The Ailey School

Vanessa Salgado is a dance artist and educator based in New York City. In her early dance training, she concentrated on classical ballet, studying with Tatiana Akinfieva-Smith, Elena Manakhova, and Betty Webster. She later joined a pre-professional ballet company and performed classic ballets such as, the Nutcracker, Swan Lake, and Coppélia.  Vanessa is a graduate of the Ailey/Fordham BFA Program and has pursued further dance studies at American Ballet Theatre, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, and Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet.  As a founding member of CONTINUUM Contemporary/Ballet since 2010, she has worked with choreographers such as Juanjo Arques, Amy Seiwert, Gabrielle Lamb, Emery LeCrone, and Donna Salgado. Her performance experience includes appearances at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University, and Bryant Park’s Ballet Festival. She has also performed with Rebecca Kelly Ballet, Buggé Ballet, Deborah Lohse's ad Hoc Ballet, Nejla Yatkin’s NY2Dance, Darion Smith's Janusphere Dance Company, and the Eastern Shore Ballet Theatre. Other credits include performing for the International Beauty Show, L’Oreal, Victoria’s Secret Fashion Show Pink segment on CBS, New York Fashion Week, and modeling for Capezio.  

As a dance educator, Vanessa holds a certification from the Dance Education Laboratory, a certificate of completion from The Arts and Passion-Driven Learning Institute at the Harvard Graduate School of Education, and she has completed the Teacher's Workshop at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.  She has been on the faculties of the Joffrey Ballet School, School at Steps on Broadway, and The Ailey School where she teaches in the Junior Division.

Combining her interests in performing, teaching, and illustration, Vanessa is also the creator of Crafterina® a series of dance education books for families that are designed to spark imagination, inspire movement and playfully encourage empowerment in youngsters. Vanessa's work has been featured in Dance Teacher Magazine, Dance Spirit, Dance Informa, Dance Retailer News, and METRO US Newspaper, among others.