Claudia Schreier has been praised for her distinctive choreographic voice, which fuses neoclassical technique with a contemporary vocabulary. Born in New York, Ms. Schreier trained at the Ballet School of Stamford under the direction of Stephanie Marini and received a B.A. in Sociology and Secondary Degree in Dramatic Arts from Harvard University in 2008.
Ms. Schreier is the recipient of the 2018 Princess Grace Award for Choreography, the 2018 NEFA National Dance Project Award, the 2018 Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund supported by the Ford Foundation, the 2017 Lotos Foundation Prize for Dance, the 2008 Suzanne Farrell Dance Prize in recognition for Outstanding Artistry in the Field of Dance, and winner of the 2014 Breaking Glass Project choreographic competition. She received the 2017 Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship for Women Choreographers at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU.
Ms. Schreier has choreographed over 30 ballets and has been commissioned by companies and organizations including Vail Dance Festival, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Atlanta Ballet, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, Juilliard Opera, New York Choreographic Institute, and Joffrey Winning Works.
Her film collaboration with visual artist Rashid Johnson, The Hikers, is on view at the Aspen Art Museum and Museo Tamayo in Mexico City through November 2019. She and Mr. Johnson presented live performances of The Hikers at the Aspen Art Museum in July 2019 featuring dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company.
She is the Artistic Director of Claudia Schreier & Company, which since 2015 has presented several full-evening performances of her choreography featuring dancers from New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet and Dance Theatre of Harlem, among other leading companies, and collaborations with composers and musicians, including Emmy Award-winning composer Jeff Beal, Juilliard composer Will Stackpole, and chamber choir Tapestry.
In 2017, Claudia Schreier & Company made its debut at The Joyce Theater for the 2017 Ballet Festival. The program featured six of Ms. Schreier’s works performed by twenty-one dancers, a piano quintet and chamber choir and included three world premieres choreographed for former New York City Ballet principal Wendy Whelan, principal Jared Angle, and soloist Unity Phelan.
Ms. Schreier serves as Choreographic/Production Associate and Ballet Master to Damian Woetzel and has contributed to programs including the 2016 premiere and 2018 restaging of SPACES by Wynton Marsalis featuring Lil Buck and Jared Grimes at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Vail Dance Festival: Remix NYC at New York City Center, DEMO: Jerome Robbins — American Dance Genius at the Kennedy Center, and the 2016 White House Turnaround Arts Program Talent Show, hosted by Michelle Obama. Ms. Schreier served as Ballet Master and Production Assistant for the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors tribute to dance icon Carmen de Lavallade, featuring artists including Misty Copeland, Robert Fairchild, Stella Abrera, and Alicia Graf Mack.
Ms. Schreier served as Special Projects Associate at the Aspen Institute Arts Program, where she provided strategic support to various arts advocacy initiatives. She is a member of the NYC Landmarks50 Alliance. Ms. Schreier held the position of Manager of Editorial Content at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for seven years before leaving in 2017 to devote her full attention to her choreographic career.
Her TEDx talk "Thinking On Your Feet," presented at Columbia University and featuring a ballet on film featuring ABT dancers Stephanie Williams and Calvin Royal III, was named one of Pointe Magazine's 8 Favorite Ballet TED Talks. Ms. Schreier made her debut at Works & Process at the Guggenheim with ABT in Fall 2018. Ms. Schreier was also a featured speaker at the National Museum of Mathematics for the Math+Music event Quadrivium. She is the subject of a documentary short film, Sixth Position, about her 2017 journey to The Joyce Theater. She has been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC News, Marie Claire, Dance Magazine, Pointe, ELLE Magazine, and Harvard Magazine and was a featured guest on the television program Black America, hosted by Carol Jenkins. Her published writings include “Body Language in Kongo Art: A Choreographer’s Perspective” for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Choreographers’ Canon – Celebrating American Dance: George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Martha Graham” for Vail Dance Festival Magazine, and "Paul Taylor (1930-2018)" for the Juilliard Journal.
Ms. Schreier is the recipient of the 2018 Princess Grace Award for Choreography, the 2018 NEFA National Dance Project Award, the 2018 Dance/NYC Dance Advancement Fund supported by the Ford Foundation, the 2017 Lotos Foundation Prize for Dance, the 2008 Suzanne Farrell Dance Prize in recognition for Outstanding Artistry in the Field of Dance, and winner of the 2014 Breaking Glass Project choreographic competition. She received the 2017 Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship for Women Choreographers at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at NYU.
Ms. Schreier has choreographed over 30 ballets and has been commissioned by companies and organizations including Vail Dance Festival, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Atlanta Ballet, American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, Juilliard Opera, New York Choreographic Institute, and Joffrey Winning Works.
Her film collaboration with visual artist Rashid Johnson, The Hikers, is on view at the Aspen Art Museum and Museo Tamayo in Mexico City through November 2019. She and Mr. Johnson presented live performances of The Hikers at the Aspen Art Museum in July 2019 featuring dancers from the Martha Graham Dance Company.
She is the Artistic Director of Claudia Schreier & Company, which since 2015 has presented several full-evening performances of her choreography featuring dancers from New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet and Dance Theatre of Harlem, among other leading companies, and collaborations with composers and musicians, including Emmy Award-winning composer Jeff Beal, Juilliard composer Will Stackpole, and chamber choir Tapestry.
In 2017, Claudia Schreier & Company made its debut at The Joyce Theater for the 2017 Ballet Festival. The program featured six of Ms. Schreier’s works performed by twenty-one dancers, a piano quintet and chamber choir and included three world premieres choreographed for former New York City Ballet principal Wendy Whelan, principal Jared Angle, and soloist Unity Phelan.
Ms. Schreier serves as Choreographic/Production Associate and Ballet Master to Damian Woetzel and has contributed to programs including the 2016 premiere and 2018 restaging of SPACES by Wynton Marsalis featuring Lil Buck and Jared Grimes at Jazz at Lincoln Center, Vail Dance Festival: Remix NYC at New York City Center, DEMO: Jerome Robbins — American Dance Genius at the Kennedy Center, and the 2016 White House Turnaround Arts Program Talent Show, hosted by Michelle Obama. Ms. Schreier served as Ballet Master and Production Assistant for the 2017 Kennedy Center Honors tribute to dance icon Carmen de Lavallade, featuring artists including Misty Copeland, Robert Fairchild, Stella Abrera, and Alicia Graf Mack.
Ms. Schreier served as Special Projects Associate at the Aspen Institute Arts Program, where she provided strategic support to various arts advocacy initiatives. She is a member of the NYC Landmarks50 Alliance. Ms. Schreier held the position of Manager of Editorial Content at Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater for seven years before leaving in 2017 to devote her full attention to her choreographic career.
Her TEDx talk "Thinking On Your Feet," presented at Columbia University and featuring a ballet on film featuring ABT dancers Stephanie Williams and Calvin Royal III, was named one of Pointe Magazine's 8 Favorite Ballet TED Talks. Ms. Schreier made her debut at Works & Process at the Guggenheim with ABT in Fall 2018. Ms. Schreier was also a featured speaker at the National Museum of Mathematics for the Math+Music event Quadrivium. She is the subject of a documentary short film, Sixth Position, about her 2017 journey to The Joyce Theater. She has been featured by The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC News, Marie Claire, Dance Magazine, Pointe, ELLE Magazine, and Harvard Magazine and was a featured guest on the television program Black America, hosted by Carol Jenkins. Her published writings include “Body Language in Kongo Art: A Choreographer’s Perspective” for the Metropolitan Museum of Art, “Choreographers’ Canon – Celebrating American Dance: George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins and Martha Graham” for Vail Dance Festival Magazine, and "Paul Taylor (1930-2018)" for the Juilliard Journal.
Photo by Rosalie O'Connor
B E H I N D T H E S C E N E S
View the Press page for additional interviews, podcasts and features by The New York Times, The Washington Post, BBC, and more.
Atlanta Ballet | World Premiere: First Impulse
Atlanta Ballet offers a preview of Schreier's world premiere for the company's 90th anniversary season.
ABT Guggenheim Works & Process
Excerpt and onstage rehearsal of Claudia's work-in-progress for ABT Studio Company and a panel discussion moderated by John Meehan.
TEDxColumbiaUniversity | Thinking On Your Feet
An TEDx talk on lessons learned from the choreographic process about communication and leadership.
Documentary: Sixth Position
In this short documentary produced by Big Pup Films, Virginia B. Toulmin Fellow Claudia Schreier prepares for the debut of her company at The Joyce Theater's 2017 Ballet Festival.
ABT Women's Movement
Claudia is featured in ABT's promotional video highlighting their initiative to support the work of women choreographers.
Claudia Schreier Featured on Black America
Watch Ms. Schreier's television appearance on Black America, an in-depth conversation that explores the Black experience in a time of both turbulence and breakthroughs. Black America is hosted by Carol Jenkins, Emmy award-winning New York City journalist, and founding president of The Women's Media Center.