KEVIN MCKENZIE Artistic Director   A native of Vermont, Kevin McKenzie received his ballet training at the Washington School of Ballet. In 1972, Mr. McKenzie was awarded a Silver medal at the Sixth International Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. He was a leading dancer with both the National Ballet of Washington and The Joffrey Ballet before joining American Ballet Theatre as a Soloist in March 1979. Mr. McKenzie was appointed a Principal Dancer the following December and danced with the Company until 1991.   As a Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre, Mr. McKenzie danced leading roles in all of the major full-length classics including Solor in La Bayadère, Don Jose in Carmen, the Prince in Mikhail Baryshnikov's production of the full-length Cinderella, Franz in Coppélia, the Gentleman With Her in Dim Lustre, Basil and Espada in Don Quixote (Kitri's Wedding), Albrecht in Giselle, a leading role in The Garden of Villandry, Her Lover in Jardin aux Lilas, the leading role in The Leaves Are Fading, the Friend in Pillar of Fire, the leading role in Raymonda (Grand Pas Hongrois), a featured role in Requiem, the Champion Roper in Rodeo, Romeo and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Prince Desire in The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, James in La Sylphide and the leading roles in Other Dances, Paquita, Les Sylphides, the Sylvia Pas de Deux and Theme and Variations. He created the role of Amnon in Martine van Hamel's Amnon V'Tamar and a leading role in Clark Tippet's S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A.   During his performing career, Mr. McKenzie performed as a guest artist in cities throughout the world, including Spoleto, Italy, Paris, London, Tokyo, Havana, Moscow, Vienna and Korea, dancing with, among others, the London Festival Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, the National Ballet of Cuba and the Universal Ballet in Seoul. In September 1989, Mr. McKenzie was appointed a permanent guest artist with The Washington Ballet, and, in 1991, assumed the position of Artistic Associate of that company. He has also acted as Associate Artistic Director of, and a choreographer with, Martine van Hamel's New Amsterdam Ballet.   Mr. McKenzie was appointed Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre in October 1992. His choreographic credits include Groupo Zamboria (1984) and Liszt Études, now called Transcendental Études, (1991), both for Martine van Hamel's New Amsterdam Ballet, Lucy and the Count (1992) for The Washington Ballet, and the full-length classic The Nutcracker (1993), Don Quixote (1995), in collaboration with Susan Jones, a new production of Swan Lake (2000) and a new production of The Sleeping Beauty (2007), with Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov, all for American Ballet Theatre.

RACHEL MOORE
Chief Executive Officer
 
A former member of ABT’s corps de ballet from 1984-1988, Rachel S. Moore was named Executive Director of American Ballet Theatre in April 2004. Prior to her appointment, she served as Director of Boston Ballet’s Center for Dance Education (2001-04). From 1998-2001, Moore served as Executive Director of Project STEP, a classical music school for students of color in Boston and Managing Director of Ballet Theatre of Boston. She has also held senior positions with Americans for the Arts and the National Cultural Alliance, both in Washington, D.C.

She has served on grant panels for the National Endowment for the Arts and the New Jersey State Arts Council and served as an advisor to the Diversity Committee at Boston Symphony Orchestra.

She currently serves as the Vice President of the board of Dance/USA, serves as a director for the National Dance Foundation of Bermuda and as a member of the Child Performer Advisory Board for the New York State Department of Labor. She is a member of the United States National Commission for UNESCO, and continues to serve as an advisor to Project STEP. Moore also serves as a member of the Advisory Board for the Dizzy Feet Foundation.

Moore served as adjunct faculty in the dance department of Emerson College from 1998-2000 and taught non-profit finance in the Graduate Program in Arts Administration at Boston University (2000). She currently teaches in the Arts Administration program at Columbia University

During her performing career, Moore served as a member of ABT’s union committee and chair of the Dancers’ Emergency Fund.

In 1982, was named a White House Presidential Scholar in the Arts. In 2006, Moore was inducted into the YWCA’s Academy of Women Leaders and was awarded a Distinguished Alumni Award from Columbia University’s Teacher’s College. In 2008, she was given the Distinguished Alumni Award from the National Foundation for Advancement in the Arts. She is a member of the Economic Club of New York. In April 2010, Moore was elected a member of the Women’s Forum of New York.

Moore holds a bachelor’s degree from Brown University, Phi Beta Kappa, Honors (1992); and a Masters in Arts Administration from Columbia University (1994). In 1990, Moore served as an Arts Administration Fellow at the National Endowment for the Arts and in 2002 was a Fellow at the Executive Program for Nonprofit Leaders in the Arts at Stanford Business School.

Photo of Kevin McKenzie by Fabrizio Ferri.
Photo of Rachel Moore by Jerry Ruotolo.