ARTISTIC LEADERSHIP

Lisa Kim Sanborn trained with Larry Long, Dolores Lipinski, and Warren Conover at the Ruth Page Foundation in Chicago. In 2014, she became the Artistic Director of New Haven Ballet. Her executive oversight has provided a strong fiscal and organizational foundation while expanding and enhancing program offerings. She established curricula for the Children’s and Student divisions and launched DanceAIR, which brings ballet education to children in New Haven Public Schools. Ms. Sanborn has worked to strengthen ties within the community by initiating needs-based scholarships, inviting world-renowned guest master teachers and choreographers, adding classes for teens and adults in the Open Division, and expanding Shared Ability, which offers dance and performance opportunities to disabled artists. Ms. Sanborn has staged and choreographed many works, including excerpts from Sleeping Beauty, La Sylphide, Raymonda, La Bayadère, Giselle, Le Corsaire, Swan Lake, and Paquita. In 2013, Ms. Sanborn premiered an all-new Nutcracker, which was reimagined in 2022 due to the pandemic. She established partnerships with local arts organizations and leading musicians. Ms. Sanborn choreographed the full-length children’s ballets, Beauty and the Beast, which premiered at the historic Shubert Theatre in 2018, and Peter Rabbit in 2019. In 2021, she premiered video performances of new works, including Vivaldi’s Concerto for Two Violins and Caprice Nos. 4 and 5, composed by Polina Nazaykinskaya. In 2022, she introduced a children’s ballet version of Don Quixote. New Haven Ballet has also performed at various local community centers, events, and festivals, such as the Branford Festival and the International Festival of Arts and Ideas.

Ms. Sanborn holds a Bachelor of Arts degree in mathematics from Skidmore College and a Juris Doctor from Albany Law School of Union University. She served as corporate counsel for Southern Connecticut Gas Company and Connecticut Natural Gas Corporation until the birth of her child in 2009. In 2015, Yale University appointed Ms. Sanborn as an Associate Fellow of Pierson College. She is also a classically trained Pilates instructor, a member of the Arts Industry Coalition, and previously served on the Board of Directors for the Connecticut Dance Alliance.

Timothy Fountain, a Bridgeport native, began his dance journey at the Bridgeport Ailey camp in 1999, training under Tina Bush, a former Rehearsal Director at the Ailey School. He continued his training at the Westport Dance Center YMCA under Jody Foster, a former Department Head of Dance at OC Music & Dance (1999-2001). Fountain attended the Regional Center for the Arts, a part-time public interdistrict magnet high school with a major in dance, and received a scholarship to the Ballet School of Stamford, studying under Stephanie Marini, a former Boston Ballet soloist and current Conservatory Program Coordinator at the Valentina Kozlova Dance Conservatory of New York (2000-2005).

Fountain participated in prestigious summer programs at the North Carolina Dance Theater in 2002 and 2005, the Harid Conservatory in 2003, and the Ailey School in 2004, training alongside dancers from renowned companies such as Cleo Parker Robinson, Boston Ballet, North Carolina Dance Theatre, New York City Ballet, and Alvin Ailey Dance Theater.

He was a member of Cedar Lake II Contemporary Ballet (2005-2007), Missouri Contemporary Ballet (2008), and the Tina Thompson Dance Company (2016-2018). Fountain also served as an instructor for Ailey Camp Bridgeport (2008-2013) and taught the Dance II program, choreographing pieces performed by students who opened for Ailey II (2011-2013). He co-directed the dance ensemble at Neighborhood Studios of Fairfield County in Bridgeport, Connecticut (2012-2018), where students showcased their work in NYC and at various Fairfield County festivals.

Fountain has choreographed numerous high school musicals and theater productions, including “Thoroughly Modern Millie” at Notre Dame High School, “The Wizard of Oz” at Woodlands High School, MAAFA Influence, and co-choreographed “Dreamgirls” at Cabaret Theatre. He has also served as a ballet instructor at Tia Russell Dance and Rising Starz.

In 2021, Fountain joined the New Haven Ballet School as the Children’s Division Director. He became an ABT® Certified Teacher, qualified to teach Pre-Primary through Level 3 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum. He is passionate about sharing his love of dance with future generations.