MasterClass with Charles Askegard

Performance Garage presents: MasterClass with Charles Askegard (DanceVisions Resident Artist 2025-2026).

Open to the public, with a ‘pay-what-you-can’ donation to support our YouthMoves program.

Charles Askegard is a world renowned dancer, teacher, and choreographer. A native of Minnesota, he started his training at age five with Loyce Houlton, the choreographer and founder of the Minnesota Dance Theatre, and remained there until the age of sixteen. This experience instilled in him from an early age, the drive to embrace creativity, push boundaries, and bring respect and discipline to all of his work. He moved to New York to further his studies where he trained with famed teacher Maggie Black. After two years under Black’s tutelage, Mikhail Baryshnikov, who was then Artistic Director of the American Ballet Theatre, hired him at age eighteen, as a member of the corps de ballet.Askegard performed with the ABT for ten years, rising to the rank of soloist and performing many leading roles in both full length and repertory ballets. He was appreciated for his technical prowess—dancing the most classical roles such as Swan Lake and La Bayadere—his versatility—dancing ballets by Lar Lubovich, Glen Tetley, and Twyla Tharp—as well as his dramatic and artistic skills starring in ballets by Agnes de Mille, Antony Tudor, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Natalia Makarova, and more.Askegard left the American Ballet Theatre to further his knowledge and artistry, and explore different aspects of ballet. He accepted an offer to join the New York City Ballet as a soloist, and the following year was promoted to Principal Dancer. During his fourteen-year tenure at the NYCB, he had the opportunity to work one-on- one with Jerome Robbins, create roles in ballets by Peter Martins, Christopher Wheeldon, as well as other emerging choreographers, while also performing a large part of the Balanchine repertory, dancing many of the most demanding male roles including Theme and Variations, Stars and Stripes, and Diamonds from George Balanchine’s Jewels.When Askegard retired from the stage, he co-founded his own company, Ballet Next, which had successful seasons at the Joyce Theater, BAM Fishman in New York City, and also toured to the British Virgin Islands, Syracuse University, and the Lensic Performing Arts Center in New Mexico. During this time he was sought after as a guest dancer, teacher, and choreographer.In 2015, he joined the Philadelphia Ballet as Rehearsal Director, he has worked closely alongside Artistic Director Angel Corella, coaching all levels of the company in the wide range of styles the company presents.Choreography has always been a passion of Askegard’s, which traces back to his early days in training with his first teacher Loyce Houlton. He has continued to pursue this aspect of his artistry for many years and has been recognized both locally and nationally. He has been commissioned for work by the Philadelphia Ballet, creating three works for the company, the Philadelphia Ballet II, Columbia Ballet Collectivea joint venture between Columbia and Barnard Universities, the Minnesota Dance Theatre, Ballet Academy East in NYC, Ballet Arts of Spokane, and Grand Valley State University. His work has also been presented by the American Repertory Ballet in Princeton, NJ, Nevada Ballet Theatre II, numerous Gala Performances across the country, and the Candlelight Series of performances. He is the 2025-2026 DanceVisions Resident Artist at the Performance Garage in Philadelphia, and is an alumnus of the National Choreographers Initiative (2024) in Irvine, California. Askegard’s work extends to feature films and documentaries, the latest of which is a soon to be released dance documentary by Adrenaline Films about the creation of one of his choreographic works.

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