Taryn Kaschock Russell

Taryn Kaschock Russell has served on the Artistic leadership team of the Juilliard Dance Division for the past three years: as Associate Director in the 2016-17 and 2018-19 academic years, and as the Acting Artistic Director in 2017-18. She programmed the main stage performances at the Peter Jay Sharp Theater with four new creations during the fall and a triple bill in the spring which included Martha Graham’s Rite of Spring and Bill T. Jones D-Man in the Waters. Kaschock Russell is a passionate educator who has taught both at the Juilliard School and at the Conservatory of Dance, SUNY Purchase in the five years since she moved back to New York.

Between 2008 and 2013, Kaschock Russell directed Hubbard Street 2. During her tenure as Director of HS2, she was responsible for programming and staffing the HSDC summer intensives and curating HSDC’s National Choreographic Competition. In this capacity, Kaschock Russell realized her passion for teaching and mentoring young and emerging artists. Hubbard Street 2 created its first full-length children’s program Harold and the Purple Crayon: A Dance Adventure under her directorship. Harold premiered at the Kennedy Center to a sold-out house in October of 2010. The production went onto performances at the Joan B. Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the American Dance Festival in Raleigh-Durham, North Carolina, the Cleveland Playhouse, at the Aspen Santa-Fe Dance Festival and at the Detroit Opera House. The success of this children's program remains an enormous source of pride—a labor of love inspired by the birth of her first child, Donovan.

Over the past two decades, Russell has worked as a guest teacher with Abraham in Motion, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, Ballet Hispanico, Ballet BC, and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. She also regularly teaches company class for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. As a performer, Kaschock Russell traveled extensively over her twelve-year career with both Hubbard Street Dance Chicago and the Joffrey Ballet, performing works by George Balanchine, John Cranko, Agnes de Mille, Martha Graham, Lar Lubovitch, Jiří Kylián, Nacho Duato, Ohad Naharin, and William Forsythe. As a creator, Kaschock Russell has composed a number of site-specific installations, most notably in collaborative partnership with the Art Institute of Chicago, the Illinois Institute of Technology, and with the Chicago Symphony Orchestra.

Invested in the belief that access to dance should be universal and inclusive, Kaschock Russell continues to reach out to connect to other art forms using improvisation and choreographic tools. Most recently, Kaschock Russell taught movement to the 222 emerging musicians at the NYO summer programs under the umbrella of Carnegie Hall.