Lara Tant, Instructor

Lara Tant was born in Philadelphia, PA where she began dancing at the YMCA. She trained at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, DC under the direction of Ludmila Markovina and Alla Sizova. Additionally, she supplemented her training through summer programs at American Ballet Theatre, where she had the opportunity to be coached by Leslie Brown and Rebecca Wright. Finally, she completed her professional training in the Trainee Program at the Joffrey Ballet School. Lara began her professional career at the Ballet Theatre of Maryland, where she also embarked upon her career as a ballet teacher, next she joined Connecticut Ballet in Stamford, CT. In New York City, Lara co-founded Exit 12 Dance Company; and performed with many companies and choreographers during her years there. In the summer of 2016 she joined the Farm to Ballet Project in Burlington, Vermont as a principal dancer, and was part of a PBS documentary. In 2017, she was a guest artist with Ekklesia Contemporary Ballet in Connecticut. Lara has performed many classical and contemporary works; her favorites include Aurora in the Sleeping Beauty, Gamzatti in La Bayadere and the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker. Lara has taught ballet and creative movement at Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Ballet Des Enfants, Armonk Dance, ATB, Brooklyn Ballet, Steps on Broadway, The Hartt School, and Boston Ballet. She is a Bolshoi Certified Ballet Teacher for levels 1 through 3. In 2015, she traveled to Cape Town,South Africa to teach dance to children in the townships. From 2010 to 2016 she was a full- time faculty member at the Joffrey Ballet School in Manhattan in the Children, Youth Ballet and Adult Programs. Lara graduated Summa Cum Laude with a Dance Performance Degree from the College of Saint Mary’s, LEAP program. In the summer of 2016 she was the Artistic Director of From Studio to Stage 2 summer program at the Hartt School in Hartford, CT where she choreographed a full-length original ballet with an original score by Arthur Abrams, The Velveteen Rabbit, which she dedicated to her mom. In 2016, she became the artistic director and dancer with Azoth Dancer, where she currently performs and with them has toured five times to France, Poland and Finland; teaching and performing. She has traveled twice to India to teach dance to children in Bangalore. In 2017, she wrote a curriculum for the Pennsylvania Ballet Education and Community Initiative program called Dance Chance to be used in Philadelphia Public Schools. Last year she taught in the Youth and Adult program at Koresh Dance in Philadelphia. She graduated in June 2020 with a 4.0 and earned her master’s degree in Dance Movement Therapy and Counseling from Drexel University. Lara is thrilled to move back home and join the lovely community at The Dance Company!

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