The Ailey School

Elena Comendador has a BA degree in Women’s Studies from Columbia University and an MFA in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College. On faculty of The Ailey School for over 20 years, she also served as Co-Director of the Junior Division from 1996-2001. She is a ballet professor at Marymount Manhattan College since 1998 and was awarded the Teacher Recognition Award in 2008. Trained in both classical ballet and Horton technique, she began her professional dance career at the age of 16, performing with Dayton Ballet, Hartford Ballet, The Feld Ballet, Joyce Trisler Danscompany, Alabama/Ballet South and Connecticut Ballet. Her musical theater credits include The King and I for Papermill Playhouse and Maine State Music Theater, Funny Feet, An Off-Broadway Musical at the Lamb’s Theater and Brigadoon for New England Lyric Operetta. Ms. Comendador is an established costume designer and has designed for dance companies such as, Ailey II, Colorado Ballet, Complexions, Connecticut Ballet, Montgomery Ballet, ABT II, Philadanco, The Limon Dance Company, and Morphoses. She is also a Teaching Artist in costume design for American Ballet Theater’s ‘Make a Ballet Program’.