Artistic Director/Creator Lab Director
It didn’t take long for Kristin to become a disciple of Balanchine — the music was always what mattered the most in her movement.
From an age before recollection, when she danced to pop records while her parents prepared Friday night family suppers, the emphasis was always on how the music was made physical. And so it made perfect sense when Kristin would land her first professional role at age 9 in the New York City Ballet production of The Sleeping Beauty — a company known for its representation of music. Of course the company had an affiliated school, the School Of American Ballet, a place where members of the same tribe would obsessively champion the importance of rhythm and harmony, melody and meter. Kristin had to go there. And so she did.
She studied under the likes of Suzy Pilarre (notorious not only for her pedagogical brilliance but also for her cantankerous relationship with live class accompanists, and her fondness of the classical piece “Humeresque”). Her obsession with music was palpable and it was passed on to young Kristin, who was fast becoming a formidable young musical thinker in her own right.
Four years later, sufficiently forged in the way of musicality and dance, Kristin, like any good apprentice-turned-heroine, ventured outward into the wider world where she was recruited by Miami City Ballet (an organization equally obsessed with music and movement, and as such, deeply appreciative of Kristin’s ever-deepening skill set).
Kristin would steadily rise in the ranks at Miami City Ballet until a chance encounter with Alonzo King would change everything. The great director / choreographer challenged the bourgeoning heroin to deepen her sense of self and to formulate a unique voice as a ballet dancer. A new forging experience awaited.
She would sign a contract with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens followed by CORE Performance Company, all in the pursuit of sounding a unique voice in the world of ballet. These institutions would push Kristin to reevaluate her relationship with music, throwing her off-balance in the way that every deep-seeker wants — in a way that strengthened her grasp of the entire enterprise.
A formed artist, worldly and strong, Kristin resolved after her many campaigns to return home — to bring her strengths back to the forthcoming generation of ballet dancers, and to infuse appreciation and mastery of music, movement, and uniqueness of expression with Generation Alpha through her classes and choreography. After four years of fervently mentoring youth choreographers in Beyond, she designed Creator Lab, a unique choreographic workshop that ignites the imagination and supports the creative process for young artists. Honored to be appointed Artistic Director at Los Gatos Ballet this season, she will continue to forge the next generation in musical fire — always with joy, and the spirit of humeresque, of course.