Sarah Blake
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Dance Instructor

Sarah Blake is a young choreographer and dancer based in the New Jersey/New York area. She began training locally at the age of 3 in ballet and added jazz, tap and modern by age 6. At age 12, she began studying at New Jersey School of Ballet as a student in their pre-professional intensive program and became a member of the New Jersey Ballet Junior Company at age 15 studying under Paul McRae, Marina Bogdanova, Carolyn Tener Brown, Gabrielle Noa, as well as many others. As a member of Junior Company, she got to perform in the professional company's ballets such as, The Nutcracker, Don Quixote, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, and La Esmerelda. She began teaching dance at age 17, at Carousel of Progress Academy, a special needs dance and theater studio located in East Hanover, NJ and is very passionate about passing her love of dance down to young dancers. She is a recent graduate of Manhattanville College where she majored in Dance and Psychology and minored in Business Management. While at Manhattanville, she studied under Shawn Bible (modern/contemporary) and Andrei Kisselev (ballet) and performed for guest choreographers Alexander Olivieri, Michael Trusnovec, Bonnie O’Rourke, Judi Jaekel, Sarah Housepian, Michaela McGowan, Janice Rosario and Brad Beakes as well as participating in student works every semester. During her senior year she was awarded the Greta Levart Award for Continued Artistic Excellence in Dance as well as having the opportunity to choreograph for the spring play The Green Bird. Additionally, she was President of the Manhattanville Dance Ensemble, a no cut jazz and contemporary dance team on the Manhattanville Campus. She choreographed the team’s jazz group dance and lyrical small group for the end of semester showcase as well as jazz pieces for their Performance Team, for campus events such as family weekend and pep rallies. As president of this specific dance team she also had the responsibility to coordinate and set up the dance team’s showcase that featured all six dance teams on campus. Spreading her joy of working with children, she spent the four summers in undergrad teaching swim and lifeguarding at Jeff Lake Camp in Stanhope, NJ. In July 2022, her piece Arachna, was presented at the KoDaFe Festival in NYC and in October 2022, 1692 another piece she created was presented at Emerging Artists Theatre’s “New Works Festival” in NYC. She is currently a graduate student at Baruch College (CUNY) studying Arts Administration while teaching ballet and creative movement at Ady Art Center and Theatre NextDoor in Livingston, NJ. She is actively auditioning for dance companies within NYC and looking for as many opportunities to present her choreography as well.