Lisa Kim Sanborn trained under Larry Long, Dolores Lipinski, and Warren Conover at the Ruth Page Foundation in Chicago. She was appointed Artistic Director of New Haven Ballet in 2014, bringing both artistic vision and strong executive leadership to the organization. Under her direction, New Haven Ballet has expanded its programming, strengthened its fiscal and organizational foundations, and deepened its impact throughout the Greater New Haven community.
Ms. Sanborn developed comprehensive curricula for the Children’s and Student Divisions and launched DanceAIR, an outreach program providing free ballet classes to children in New Haven Public Schools. She has championed accessibility by initiating needs-based scholarships, expanding the Open Division for teens and adults, and enhancing Shared Ability, a groundbreaking program offering dance and performance opportunities for disabled artists.
As a choreographer and répétiteur, Ms. Sanborn has staged and choreographed excerpts from major classical ballets, including Sleeping Beauty, La Sylphide, Raymonda, La Bayadère, Giselle, Le Corsaire, Swan Lake, and Paquita. In 2013, she premiered a full-length reimagining of The Nutcracker, which she updated in 2022 in response to the pandemic. She has also choreographed original children’s ballets such as Beauty and the Beast (2018), Peter Rabbit (2019), and Don Quixote (2022), all performed at New Haven’s historic Shubert Theatre. In 2021, she debuted digital performances of Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins and Caprice Nos. 4 and 5 by Polina Nazaykinskaya.
Ms. Sanborn has cultivated partnerships with local arts organizations and professional musicians, helping bring live music and high production value to many NHB performances. She has expanded NHB’s presence through community engagements at the Branford Festival, the International Festival of Arts and Ideas, and other regional events.
In addition to her artistic achievements, Ms. Sanborn holds a B.A. in Mathematics from Skidmore College and a J.D. from Albany Law School of Union University. Prior to joining NHB, she served as corporate counsel for Southern Connecticut Gas Company and Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation. In 2015, she was named an Associate Fellow of Pierson College at Yale University. She is also a classically trained Pilates instructor, a member of the Arts Industry Coalition, and a former board member of the Connecticut Dance Alliance.
