2017 Ballet Program Guest Faculty
See current Ballet Faculty list
Desmond Richardson is the first African American Principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre, received a Tony award nomination for his role in the original cast of Fosse on Broadway, was a principal character Tony in Twyla Tharp’s Broadway production Movin’ Out, made his Broadway singing debut in the Burt Bacharach/Hal David/ Ann Reinking/Scott Ellis Broadway production The Look Of Love, and was a standout in the recent Tony award winning Broadway production After Midnight. With his technical virtuosity and statuesque expressive demeanor, he has been hailed by The New York Times as among the great dancers of his time. Lara Hartley poetically described him on The Ballet Magazine as “Moving Sculpture; a body that is art, passing through time and space with power and grace – all parts connected never stopping but heart stopping in beauty.” Richardson has been a principal dancer and an invited guest with some of the most prestigious companies domestically and internationally such as The Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, The Frankfurt Ballet, The Bolshoi Theater, The Royal Swedish Opera Ballet, Mariinsky Theater, Teatro a La Scala, The Washington Ballet, The San Francisco Ballet, and more.