Dawn Fay
Associate Artistic Director
Named one of Dance Magazine's 25 to watch for 2007, Dawn Fay's professional career spanned more than twenty years. Dawn is a native of Memphis, Tennessee and began dancing at the age of three. She trained at several schools before attending and graduating from North Carolina School of the Arts. At the age of 16, she began her professional career with Edward Villella at Ballet Oklahoma. Under the direction of Villella, Dawn went on to be a founding member of Miami City Ballet where the Miami Herald proclaimed, “In the much-touted ‘company without stars,’ she became one anyway”. She danced principal roles in George Balanchine’s primary works including Prodigal Son, Apollo, Sylvia Pas de Deux and Allegro Brillante.
In 1988, Dawn moved to Antwerp, Belgium to join Royal Ballet of Flanders, directed by Robert Denvers. She quickly found her place as a leading dancer performing the principal role of Kitri in Rudolf Nureyev’s Don Quixote. During her nine seasons with Royal Ballet of Flanders, Dawn received critical acclaim as she worked her way through the classical repertoire. Her performance of Fleming Flindt’s La Sylphide led La Libre Belgique to ask, “is there another Sylphide like her in Europe today?” She also danced principal roles in Giselle, La Fille Mal Gardeé, and Cinderella, as well as contemporary work by Jiri Kylian, Choo San Goh, Ib Anderson, Danny Rosseel, Stuart Sebastian, Lynn Taylor-Corbett and Balanchine.
Dawn returned to her hometown in 1997 to join Ballet Memphis, where she performed principal roles in Giselle, Coppelia, Swan Lake, Cinderella, Dracula and The Little Mermaid, to name a few. The Commercial Appeal (Memphis) said, “Fay is exquisite, graceful from her toes to the tips of her fingers, with a presence that lights up the stage.” Dawn has created leading roles in Garrett Ammon’s Poetry, Dreams, and the Love Life of Otto Lidenbrock, Walk the Line, The Lonely Crowd and Tourist Point of View, as well as Trey McIntyre’s High Lonesome, Memphis and The Naughty Boy. She has also danced leading roles in work by Mark Godden, Julia Adam, Lila York and Robert Sund.
In 2005, Dawn became a founding member of Trey McIntyre Project, dancing at festivals around the country including The Vail International Dance Festival and Jacob's Pillow. She has also served as Ballet Mistress for Trey McIntyre Project.
Dawn is married to Artistic Director Garrett Ammon.