Hannah Baumgarten is a Juilliard School graduate and teacher who co-founded Dance NOW! Miami. She recently sat down with our sister publication, ArtSpeak, to have a conversation on her upbringing and the founding and evolution of her dance company, Dance NOW! Miami.
Baumgarten’s mother was a dancer, while her father was a literature teacher. She credits the written word as her first awareness of art and her flat feet for her early enrollment in dance school at the age of 5.
Born in America, Baumgarten went back to Jerusalem when she was four months old, calling it part of her Jewish heritage. She traveled back and forth from Santa Cruz to Jerusalem as a child to study dancing at the Reuben Academy and under the tutelage of her sister.
“It wasn’t until I became a graham dancer at Julliard, that I realized […] I had ballet and modern dance in my body by the age of 6,” states Baumgarten.
Many female ballet dancers are not taller than five feet and six inches. Baumgarten, whose height is five feet and ten inches, had to take a chance. She dropped out of college and moved to New York to pursue dance. She credits Julliard as the start of her career. However, the rising dancer knew that if she wanted to continue her career, she had to move to Miami.
Her journey continued with performances on three continents and in 15 states. Baumgarten has also taught throughout the U.S. and abroad at institutions including Teatro Colon, Joffrey Ballet School, Mercyhurst University, Cincinnati Conservatory and Interlochen Center for the Arts.
Baumgarten’s conversation with ArtSpeak also discusses the passing of international star ballerina Michaela DePrince.
“It’s been really shocking for the dance community,” says Baumgarten.
DePrince, who danced with the Dutch National Ballet, Beyonce and the Boston Ballet, died at the age of 29, less than 24 hours before her mother Elaine DePrince.
“Her story is truly inspirational,” Baumgarten says. “She was famous not only because of her rise, but also just because the story being so unlikely. She was one of those role models that our young dancers of color require.”
To see more on Baumgarten in Artspeak, click here.
