ABOUT THE FOUNDER:
Donna Salgado is the Directing Artist of Continuum Contemporary/Ballet.
As a choreographer, her work has been presented and/or commissioned by the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Bryant Park (NYC), Newport Dance Festival (RI), 92nd Street Y, Usdan Performing Arts Camp, Southern Vermont Dance Festival, Koresh Dance, DanceNOW, Latin Choreographers Festival, Brooklyn Ballet, Columbia Ballet Collaborative, Princeton University Ballet, and Harvard Ballet Company. Donna has created over 30 choreographic works, and recognizes the importance of artists needing multiple sources of growth and inspiration, and has invited several guest choreographers to create works on the company.
Donna’s performance career began as a pre-professional company member with the Eastern Shore Ballet Theatre in Maryland. She earned a BFA in Dance Performance from Towson University and an MFA from Purchase College, and attended summer programs at ABT, CPYB, NYSSSA Ballet, and Lines Ballet. After graduating, she pursued performing as an independent artist, working professionally with the José Mateo Ballet Theatre, Eglevsky Ballet, Connecticut Ballet, Rebecca Kelly Ballet, Sierra Nevada Ballet, Thomas/Ortiz Dance, David Fernandez’s Some Dance Company, Deborah Lohse’s ad Hoc Ballet, Marika Brussel Ballet, and others. She’s danced in works by George Balanchine, Paul Taylor, Geoffrey Holder, Alexandre Proia, and Edwaard Liang, and has collaborated closely with Juanjo Arques, a Resident Choreographer at Dutch National Ballet, appearing in his ballet for NYU’s Center for Ballet and the Arts. Other special credits include performing in New York Fashion Week, the International Beauty Show Expo, The Armory Show, dancing in a film with choreography by Constantine Baecher, choreographing and coaching Grammy award winning artist Mya, and collaborating with acclaimed dance photographers Dane Shitagi, Lois Greenfield, and Rachel Neville.
Throughout her career, she has taught ballet technique, guided by a commitment of helping every single student achieve their full potential. She has taught for the School at Steps on Broadway, Joffrey Ballet School, Ballet Hispanico, and the Gelsey Kirkland Academy.
In 2016, her essay on working as a dance artist and choreographer was published in The Hustle Economy: Transforming Your Creativity Into a Career, by Running Press, an imprint of Perseus Books Group.