Jonathan Stafford is an American ballet dancer and artistic director. He danced with 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' ...

(NYCB) as a principal dancer until his retirement in 2014, then he served as a ballet master. He became the artistic director of NYCB in 2019.

Early life

Stafford was born in

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

. He trained at the Central Pennsylvania Ballet. He attended summer intensives at the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

in 1996 and 1997, then stayed in New York City as a full time student. He also graduated from

Professional Children's School Professional Children's School (PCS) is a not-for-profit, college preparatory school geared toward working and aspiring child actors and dancers in grades six through twelve. The school was founded in New York City in 1914 to provide an academic ed ...

Career

Stafford became an apprentice at

in October 1998, and joined the corps de ballet in February 1999. He became a soloist in 2006, and taught in the School of American Ballet as a guest faculty. The following year, he was promoted to principal dancer, and joined SAB's permanent faculty. He had danced lead roles in works by

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

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 ...

and

Christopher Wheeldon Christopher Peter Wheeldon OBE (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Life and career Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dan ...

. He had also appeared in the 2000 film '' Center Stage'' as a background dancer. Stafford's younger-sister, Abi, was also a principal dancer at NYCB. However, they were rarely paired together. In 2014, Stafford retired from dancing after a performance of ''

Jewels A gemstone (also called a fine gem, jewel, precious stone, or semiprecious stone) is a piece of mineral crystal which, in cut and polished form, is used to make jewelry or other adornments. However, certain rocks (such as lapis lazuli, opal, a ...

''. Abi Stafford and

Sara Mearns Sara Ann Mearns (born 19 January 1986) is an American ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer at New York City Ballet. Early life Mearns was born in Columbia, South Carolina. Her mother is a nurse. At age three, she began dancing with Ann Brodi ...

danced with him in the "Emeralds" and "Diamonds" respectively. After that, he became a ballet master at NYCB. The following year, he was appointed Professional Placement Manager at NYCB, his role was to guide apprentices through their first year. In December 2017,

Peter Martins Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as ...

, then ballet master in chief of NYCB, took a leave of absence and later left after he was accused of sexual abuse. That month, Stafford was chosen to lead the interim leadership team, which also included ballet masters Craig Hall and

Rebecca Krohn Rebecca Krohn (born 1981/1982) is an American retired ballet dancer. She danced with the New York City Ballet as a principal dancer until her retirement in 2017, then became a ballet master and served as one of the interim leaders between late 2 ...

, and resident choreographer

Justin Peck Justin Peck (born September 8, 1987) is an American choreographer, director, and dancer associated with New York City Ballet, of which he was appointed Resident Choreographer in July 2014, being the second person in the history of the instituti ...

. He brought in retired dancers who worked with Balanchine, such as

Patricia McBride Patricia McBride (born August 23, 1942 in Teaneck, New Jersey) is a ballerina who spent nearly 30 years dancing with the New York City Ballet. McBride joined the New York City Ballet in 1959. She became a principal in 1961, becoming the company's ...

and

Edward Villella Edward Villella (born October 1, 1936) is an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He is frequently cited as America's most celebrated male dancer of ballet at the time. He has won numerous awards, including the Daytime Emmy Award for Outst ...

, to coach the current dancers. In February 2019, Stafford was appointed artistic director of the NYCB and SAB, with

Wendy Whelan Wendy Whelan (; born May 7, 1967) is an American ballet dancer. She was principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and performed with the company for 30 years, and toured in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Whelan has also been an influential gue ...

as associate artistic director. The two said they intended to work as partners, Stafford would be in charge of artistic operations while Whelan supervises programming. This is the first NYCB leadership that had never worked with Balanchine.

Personal life

In 2014, Stafford married Brittany Pollack, a soloist at NYCB. They have one child. Stafford graduated summa cum laude from the Fordham School of Professional and Continuing Studies with a B.A. in Organizational Leadership.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, Jonathan Living people 1980s births People from Carlisle, Pennsylvania American male ballet dancers New York City Ballet New York City Ballet principal dancers New York City Ballet balletmasters School of American Ballet alumni School of American Ballet faculty 21st-century American ballet dancers Dancers from Pennsylvania Artistic directors