs.
  17. ↑ Gantz, Jeffrey (February 26, 2016). "A superb 'Onegin' from Boston Ballet". Boston Globe.
  18. ↑ Helms, Alan (May 13, 2014). "Boston Ballet – Pricked: Etudes, D.M.J. 1953-1977, Cacti – Boston". DanceTabs.
  19. ↑ Fanger, Iris (May 5, 2013). "'Chroma' stuns Boston Ballet audience". The Patriot Ledger.
  20. ↑ "Meet Ashley Ellis of RubiaWear in Jamaica Plain". Boston Voyager. June 5, 2018.
  21. ↑ Brandt, Amy (March 31, 2016). "Inside Boston Ballet Principal Ashley Ellis' Dance Bag". Pointe.
  22. ↑ Stahl, Jennifer (May 4, 2020). "32 Ballerinas From Around the World Perform "The Dying Swan" for COVID-19 Relief". Dance Magazine.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.