Diana Byer, Artistic Director Emeritus: Creating a Legacy, New York Theater Ballet and Beyond

“Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey and special guest, Diana Byer, founding director of the New York Theater Ballet. In this episode of Dance Talk with Joanne Carey, join host Joanne Carey as she chats with Special Guest, Diana Byer, as she shares her life in dance which began from a suggestion made by her pediatrician to exercise. That first class lead to a lifetime career in dance, an art form on which she continues to leave her imprint and is creating a profound and exemplary legacy. Diana discusses her commitment to developing dance artists and her outreach program for homeless and at-risk children. Diana Byer received her principal dance training from Margaret Craske and Antony Tudor. She is the founder of New York Theater Ballet that stages works that are intimate in scale and able to touch audiences in deeply personal ways. Hailed by Dance Magazine as “a miniature American treasure,” NYTB is known for its theatrical inventiveness, high production quality, excellent technique, and accessibility to its audiences. She has been a guest instructor of the Cecchetti Society of America, the Cecchetti Society of Canada (Toronto), Cornell and New York Universities, State University of New York at Purchase, Martha Graham School, and other centers of dance. Ms. Byer conducts master classes in schools and performance settings across the USA and Europe. Ms. Byer received extensive media attention for her ongoing work with homeless and at-risk children, winning special citations from President George Bush, First Lady Hillary Clinton, the National Endowment for the Arts, and the President’s Committee on the Arts & the Humanities. The LIFT Community Service program, which provides dance classes, performance opportunities, scholarships, and services for homeless and at-risk children in New York, was initiated at NYTB through her vision and commitment. In 1988, 1990, and 1993, Ms. Byer received the Helen Wieselberg Award of the National Arts Club in recognition for her ongoing work with LIFT. In 1992, Lincoln Center produced, at Alice Tully Hall, a one-hour presentation for children called Dreams On A Shoestring, featuring an original script based on Ms. Byer and LIFT. She received a Humanitarian Hero recognition from Good Housekeeping Magazine for her ongoing work with LIFT and was the 2023 Martha Hill Dance Fund Lifetime Achievement Awardee. The feature-length film LIFT, documenting Ms. Byer’s journey of LIFT, was featured in the 2022 Tribeca Festival and recognized with a “Children’s Resilience in Film Award” by Shine Global. In December 1996, she was again spotlighted in two features in Dance Magazine. Ms. Byer coached the principals in the Columbia Pictures film, Center Stage. She was a member of the Antony Tudor Centennial Celebration Committee and in 2008 staged Tudor’s Judgment of Paris for the American Ballet Theatre Gala at The Metropolitan Opera House. She is a repetiteur for the Antony Tudor Trust and a member of the Board of Directors of the Dance Notation Bureau and The Clive and Valerie Barnes Foundation. In 2010 she assisted Kevin McKenzie in ABT’s restaging of Antony Tudor’s Jardin Aux Lilas (Lilac Garden) and staged Agnes de Mille’s Three Virgins and a Devil for the Alabama Ballet. In 2011 Ms. Byer restaged Antony Tudor’s Soiree Musicale and the dances from Agnes de Mille’s Carousel, Oklahoma, and Brigadoon for American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company. She continues to direct the NYTB School which she established in 1978. Learn more about The Diana Byer Legacy Project https://www.dancio.com/dianabyerlegacyproject Learn more about New York Theater Ballet ⁠https://nytb.org/about⁠ Follow Joanne Carey on Instagram @westfieldschoolofdance  Follow “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey wherever you get your podcasts.  Tune in. Follow. Like us. And Share.  Please leave us review!  “Dance Talk” ® with Joanne Carey  "Where the Dance World Connects, the Conversations Inspire, and Where We Are Keeping Them Real."