Ellen Bar attended the School of American Ballet for eight years before she was asked to join the New York City Ballet as a corps member in 1998 and promoted to Soloist in 2006.

In 2005, Ellen danced in the stage revival of Jerome Robbins’ NY Export: Opus Jazz, during which she and fellow soloist Sean Suozzi developed the idea to re-imagine the ballet for film, shot on location in present-day New York City.

Together, they developed and produced the feature-length 35mm film adaptation NY EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ and the accompanying documentary A BALLET IN SNEAKERS, which premiered at South by Southwest 2010, where it won an Audience Award, and aired on PBS’ Great Performances.

In 2011, Ellen retired from dancing and is now the Director of Media Projects for New York City Ballet, where she develops, produces and directs film and video content for the company.

Most recently Ellen produced her first feature length documentary, BALLET 422, directed by Jody Lee Lipes (and now her husband) and featuring NYC Ballet. BALLET 422 premiered in competition at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and has been acquired by Magnolia Pictures.

67 ~ Ellen Bar, NYCB Director of Media Projects (and former NYCB soloist) - Part One

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