Co-Founder and Artistic Director



Diana White

Diana White, former soloist with the New York City Ballet, is a ballet teacher, the artistic director of the Scarsdale Ballet Studio, and a repetiteur with the George Balanchine Trust.

Ms. White was born in Park Ridge, Illinois and began her ballet training when she was four years old with local instructors. At age fourteen she became a member of the Lyric Opera Ballet of Chicago under the direction of Maria Tallchief. There she was seen by George Balanchine, who awarded her a scholarship to the School of American Ballet. He invited her to join the New York City Ballet one year later. During her twenty-year career at NYCB she worked closely with Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Her repertoire included principal roles in works by both masters including Balanchine’s Apollo, The Four Temperaments, Western Symphony, Serenade, Liebeslieder Walzer, Jewels, and Robbins’ Dances at a Gathering, The Cage, Goldberg Variations, and Moves, a ballet in silence which was revived in 1987 especially for her. In 1989, the year she was promoted to soloist, Peter Martins created a principal role for her in his ballet The Waltz Project. Ms. White has toured internationally with the company and as a guest artist. She has appeared several times on public television’s Live From Lincoln Center, and Great Performances.

In 1992, while still a member of the New York City Ballet, Ms. White co-founded the Scarsdale Ballet Studio where she remains as artistic director and teacher. Several of her students have been accepted to the School of American Ballet and the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theater and to university dance programs. From 1998 to 2001, she was on the faculty of the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College where she continues to guest-teach. Ms. White has choreographed several ballets for her students including the Carousel Waltz which was performed at the Westchester Philharmonic’s 20th Anniversary. She is on the jury of the Youth America Grand Prix, a competition which awards scholarships to major international ballet schools. As a repetiteur with the George Balanchine Trust, she stages his works worldwide. Ms. White is the author of a children’s book, Ballerina Dreams published by Scholastic.