Christopher d'Amboise (born 1960) is an American

danseur A ballet dancer is a person who practices the art of classical ballet. Both females and males can practice ballet. They rely on years of extensive training and proper technique to become a part of a professional ballet company. Ballet dancers ...

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

writer A writer is a person who uses written words in different writing styles, genres and techniques to communicate ideas, to inspire feelings and emotions, or to entertain. Writers may develop different forms of writing such as novels, short sto ...

, and

theatre director A theatre director or stage director is a professional in the theatre field who oversees and orchestrates the mounting of a theatre production such as a play, opera, dance, drama, musical theatre performance, etc. by unifying various endeavors a ...

Life and career

Born and raised in New York City, the son of dancers Jacques d'Amboise and Carolyn George, d'Amboise became a principal dancer in the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company's fir ...

, where he worked closely with

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

and

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

, dancing all the major roles as well as originating several new works. His sister

Charlotte d'Amboise Charlotte Lorraine d'Amboise (born May 11, 1964) is an American actress and dancer. She has played starring roles in musical theatre, and has been nominated for two Tony Awards and won the Los Angeles Ovation Awards for Best Leading Actress in ...

is also a professional dancer. He quit the company in 1983 to pursue other interests, including the

Broadway Broadway may refer to: Theatre * Broadway Theatre (disambiguation) * Broadway theatre, theatrical productions in professional theatres near Broadway, Manhattan, New York City, U.S. ** Broadway (Manhattan), the street ** Broadway Theatre (53rd Stre ...

production of ''

Song and Dance ''Song and Dance'' is a musical comprising two acts, one told entirely in "Song" and one entirely in "Dance", tied together by a unifying love story. The "Song" act is '' Tell Me on a Sunday'', with lyrics by Don Black and music by Andrew Ll ...

'', which earned him a

Tony Award The Antoinette Perry Award for Excellence in Broadway Theatre, more commonly known as a Tony Award, recognizes excellence in live Broadway theatre. The awards are presented by the American Theatre Wing and The Broadway League at an annual ce ...

nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical for a role in which he only danced. From 1990 to 1994, d'Amboise was the artistic director, President, and CEO of the

Pennsylvania Ballet Philadelphia Ballet (formerly known as Pennsylvania Ballet until its rebranding in 2021) is the largest ballet company in Philadelphia. The company's annual local season features six programs of classic pieces, such as George Balanchine's ''The ...

, where he presented classic repertoire as well as introduced new works by contemporary choreographers. As a choreographer, d'Amboise has created more than fifty ballets for numerous international companies, including those in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

Amsterdam Amsterdam ( , ; ; ) is the capital of the Netherlands, capital and Municipalities of the Netherlands, largest city of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. It has a population of 933,680 in June 2024 within the city proper, 1,457,018 in the City Re ...

, and

Flanders Flanders ( or ; ) is the Dutch language, Dutch-speaking northern portion of Belgium and one of the communities, regions and language areas of Belgium. However, there are several overlapping definitions, including ones related to culture, la ...

. For the

musical theatre Musical theatre is a form of theatre, theatrical performance that combines songs, spoken dialogue, acting and dance. The story and emotional content of a musical – humor, pathos, love, anger – are communicated through words, music, ...

, he has choreographed productions of ''

High Society High society, sometimes simply Society, is the behavior and lifestyle of people with the highest levels of wealth, power, fame and social status. It includes their related affiliations, social events and practices. Upscale social clubs were open ...

'' and the rock musical '' William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet'', a project conceived by his brother-in-law,

Terrence Mann Terrence Vaughan Mann (born July 1, 1951) is an American actor and baritone singer. He is best known for his appearances on the Broadway stage, which include Lyman in '' Barnum'', The Rum Tum Tugger in ''Cats'', Inspector Javert in ''Les Mi ...

. Television credits include two appearances on the ''

Kennedy Center Honors The Kennedy Center Honors are annual honors given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to Culture of the United States, American culture. They have been presented annually since 1978, culminating each December in ...

'', ''Live from Studio 8H'', and the

Emmy Award The Emmy Awards, or Emmys, are an extensive range of awards for artistic and technical merit for the television industry. A number of annual Emmy Award ceremonies are held throughout the year, each with their own set of rules and award categor ...

-winning documentary ''He Makes Me Feel Like Dancing''. In 2007, d'Amboise wrote, directed, and choreographed ''The Studio'', a "play with dance" about a

Manhattan Manhattan ( ) is the most densely populated and geographically smallest of the Boroughs of New York City, five boroughs of New York City. Coextensive with New York County, Manhattan is the County statistics of the United States#Smallest, larg ...

-based choreographer with a public image larger than life, for

South Coast Repertory South Coast Repertory (SCR) is a professional theatre company located in Costa Mesa, California. South Coast Repertory was founded in 1964. It has three stages and presents plays from all eras. SCR producers new plays, Theatre for Young Audiences ...

. Currently, d'Amboise teaches dance at

George Mason University George Mason University (GMU) is a Public university, public research university in Fairfax County, Virginia, United States. Located in Northern Virginia near Washington, D.C., the university is named in honor of George Mason, a Founding Father ...

and has been teaching unique

curricula In education, a curriculum (; : curriculums or curricula ) is the totality of student experiences that occur in an educational process. The term often refers specifically to a planned sequence of instruction, or to a view of the student's experi ...

for aspiring professional dancers and choreographers, including Moving Story and other master's level classes. Conceived by d'Amboise prior to the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic (also known as the coronavirus pandemic and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

, d'Amboise and the university launched the LIVE Center (also known as The Center for Live Interactive Virtual Education) in late 2020, during the height of the US COVID-19 resurgence, further uniting location-disparate and socially-distanced dancers and masters.

Personal life

Chris married a fellow dancer, Kelly Crandall, in late summer of 2008.

References

*''Leap Year: A Year in the Life of a Dancer'' by Christopher D'Amboise, published by

Doubleday Doubleday may refer to: * Doubleday (surname), including a list of people with the name Publishing imprints * Doubleday (publisher), imprint of Knopf Doubleday, a subsidiary of Penguin Random House * Doubleday Canada, imprint of Penguin Random ...

, 1982

External links

* * *
''The Studio''
at

{{DEFAULTSORT:d'Amboise, Christopher American male ballet dancers American ballet choreographers American theatre directors 1960 births Living people New York City Ballet principal dancers New York City Ballet Diamond Project choreographers Christopher d'Amboise Choreographers of New York City Ballet Christopher d'Amboise American people of Irish descent American people of French-Canadian descent Collegiate School (New York) alumni