Nancie Woods named principal for the Sarasota Ballet's Margaret Barbieri Conservatory

The Sarasota Ballet is one of the town's shining stars within its bright constellation of stellar artistic organizations. But just as much as the Sarasota Ballet has been about presenting sophisticated and quality entertainment these last 25 seasons, under the direction of Iain Webb and his wife Margaret Barbieri it has equally been an institution devoted to education. 

And in that educational vein, the Sarasota Ballet announced Nancie Woods as the first principal for the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory. Established in 2012, the conservatory is an audition-only training program for talented and aspiring young local, American and international ballet dancers. Students receive an eight year long intensive training that includes not only the fundamentals of ballet but also include master classes in all genres of dancing including modern and flamenco as well as lessons in classical music, nutrition and injury prevention. The goal is straightforward yet ambitious: mold young dancers into the future leading performers and artists of dance companies throughout the country.

Overseen by Barbieri, the conservatory's day-to-day operations and classes were overseen and organized by the ballet's education department. Woods will serve as the conservatory's leader and expand its curriculum and further develop Webb and Barbieri's educational mission and will begin her position in July

"I am so thrilled to be joining such a fabulous organization - Sarasota is so fortunate to have such a beautiful company run by such noteworthy professionals," says Woods in a prepared statement. "It is a huge honor to have this opportunity to work closely with Ms. Barbieri to develop her vision for the conservatory."

Woods has had ample experience over her career in both ballet performance and education. Most recently Woods served as the artistic director for BalletNova Center for Dance in Arlington, VA and help turning the center into one of the premiere spaces for dance in Washington, D.C. metro area. 

Hailing from England, Woods received her ballet training at the Elmhurst Ballet School in Birmingham, the Rambert Academy in London and the Royal Academy of Dance. Woods' professional career began with the French company Ballet du Rhin in Strasbourg, France where she toured throughout Europe. She arrived in America performed with and began teaching at several companies including the Delta Festival Ballet in New Orleans, the Dallas Ballet, Ballet Oklahoma, the Corpus Christi Ballet and the Santa Fe Opera. 

After serving 11 years a faculty member at BalletNova Center for Dance, Woods succeeded company co-founder Kathryn Fredgren as artistic director. In addition to her extensive accomplishments in BalletNova's educational mission, Woods choreographed and staged many classic pieces such as "The Firebird," "Les Sylphides," "The Nutcracker" and "The Seasons" along with two world premiere works "Music of the Spheres" and "Peter & the Wolf."

"Iain and I are delighted that Nancie Woods joins us to become the principal of the Margaret Barbieri Conservatory, bringing her wealth of knowledge and expertise to the conservatory," says Margaret Barbieri, assistant director of the Sarasota ballet, in a prepared statement. "With her career encompassing being a professional dancer, teacher, ballet mistress, choreographer and 25 years as artistic director of BalletNova, she will help to take the conservatory to even greater heights."