Hannah Baumgarten - Artistic Director

Hannah is.........living her dream. Born in Santa Cruz, California, she was put into ballet by her parents at an early age, and graduated high school in just 3 years, focused on her goal of pursuing dance professionally. After being initially rejected by the Juilliard School in New York City, she went to go study at the University of Utah, where she was introduced to modern dance, and fell in love with a new kind of technique, eventually quitting college to go back to NYC and dance professionally. She ended up re=auditioning for the Juilliard School and being accepted with a half scholarship, speeding through the program in 3 years. When love led her to move to Miami in 1994, she was immediately very active in the scene here, teaching dance in Miami Beach, when one day one of her students introduced her to her now professional partner Diego Salterini. Together they started Dance NOW Miami in 2020, and have now grown the contemporary dance school into an active force in the community, exposing more than 45,000 students at Miami schools over the years, to elite dance education through their partnerships with local programs and grant subsidies. Check out their website at https://www.dancenowmiami.org/ and come check out a live performance, next one happening this Sunday at the North Beach Band Shell, titled Fall for Dance NOW.