Movement Matters
Resume and bio
Ashley Thursby grew up in Richmond, Missouri, and began her studies in dance at the age of 3. She started her formal training at age 9 at the Kansas City Ballet School on full merit scholarship and went on to study at School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet School, LINES Pre-Professional Program, and The Jillana School. After spending her senior year of high school as a Student Apprentice with Kansas City Ballet, Ashley continued her dance training at Indiana University’s Jacobs School of Music and graduated with degrees in Ballet and Journalism. At IU, she had the privilege of being coached by Violette Verdy, Cynthia Gregory, Helen Starr, Michael Vernon, and Deborah Wingert, and was awarded the Friends of Music Scholarship and the National Society of Arts and Letters award.
In 2008, Ashley joined Louisville Ballet and has enjoyed dancing in the classics reimagined by Val Caniparoli, Robert Curran, Ronald Hynd, Alun Jones, André Prokovsky, and Bruce Simpson, as well as new works by Ma Cong, Tim Harbour, Adam Hougland, Lucas Jervies, Daniel Riley, Andrea Schermoly, and Amy Seiwert. Her favorite experiences on the Kentucky Center stage have been the role of Ballerina in Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, Soloist in George Balanchine’s Rubies, and as Sugar Plum Fairy in Val Caniparoli’s The Brown-Forman Nutcracker.
Ashley is a passionate advocate for the power that performance art gives to a community, and was honored to receive the 2015 Artist Enrichment Grant for her choreography through the Kentucky Foundation for Women. This springboard has led her to collaborate with Louisville Free Public Library, 21c Museum Hotel, Kentucky Refugee Ministries, and a residency at the Chateau Orquevaux in France set for 2021.
In addition to being a professional ballet dancer and multidisciplinary art maker, Ashley has been teaching ballet, pointe, variations and Pilates (NCPT) since 2005. She taught Creative Movement and adult classes while at Indiana University, and from 2008 to 2011, she taught in the Children’s and Classical Ballet Programs within the Louisville Ballet School. She has been on faculty for the school’s Pre-Professional Program since 2011 and was appointed as the mind. body. balance. Adult Division Program Manager in 2019.
Ashley has shared her love of dance with communities in Florida, Georgia, Kentucky, Missouri, New York, North Carolina, and Japan, and is currently enjoying teaching via Zoom, Facebook Live, and Instagram Live, in addition to sharing new content through her COVID-19 social media series entitled #SocialArtisting.
I want everyone to experience the power built from connecting the mind and body through movement.
My mission is to create space for individuals to mindfully connect to movement whether it be through observation or physical engagement.
professional experience
Louisville Ballet
Artist, 2008 – Present
Movement In Movies
Choreographer, 2014 – Present
#SocialArtisting
Founder and Collaborative Facilitator, 2020 – Present
Midwest Repertory Ballet
Principal Guest Artist, 2021
Summer Dance Company
Principal Guest Artist, 2014 – 2016
Dance Augusta
Principal Guest Artist, 2015
Kansas City Ballet
Student Apprentice, 2004 – 2005
awards
Chateau Orquevaux
Artist in Residence, Denis Diderot Grant, 2022
Louisville Arts Network
Micro-commission for #SocialArtisting, 2020
New York Dance Project
Quarantine Weekly Winner for #SocialArtisting, 2020
Kentucky Refugee Ministries
We Create, Art Makes Home, 2018, 2020
Louisville Free Public Library
COLLIDER Artist in Residence, 2017
Kentucky Foundation for Women
Artist Enrichment Grant, 2015
Mentored by Emily Molnar
Collective Perception presented as the in-school programming through Louisville Ballet
National Society of Arts and Letters
Ballet Competition, 2007
Indiana University Friends of Music
Scholarship, 2005-2008
teaching experience
mind. body. balance. Program Manager,
2019 – Present
Faculty Instructor,
Louisville Ballet 2008 – Present
Master Class Series
Missouri, Kentucky, Florida, and Tokyo, 2015 – Present
Frazier History Museum
Chicks Rule Camp Instructor, 2016 – 2019, 2021
multidisciplinary art
America By
Composition by Erich Stem, 2021
KMAC Couture
Art Meets the Runway, 2019, 2021
New Lens Series
Composition by Daniel Gilliam at 21c, 2019
Ray County Community Arts Association
Farris on Pointe, 2019
Weitiko
Dance Music Video, 2019
Speed Art Museum
5 Sonnets to Orpheus, 2018
Shaker Village of Pleasant Hill
When the spirits moved them, they moved, 2017
Bernheim Arboretum and Research Forest
Camera Lucida, 2016
education
Dance USA
Annual Conference, 2020
Dance Studies Association
Dancing in Common Conference, 2019
Gibney Dance Summer Study
Contemporary and Somatic Immersion, 2017
Lotus Pilates
NCPT Pilates Instructor Annual CECs, 2008 – Present
Indiana University
BSOF Ballet, Journalism, 2005 – 2008
volunteering
Zoom Group
Arts Ambassador, 2018 – 2021
Tip it Forward
Plus Bus Movement Skills, 2019 – 2021
Creative Mornings Virtual Field Trips
Ballet for the Absolute Beginner, 2020
Instagram Live and Facebook Live
COVID-19 Movement Instruction, 2020