Jacques d’Amboise

Recognized as one of the finest classical dancers of our time, Jacques d’Amboise now leads the field of arts education with a model program that exposes thousands of school children to the magic and discipline of dance. In 1976, while still a principal dancer with New York City Ballet, Mr. d’Amboise founded National Dance Institute in the belief that the arts have a unique power to engage and motivate individuals towards excellence.

His contributions in arts education have earned him numerous awards and honors including: The Governor’s Award for outstanding contributions to the arts and culture of New York State (1986); The Paul Robeson Award for excellence in the field of the humanities (1988); The First Annual Producers Circle Award for public service (1989); a 1990 MacArthur Fellowship: The Capezio Award (1990); The Award for Distinguished Service to the Arts from the American Academy of Arts and Letters (1993); The Kennedy Center Honors (1995); The National Medal of Arts (1998); The Dance Magazine Award (1999); The Heinz Award (2001); People First Honoree, People Magazine (2002); The Arison Award (2002); The Mayor’s Award for Arts & Culture (2004); induction into The American Academy of Arts & Sciences (2007); The Fred and Adele Astaire Award (2011); Dance Teacher Magazine’s Lifetime Achievement Award (2011). He holds Honorary Doctorates from the Julliard School, Duke University, Boston College, University of the South, Franklin Pierce College, St. Joseph College, Montclair State University, Monmouth University, Bates College, Saint Peter’s College, the College of New Rochelle, and Bank Street College of Education. Mr. d’Amboise is also an Honorary Big Brother.

“He Makes Me Feel Like Dancin’,” a 1984 PBS documentary film about his work with NDI, won an Academy Award, six Emmy Awards, the Peabody Award, and the National Education Association Award for the advancement of learning through broadcasting.

Mr. d’Amboise began his ballet training with Madame Seda in Washington Heights, New York. Within a year, at the age of eight, he continued his studies at the School of American Ballet with George Balanchine, Anatola Oboukhoff and Pierre Vladimiroff. At age 12 he performed with Ballet Society, the immediate predecessor to New York City Ballet. Three years later, barely 15, he joined New York City Ballet and the following year made his European debut at London’s Covent Garden. As Balanchine’s protégé, Mr. d’Amboise had more works choreographed specifically for him by The Ballet Master than any other dancer, including the ballets: Stars and Stripes, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Episodes, Figures in the Carpet, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Jewels, Raymonda Variations, Meditation, and Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet. Mr. d’Amboise is most remembered for his portrayal of what critics called “the definitive Apollo.” As a choreographer, Mr. d’Amboise’s credits include almost twenty works commissioned for New York City Ballet.

Over the last 30 years, the NDI programs in New York City, the 13 affiliate programs (ANDI) throughout the United States, and the international programs in Shanghai, China, and Lebanon, have reached and influenced over 2 million children.

“The arts open your heart and mind to possibilities that are limitless. They are pathways that touch upon our brains and emotions and bring sustenance to imagination. Human beings’ greatest form of communication, they walk in tandem with science and play, and best describe what it is to be human.”
-Jacques d’Amboise

Trey McIntyre

Born in Witchita Kansas, and trained at North Carolina School of the Arts and Houston Ballet Academy, in 1989, he was appointed Choreographic Apprentice to Houston Ballet, a position created especially for him, and in 1995 he became the the company’s Choreographic Associate.  He has worked for more than 25 years as a freelance choreographer, producing more than 100 pieces during the span of his career so far.

McIntyre is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Choo San Goh Award for Choreography, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Arts and Letters, two personal grants for choreography from the National Endowment for the Arts, and is a United States Artists Fellow.  His works have been performed by companies around the world including Stuttgart Ballet, American Ballet Theater, Queensland Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, New York City Ballet, BalletX, The Washington Ballet and San Francisco Ballet.

In 2005, McIntyre founded his dance company, Trey McIntyre Project (TMP) based in Boise, Idaho. The company was a tremendous critical success and was lauded for its innovative business model. In 2014, the company transitioned towards new artistic ventures, reducing greatly its efforts in dance, focusing currently on the feature-length documentary, Gravity Hero.

A renowned photographer McIntyre’s photographs have been featured inThe New York Times,The Washington Post, The Boston Globe and Sunset Magazine,and he was commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service to create a series of photographs to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act.  He is currently working on two books of photography.

GRAVITY HERO, the new feature film directed by Trey McIntyre, will have its world premiere at the Dance on Camera Festival July 20-24.