Amy O'Brien

Associate Professor, Theatre and Dance Performance
School: School of Music, Theatre, and Dance
Phone: 607-274-3925
Office: Dillingham Center 034, Ithaca, NY 14850
Specialty: Ballet

Amy's work has been presented at the Schwartz Center at Cornell University, ACDFA, Ithaca College, the Hangar Theatre, and the CherryArt Space. She is a former member of The Washington Ballet under the Artistic Direction of Mary Day where she performed works by Nils Christe, Choo-San Goh, John Goding, and Krzysztof Pastor. She also performed with the Zig Zag Ballet, Bernier Dance Company, and Ballet Etudes. She is interested in how ballet dancers can deconstruct their technique and begin to listen to the "self" and the "space" to create work that is their own. Amy is an Associate Professor of Dance at Ithaca College and holds a BFA from SUNY Purchase and an MFA from Montclair State University. 

Throughout Amy’s journey as a professional artist and educator, the importance of welcoming individuality and community has been at the forefront of her pedagogy and creative process. She hopes to create a classroom/space where the dancers can feel nourished and invited to discover what it means to practice ballet technique as individuals who honor their creative selves in the movement and in life.  To define how the studio space contains a personal space at the barre, a community space in the center, and a whole space where we learn to free the self.