Sarah is a freelance choreographer and performing artist based in St. Petersburg/Tampa, FL. She teaches ballet at the Patel Conservatory/Straz Center for the Performing Arts as well as community contemporary classes for Project Alchemy. She is a Creative Pinellas 2022 Professional Artist Grant recipient and is currently working on a short dance film in collaboation with St. Petersburg artists Erica Sutherlin (film director) and Maureen McDole (poet). Her work has been set on various companies including Canton Ballet, Delaware Dance Company, Georgia Ballet (in collaboration with Dance Canvas), Open Door Studios and Moving Poets Charlotte. Sarah was the project tier recipient of the Choreography Connection Award through Regional Dance America’s Choreographer Intensive (2017). She has had the privilege of assisting in the staging of Martha Graham’s 1935 ballet, Panorama, under Kim Jones, former Martha Graham dancer. She was founder and director of Watershed Dance Theatre from 2016-2020, premiering works in Charlotte, NC and Atlanta, GA, including her six-time, international official dance film selection, The Dinner Table. She has taught ballet and contemporary dance for many schools over the past 20 years including Atlanta Ballet, Charlotte Ballet, Open Door Studios and Ponte Vedra Ballet and Dance Company.
Sarah began her training under Gene Hammett and Patricia Sorell at the Tidewater Ballet Association in Norfolk, VA. She continued her dance education at the North Carolina School of the Arts (now UNCSA) and studied under Balanchine prima ballerina, Melissa Hayden. There she danced principal roles in Arthur Mitchell's Holberg Suite and Balanchine's Western Symphony. Her summer studies included the Boston Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYB), and the Hungarian National Ballet in Budapest. Upon graduation from UNCSA, she was offered apprenticeships with Ballet Arizona, Pittsburgh Ballet and Tulsa Ballet Theatre. After accepting an apprenticeship with the Tulsa Ballet, she later went on to dance with North Carolina Dance Theatre (now Charlotte Ballet) and the Omaha Theatre Ballet as a soloist.
Realizing her love for contemporary dance and mixed media work, Sarah joined the multidisciplinary dance company, Moving Poets Theatre of Dance in Charlotte, NC. She was a principal dancer with Moving Poets for eight years under the direction of Till Schmidt-Rimpler and was later brought on as co-artistic director for three years.
Sarah also works as a freelance graphic designer and received her BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She enjoys combining her love for design, film and dance and continues to push the boundaries, connecting dance with community.
Sarah began her training under Gene Hammett and Patricia Sorell at the Tidewater Ballet Association in Norfolk, VA. She continued her dance education at the North Carolina School of the Arts (now UNCSA) and studied under Balanchine prima ballerina, Melissa Hayden. There she danced principal roles in Arthur Mitchell's Holberg Suite and Balanchine's Western Symphony. Her summer studies included the Boston Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (CPYB), and the Hungarian National Ballet in Budapest. Upon graduation from UNCSA, she was offered apprenticeships with Ballet Arizona, Pittsburgh Ballet and Tulsa Ballet Theatre. After accepting an apprenticeship with the Tulsa Ballet, she later went on to dance with North Carolina Dance Theatre (now Charlotte Ballet) and the Omaha Theatre Ballet as a soloist.
Realizing her love for contemporary dance and mixed media work, Sarah joined the multidisciplinary dance company, Moving Poets Theatre of Dance in Charlotte, NC. She was a principal dancer with Moving Poets for eight years under the direction of Till Schmidt-Rimpler and was later brought on as co-artistic director for three years.
Sarah also works as a freelance graphic designer and received her BFA from the Savannah College of Art and Design. She enjoys combining her love for design, film and dance and continues to push the boundaries, connecting dance with community.