Talin Kenar

Photo: Deborah Boardman.

Talin Kenar is the director of Princeton Dance and Theater Studio and Princeton Youth Ballet (previously Dancevision, Inc.) co-founded by Susan Jaffe and Risa Kaplowitz.

Kenar enjoyed a twenty-year professional performance career as a company member of Hong Kong Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Carolina Ballet, City Ballet of San Diego, and American Repertory Ballet. She performed principal and soloist roles in such classical ballets as Swan Lake, Giselle, The Sleeping Beauty, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, and Paquita, as well as in neoclassical works by George Balanchine, including Serenade, Rubies, Concerto Barocco, Who Cares?, and Valse Fantaisie, among others. Her broader repertory includes works by such twentieth century masters as Frederick Ashton, Agnes de Mille, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Twyla Tharp, and Lila York. She has performed nationally and internationally as a principal guest artist.

Kenar received her early training in San Diego, California under Lynne Hodgkinson, Lili Griffiths, Jillana, and Dame Sonia Arova. She spent summers attending intensive programs at Houston Ballet Academy, Milwaukee Ballet School, and the Royal Ballet School on scholarship. At age fifteen, she was accepted to the Royal Ballet School’s Upper School in London, England.

Kenar has held faculty and guest teaching positions at Ballet Theatre Australia, Princeton Ballet School, Columbia Classical Ballet, Tallahassee Ballet, and the University of South Carolina Department of Dance/USC Summer Dance Conservatory. She is an adjunct professor of Dance in the School of Fine and Performing Arts at Rider University and has coached prize winners at Youth America Grand Prix

Kenar is co-founder of the Dance Performance and Injury Prevention© program with physical therapist Justine DeLuccio, PTMS, OCS, FAAOMPT, and co-author of dance science research published in the International Journal of Sports Physical Therapy. She is a member of American Ballet Theatre’s Artistic Board of Examiners.