Year-Round Company Faculty

Davis Robertson (Artistic Director)

DAVIS ROBERTSON is a co-founder and Artistic Director of New York Dance Project, a nonprofit dance company with a unique model that challenges dancers and audiences in a diverse repertory that includes classic ballet, modern, contemporary, and cutting-edge new work. Robertson is also a repetiteur for The Gerald Arpino Foundation, and the former Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet School. He also co-founded Russian Ballet International and worked with the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow to establish Bolshoi Academy summer programs in Italy and Australia, and to recruit students to Moscow.

Robertson, who started as a break dancer, became a principal with the Joffrey Ballet, where his roles included the Cavalier in Robert Joffrey’s The Nutcracker, George Balanchine’s Prodigal Son, Petruchio in John Cranko’s Taming of the Shrew, Death in Kurt Jooss’ The Green Table and David Parson’s Caught. His portrayal of the Faun in the Joffrey’s reconstruction of Vaslav Nijinsky’s L’Après-Midi D’un Faune prompted the Chicago Sun-Times dance critic to write, “Robertson gives the finest performance I’ve seen, including that of Rudolf Nureyev for whom the Joffrey re-created this masterpiece in 1979.”

Robertson also danced principal roles for the Metropolitan Opera, Lar Lubovitch, David Parsons, and Twyla Tharp’s Movin’ Out on Broadway. In addition to his work on stage, he has appeared in major motion pictures and television hits such as Law and Order, Dance Moms, The Company, and Save the Last Dance.

A versatile choreographer, he has created works for The Joffrey Ballet, Mikhail Baryshnikov, Milwaukee Ballet, VSA Arts at the Kennedy Center, and Giordano Dance Company, among many others. He was selected to choreograph for the graduating class of the Bolshoi Ballet Academy featuring Joy Womack, and his article on contemporary dance pedagogy was presented and published by the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in the proceedings of the 2012 conference on contemporary dance in Moscow.

Robertson also directed the Joffrey Ballet Concert Group, the pre-professional company founded by Robert Joffrey in 1981. He has mentored hundreds of aspiring dance students into the professional dance world, with the support of emerging and established contemporary choreographers such as Karole Armitage, Africa Guzman, Roger C. Jeffrey, Larry Keigwin, Gabrielle Lamb, Brian McSween, and Dwight Rhoden. A sought-after teacher both nationally and internationally, his teaching credits include The Juilliard School, New York Theater Ballet, STEPS on Broadway, SUNY Purchase Conservatory, Joffrey Ballet, Milwaukee Ballet and the Florida Ballet.

Tyler Gilstrap

Tyler Gilstrap is a rehearsal director for New York Dance Project. She earned her BFA in Dance from Southern Methodist University. She was a founding member of Battleworks Dance Company (2001-2010), under the direction of Robert Battle. In 2014, she was the associate choreographer for the Sochi Winter Olympic Games Opening Ceremony. She was also the assistant choreographer for the film; ‘Love And Other Drugs’ and for the Italian San Remo TV Award. She has choreographed music videos for such artist as Andrew McMahon, Son Lux, Skyes, FireHorse and SENIT. In 2012, she started her own performance group called TunanuT. TunanuT has created and performed for such events as the Panorama Music festival, Big Data 2015 tour, (Un)Scene art show, Ballroom Marfa, The Feast, and The Windmill Factory. As a dancer, she has been featured in such films as ‘Across the Universe’, ‘The Wackness,’ and the Italian TV show ‘Amici.’ She has been a guest artist with the Bavarian State Opera, Irish Modern Dance Theater, Azure Barton, New York Theater Ballet, Corbin Dances, and Amy Marshall Dance Company. As a teacher, Tyler has taught improv, contemporary, and modern dance in Russia, Romania, Germany, Hungary, Italy and throughout the USA. She also has been on faculty at Montclair State University, Joffrey Ballet School and Peridance Capezio.

www.tylergilstrap.com

Gabrielle Lamb

GABRIELLE LAMB, winner of a 2014 Princess Grace Award for Choreography, is a New York City-based choreographer and dancer.  Born in Savannah, Georgia, she was trained at the Boston Ballet School and joined Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montreal in 2000, earning her soloist promotion in 2003.  At the invitation of choreographer Christopher Wheeldon she moved to New York City in 2009 to join his company Morphoses.

Ms. Lamb, who began choreographing in 2005, has won the National Choreographic Competition of Hubbard Street Dance Chicago in 2009 as well as, in 2013, First Prizes in Milwaukee Ballet’s Genesis International Choreographic Competition and Western Michigan University’s National Choreographic Competition.  She was named winner of the Banff Centre’s 2014-15 Clifford E. Lee Choreography Award; and in 2014 she was honored with a New York City Center Choreography Fellowship.  Most recently she was awarded the S&R Foundation’s Washington Award Grand Prize for 2018.

Her movement style and theatricality have been profoundly influenced by the choreographers whose work she danced during her performing career, including George Balanchine, Jiri Kylian, Mats Ek, Ohad Naharin, Nacho Duato, and Shen Wei. Since moving to New York she has also created leading roles in new works by contemporary artists such as Pontus Lidberg, Luca Veggetti, Matthew Neenan, Adam Barruch, Shannon Gillen, and Emery Lecrone.

Kelly Marsh

Kelly Marsh is a graduate from the University of North Carolina School of the Arts with a BFA in Dance, concentration in Ballet. Mr. Marsh started dance at the age of thirteen. He took his studies further after receiving a full scholarship to the Center of Creative Arts (COCA) under the direction of Lee Nolting, in his hometown of St. Louis, MO and then as a fellowship student to The Ailey School. Accepted into numerous summer intensives such as The Ailey summer intensive, PerryMansfield, Richmond Ballet, ABT’s Collegiate Intensive, Dance Theatere of Harlem, Complexions Contemporary Ballet and Cedar Lake 360. Marsh has had the opportunities to perform master works by world renowned choreographers such as William Forsythe, George Balanchine, Merce Cunningham, Eliot Feld, Ethan Stiefel, Susan Jaffee, Darrell Grand Moultire and many more. Mr. Marsh can be seen in music videos as a feature dancer in Jill Scott’s “Back Together” and Nile Rodger’s “I’ll be there”. Kelly Marsh was a member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet for four years. He recently can be spotted in a commercial for Shiseido Cosmetics airing in 2019. Mr.Marsh is signed to Clear Talent Group Agency and is thankful for their amazing opportunities and believing in him and his career.  

Leslie Browne

Leslie Browne started her training with Margaret Craske when she was only 7 years old in NYC. Her parents were Kelly and Isabel Brown who were both members of the American Ballet Theater. They moved to Phoenix, Arizona where her father took over a dance studio and she continued her training with her parents. She received a summer scholarship to the School of American Ballet, and they asked her to stay for the winter. After 1 and 1/2 years at SAB, she did the lead role in Concerto Barocco for the SAB workshop, which was one of her favorite roles that she ever danced. Following the workshop, she joined New York City Ballet in 1974 at the age of 16. After a year and a half in the Corps De Ballet in NYCB, she went on to do the lead role of Emilia in the motion picture The Turning Point in 1976. She then joined American Ballet Theater as a soloist in 1976 and became a principal dance in 1986. Some of her favorite roles were Juliet, in Romeo and Juliet, Giselle, Odette in Swan Lake, Leaves are Fading, Violin Concerto. Those are just a few of the incredible ballets she danced including the amazing ballets by both Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. At the present time Leslie Browne is enjoying her teaching career and choreography.

Matthew Prescott

Matthew Prescott, born and raised in Idaho, graduated high school from Interlochen Arts Academy and attended the inaugural year of the Joffrey/New School University in New York City. He went on to before with the Joffrey Ballet, Donald Byrd’s Spectrum Dance Theater, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet, Ballet NY, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet,  The Alabama Ballet, Armitage Gone! Dance, BalletX, The Lyric Opera of Chicago, Morphoses the Wheeldon Company, and Dance Theatre of Harlem. Matthew was featured in Robert Altman’s film The Company. Matthew has choreographed works performed by Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Chamber Dance Project, the Joffrey Ballet School, BalletX, Interlochen Arts Academy, for Misty Copeland for Prince’s Coming to America 2010 Madison Square Garden performances, as well as the Vail International Dance Festival. Matthew was the Resident Choreographer on the national tour of Tony awarding winning production of Billy Elliot the Musical as well as performing the roll of Older Billy. Matthew made his Broadway debut in the cast of Phantom of the Opera. Matthew is currently the Co-Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet School’s Musical Theater Broadway NYC/ London, Las Vegas, and Cirque Arts summer intensives.

Sarah Wolff

Sarah Wolff, A northern Michigan native, Sarah studied music and dance growing up before leaving home to attend Canada’s National Ballet School. Upon graduating in 2006 she guested with Dutch National Ballet before joining The National Ballet of Canada’s YOUdance apprentice program, the precursor to dancing as a member of NBOC through 2015. She then joined BalletMet and has since pursued a freelance performance career alongside directing the ballet program for Company Dance Traverse. She has guested with New York Dance Project, Grand Rapids Ballet, Fenton Ballet Theater and more and has performed lead roles with The National Ballet of Canada, Ballet Minnesota, and BalletMet in addition to freelance and commercial work in Toronto and NYC. Sarah was awarded The Cecchetti Council of America Ballet Award, The NYCDA Ballet Scholarship, NBS’ Peter Dwyer Award of Excellence, and NBOC’s Patrons’ Council Award of Merit. She’s a passionate teacher and mentor with choreography, placing first in YAGP & NYCDA competitions. She’s presently completing a course in Yoga Nidra meditation and integrates mindfulness into her classical ballet coaching. 

Selina Chau

Selina is a ballet teacher and choreographer working in NYC. She received her pre-professional ballet training at the Hong Kong Academy for Performing Arts. Selina then danced to the rank of Junior Soloist with Hong Kong Ballet (HKB) under the direction of Stephen Jeffries and subsequently John Meehan. She performed leading roles in the company’s classical and contemporary repertoire, ranging from Sleeping Beauty to The Rite of Spring. While performing with HKB, Selina also contributed choreography to many major productions across Asia, including Swan Lake and Aida. Her latest work, Destiny was part of the Making Moves Dance Festival 2022 in Queens, NY. 

Selina holds an MFA from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts and is certified to teach the American Ballet Theatre’s National Training Curriculum from Pre-primary through Level 7, as well as Partnering. She currently also teaches ballet technique at Tisch Dance NYU and Ballet Academy East. You may learn more about Selina at selinachau.com.

Amanda Edge

Amanda was born in Texas and began her training with Ballet Austin and Pat Mitchell. She continued her dance studies in Brazil with Norma Biavaty, and with the faculty at the North Carolina School of the Arts. Amanda attended the Hungarian National Ballet School in the summer of 1990 before moving to New York to study at The School of American Ballet. Following the student workshop, she was invited to join the New York City Ballet. During her 15 years with the company, she performed principal roles in ballets by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and was featured in many new works. Amanda appeared in several Live From Lincoln Center broadcasts with NYCB, and in the 1993 Warner Brothers movie, George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. She was also featured in Shape Magazine, Oprah Magazine, Pointe Magazine, and Scotland’s Caledonia.

In 2006, Amanda left NYCB to be an original cast member in Phantom: The Las Vegas Spectacular, under the direction of Hal Prince and Gillian Lynne. She returned to New York the following year, and from 2007-2009, she worked in Phantom on Broadway and on the National Tour. In 2010, Amanda was selected as the “swing” in the original Broadway cast of Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away. When the show moved to the Encore Theatre in Las Vegas, Ms. Tharp invited her to be the dance captain for the production. In 2011, Amanda graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University with a B.A. in Arts Administration, and rejoined Broadway’s Phantom of the Opera, serving as the show’s assistant dance captain until 2014. From 2015-2018, Amanda was on faculty at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and she choreographed for their students and the students of Ballet Academy East in New York City.