Anna Mansbridge
Anna Mansbridge, Artistic Director of Seattle Early Dance, is from the U.K.,
where she studied early dance for many
years with teachers foremost in the profession. She holds
a First Class Honors Degree in Dance and Education from
Bedford College, U.K., and an M.F.A in Choreography and
Performance from Mills College, C.A. She has been
teaching and performing early European Court dance
(16th-18th centuries) since 1990. In 1995 she co-founded
Footwork OffLimits, a company committed to presenting
early dance to audiences in ways both entertaining and
informative. Ms Mansbridge has been on the faculty of two
early music courses in Europe; the Ringve International
Summer School in Trondheim, Norway, and Aestas Musica in
Varazdin, Croatia. She immigrated to Seattle in 1998,
and in 2000 she founded Seattle Early Dance, which has
quickly established itself as the Northwest's premier early dance company,
and has been the recipient of a number of grants.
Recent choreography and performance credits include Monteverdi's Il Ballo delle Ingrate,
John Blow's Venus and Adonis, Baroque Extravaganza with Gallery Concerts,
and Spanish Baroque Meets Flamenco in collaboration with Flamenco dance specialist Rubina
Carmona. Ms. Mansbridge is also in demand as a solo
performer, and has recently appeared with both Seattle
Symphony and Bellevue Philharmonic. In addition, Ms.
Mansbridge has taught on a number of early music
workshops, including The Dancing Master, and the
Accademia d'Amore baroque opera workshop, both
presented by
The Early Music Guild, Seattle, and the
Cascade Early Music Festival.
