Melissa Allen Bowman began her classical ballet training at age six with Lois Ellyn, formerly of New York City Ballet, and at age eleven began training with Stanley Holden and Margaret Graham Hills, both from The Royal Ballet in London. At age fifteen, she was invited by Mikhail Baryshnikov to join the corps de ballet of American Ballet Theatre, where she danced for the next seven years. During that time, Bowman began her own ballet company, the Emerson Dance Theatre, which featured up-and-coming ABT dancers. From 1981 to 1988, Bowman also appeared in several of ABT’s Great Performances in America. In 1988, she moved to Europe to join the Bern Ballet in Switzerland and then the Zurich Ballet with Uwe Scholz. In 1990, she followed Scholz to Leipzig, Germany, where she danced many soloist and principal roles and became his associate director. Bowman returned to the United States in 1999 to join the staff of the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet, where in 2000 she became resident choreographer and associate director. While at PYB, she choreographed many pieces for their youth company that were performed not only at the Regional Dance America festivals but also for the Pittsburgh Symphony. Since 2001, Bowman has taught at ABT Summer Intensive in Detroit and, in 2007, became an advisor to ABT’s National Training Curriculum committee. She has also been an adjudicator for the National Foundation for the Advancement in the Arts for the past two years. In 2004, she established, with her husband Richard, Danse Conservatory and California Danse Theatre Youth Ballet and served as the Artistic Director for five years. Ms. Bowman is currently the Assistant Principal of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at ABT as well as Artistic Director of Summer Intensives.