Brooklyn Ballet

Ruby Aver performed extensively since 1973 in North America, South America and Europe. Ruby’s first ballet instructor, Ed Parish was Bronislava Nijinkska trained. At the age of 14, Ruby was the youngest dancer ever to place in the Chicago Dance Competition, judged by renowned dance historian Ann Barzel. In 1971 Ruby was awarded a full talent scholarship to the Harkness School of Ballet in Manhattan by Master Teacher David Howard, where she went on to become an apprentice with the Harkness Ballet Company. She performed as a soloist with the Chicago Ballet Company and Ballet DeCaracas of Venezuela. She was principal dancer for Het Scapino Ballet of the Netherlands, where “Firebird” was set on her by choreographer Job Sanders, and where she performed annually for the Queen of Holland. During these years she taught and coached dancers in the above companies and school, as well as for the Hubbard Street Dance Company of Chicago. In addition to classical ballet, Ruby has performed contemporary ballet by Hans VanMannen and Nils Christie, Jazz choreography by Matt Mattox, and dance theater pieces by company members from Pina Bausch and Wuppertaal Tanzteatre. Other highlights of her performing career were working with the National Ballet of Canada for Rudolf Nureyev in his production of “Don Quixote. Ruby has been the Ballet Professor at Simon’s Rock College of Bard since 2004 and the Ballet Director and instructor for Berkshire Pulse, in Western Mass since 2005.

“Today, Ruby passes on the high standards she gained as a performer and teacher enabling her students to be accepted into some of the best ballet schools for further study. I applaud her for her commitment to the art of ballet, giving young dancers a solid foundation for them to succeed.” -David Howard, Master Teacher