The Ailey School

A native of California’s Central Coast, Daniel Salas spent his formative years training at Civic Ballet San Luis Obispo. He continued his education with summer study at Canada’s National Ballet School, The Juilliard School, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and American Ballet Theatre before graduating with honors from Walnut Hill School for the Arts as the Director’s Scholar. Salas attended The Ailey/Fordham BFA Program in Dance, graduating with honors. In his senior year, he worked with the junior company of Ballet Hispanico and apprenticed with Ailey II simultaneously. In 2016, he became an Artist with New York Theatre Ballet.

Salas’ repertoire includes masterpieces by Tudor, de Mille, Naharin, Ailey, Fonte, Lopez Ochoa, Rioult, Clarke, Vilaro, and De Le Cruz III. He was featured in a 2014 campaign for Stand Up To Cancer, on Live! With Kelly & Michael in 2015, and on the December 2015 cover of O, The Oprah Magazine with Ms. Winfrey and fellow artists from The Ailey School. Salas has danced in galas benefitting World Monuments Fund, Park Avenue Armory, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Westport Playhouse, Ballet Hispanico, and Dancers Responding to AIDS; and has performed for dignitaries including Her Majesty Queen Sofía of Spain, Her Excellency Shaikha Mai bint Mohammed Al Khalifa of the Kingdom of Bahrain, and His Royal Highness Charles, Prince of Wales.

In addition to dancing, he holds a degree in Theology from Fordham University. Salas’ research has been published in the Journal of Theta Alpha Kappa and he was a finalist for the Elie Wiesel Foundation for Humanity’s Prize in Ethics for his work in the field of environmental ethics.