SARA KNIGHT

Founder and Artistic Director 

​

Sara Knight is a graduate of the Royal Ballet School (UK), an Associate of the Royal Academy of Dance (A.R.A.D.), graduate of the Royal Ballet School Teacher's Training Course ( R.B.S. Dip. TTC.) and was the first British dancer to graduate from Russia's Vaganova (Kirov) Ballet Academy. Sara is a recipient of the Royal Ballet School Award for Excellence, personally awarded by Dame Ninette de Valois (founder of the Royal Ballet). Whilst at the Royal Ballet School Sara was one of four dancers selected by John Field and Anne Heaton to work on the new syllabus for the British Ballet Organization (BBO) and demonstrated the new work.

​

Upon graduation from the Vaganova Academy Sara remained in Russia as a soloist with the Leningrad State Ballet Theatre and the Russian Ballet of St. Petersburg. In Western Europe she danced with Northern Ballet Theatre (UK), Ballet Russe and was principal dancer with European Ballet, whilst in the USA Sara was a Guest Artist with Boston Ballet and Principal Dancer with Configuration Dance and Rebecca Rice Dance Company. She was Ballet Mistress for Ballet Central (London), Ellison Ballet (NYC), and the Ballet School of Stamford as well as co-Founder and Artistic Director of the Greenwich Ballet Academy (USA).

​

Sara founded both SLK Ballet School (2010) and Chevalier Ballet Company (2017) in New York City. As well as theaters, the company tours the East Coast of America and Europe to bring dance to communities with limited access. Committed to outreach, the company conducts workshops in schools and hospitals both in the USA and Europe on a regular basis under her direction.

 

Sara remains in demand as a teacher and choreographer worldwide. In 2022 Sara was invited by the United Ukrainian Ballet to stage their international touring production of Swan Lake.

​

In 2023 she introduced Chevalier Ballet’s Professional Trainee Program (CBPTP), a three year program for dancers to experience company life whilst continuing their technical development.

​

In 2025 Sara became the first licensed Royal Academy of Dancing Silver Swans instructor in NY bringing this unique ballet program for the over 55s.

 

Guest teaching positions include: Boston Ballet Company, Boston Ballet School, Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education, Cincinnati Ballet School, Laban Centre London, Northern Ballet Theatre (UK), Arts Educational School (UK), Boston Conservatory, The International Festival of France and most recently Masters of Ballet at Sadler’s Wells Theatre (London UK) and the English National Ballet School.​

Photography by Matthew Karas