Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner.

Former American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Amanda McKerrow and former ABT Soloist John Gardner will join the Company as Guest Répétiteurs through the end of the 2022 Metropolitan Opera House season, it was announced today by ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

“Together, Amanda and John represent more than 40 years of ABT history,” said McKenzie. “Their long tenure and coaching experience will be a tremendous resource to our dancers. We are grateful to have them join us during this busy time of renewal and transition.”

Amanda McKerrow has the honor of being the first American to receive a gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow in 1981. Since then, she has received numerous other awards, including the Princess Grace Dance Fellowship. She had the honor of training with Mary Day at the Washington School of Ballet and was a member of that company until she joined American Ballet Theatre under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1982. McKerrow was appointed to the rank of Soloist with ABT in 1983 and became a Principal Dancer in 1987. With ABT, she danced leading roles in all the major full-length classics, as well as one-act repertory works including George Balanchine’s Theme and Variations, Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo, and Antony Tudor’s Pillar of Fire. In addition, she has had numerous works created for her by many of the great choreographers of the 20^th century. She has also appeared as a guest artist throughout the world. McKerrow is now the sole Trustee of the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust, and together with her husband John Gardner, stages Tudor ballets around the world. McKerrow is in demand as a Master Teacher for both students and professional dancers and has enjoyed staging numerous other ballets for professional companies and universities both in the United States and abroad.

John Gardner has distinguished himself in two major dance companies, American Ballet Theatre and White Oak Dance Project. He joined American Ballet Theatre in 1978 and was promoted to the rank of Soloist in 1984. Gardner’s diverse repertoire at ABT included numerous soloist and principal roles which afforded him the opportunity to work with many of the master choreographers of the 20^th century. Gardner was invited to join the White Oak Dance project in 1991, dancing many new and pre-existing works by choreographers such as Mark Morris, Lar Lubovitch, Paul Taylor, and David Gordon, as well as works by many other icons of modern dance including Merce Cunningham and Martha Graham. He currently serves as Répétiteur for the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust and as Director of the Antony Tudor Dance Studies. Together with his wife Amanda McKerrow, he stages many of the Tudor ballets around the world. During the course of his career, Gardner has achieved an excellent reputation as a Master Teacher and coach on both the professional and student levels, and for the last 20 years, has enjoyed teaching and directing workshops and intensives, while staging numerous works for ballet companies and universities in the United States and abroad.

Most recently McKerrow and Gardner staged Tudor’s Pillar of Fire and Clark Tippet’s Some Assembly Required for ABT’s 2021 Fall season.

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