Amy Ashley acquired a passion for movement from a young age through ballet, before stepping into modern, jazz, and contemporary forms under the continuing mentorship of master teacher Tracey Durbin.
A 2015 Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program graduate, her performance career has been a blend of collaborative projects and freelance work, spanning musical theater, film, and concert dance. She has freelanced in Portland OR, San Francisco, and New York City, performing works by the likes of Sidra Bell, Maurya Kerr, Greg Dawson, Tracey Durbin, Jose Limon, Kathryn Alter (Kathryn Alter & Dancers 2020-2024), and Ariel Grossman (Ariel Rivka Dance 2018-2025).
Amy has been a dance educator for the better part of a decade, teaching ballet, modern, and contemporary to all levels, including workshops and summer programs locally and internationally. She is the founding educator and program developer of the Ariel Rivka Dance Education Program, and has been on faculty at the Mark Morris Dance Center since 2021.
Combining the legacies and philosophical influences of King’s contemporary ballet and Durbin’s Luigi-based modern jazz has resulted in Amy striving to put the human soul of the artist first, both in her performance and her creative process.
Amy currently freelances and choreographs in NYC and New Jersey.
Choreographic works
The Shadows Lie Premiere: Arts on Site, NYC 2025 - trio, study of Plato’s “Analogy of the Cave”
Flight Moving Youth Dance Company, 2022 - group piece celebrating the coming of spring
Gaglardia Moving Youth Dance Company 2021 - group piece, a study of community
DUET Premiere: Theater for the New City, NYC 2019 - duet on the passing of time
Alice Springs Premiere: Studio Theater At Theater Row, NYC 2018 - duet exploring mental health
Charles LINES Ballet Training Program 2014 - solo exploring abbreviation
Atacama LINES Ballet Training Program 2013 - trio in three parts on forced immigration
PERFORMANCE COMPANIES
Ariel Rivka Dance, NYC - Company Artist 2018 - 2025, Artistic Director - Ariel Grossman
● Techniques & style: Ballet, Modern, collaborative dance-making ● Works: Variations On A Box, (Un)Coupled, Microvids, Lead Me, What You Want, If I Forget You, Converge, Rust, Unorthodox
● Performance locations: New York (Bryant Park, New York Live Arts), London(The Place), Paris, Corsica, Madeira, Istanbul
● Notable: Soloist for Variations On A Box, established and led outreach/education program, led international workshops
Disagreeable Creatures, NYC- Founding Member, Dancer 2021 - 2025, Artistic Director - Danita Shaheen
● Techniques & style: Contemporary, Ballet, precision, floorwork, character acting ● Works: Cruci-fi x, Co-Exi(s)t, Lust For Timing, CommunicAI, Velveteen Rabbit (children’s ballet) ● Performance locations: New York (PMT House of Dance, The KnJ Theater, Arts On Site, variety of NYC Public Elementary Schools) ● Notable: Rehearsal director, musical liaison between chamber orchestra & dancers
Kathryn Alter and Dancers, NYC - Dancer 2020 - 2024, Artistic Director - Kathryn Alter
● Techniques & style: Limón-influenced Modern, partnering, narrative driven work ● Works: Retrace, Duet Performance locations: New York (Arts On Site, Ailey Studios) ● Notable: Assisted and performed in restaging of Limón repertoire
freelance PROJECTS
AXIS Dance Company Choreo-Lab, Gibney Center NYC Dancer, Choreographer - Audre Wirtanen
Jose Limón’s Missa Brevis, Salvatore Capezio Theater NYC Dancer, Choreography set by Kathryn Alter
Digging in Group Incubator, Green Space NYC Soloist, Choreographer - Deirdre Towers
Training
Alonzo King LINES Ballet Training Program
Program Director - Karah Abiog, Graduate of 2015
Limón Dance Company
Regular guest in Pro/Launch & L2, intensives 2019-2025
Gaga NYC Winter Workshops
Training and repertoire led by Ohad Naharin & Bobbi Jean Smith 2017-2021
Hofesh Shechter Company Intensive at Banff Arts Center
Training and repertoire led by Bruno Guillore & Phil Hulford 2016
Mentors & teachers of note
Tracey Durbin
Linda Celeste Sims
Alonzo King
Zvi Gotheiner
Maurya Kerr LINES, PNB
Jason Davis SFB
Sylvia Bolton SAB
Christian Burns LINES, The Foundry
Jon Ole Olstad NDT
Logan Kruger Limon Dance Company