Hello! I’m Ashley Laracey and I’m a soloist with the New York City Ballet. But in my off time, I’m a dancer with BalletCollective. I consider myself to be very lucky. I grew up in Bradenton, Florida but moved to New York City in 2001 in hopes of one day joining City Ballet. That was almost twelve years ago. Since then, I’ve been fortunate to dance great ballets created by masters in their craft, especially George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. My job is not a job, it is my passion.
Not only have I been extremely fortunate in my career, but ballet also introduced me to Troy Schumacher, my fiancé of just over a month (!), a colleague at NYCB, and the founder of BalletCollective. We spend a lot of time together.
BalletCollective is a non-profit, collaborative arts organization founded by my fiancé in 2010. Troy's mission through BalletCollective is to create completely collaborative ballets, relevant to younger audiences, with the hopes of growing the arts community.
My aim through theinsider is to give an intimate glimpse into the inner workings of BalletCollective from the rather unusual perspective of a dancer in his company, and fiancé of the Artistic Director. I will take an insider’s view point, writing from behind the scenes of BalletCollective, sharing experiences, challenges, opportunities, processes, and the necessary movements needed to run an arts organization as complex as BalletCollective. You’ll have an opportunity to see how the many pieces of BalletCollective’s puzzle fit together. A special featured series named "Meet the Artist Mondays" will highlight a different artist each week allowing you to discover who we are as dancers, musicians, poets, stylists, lighting designers, and choreographers. Day to day, secrets will be shared.
I encourage readers to follow BalletCollective’s progress through theinsider, ask questions, and suggest topic ideas for me to discuss. I look forward to hearing from you all!
