BALLET WITH HILARY

Hilary Thornburgh Nicolai began her training at age 8 and was dancing professionally with the Indianapolis Ballet Theater by age 14. She spent her summers training at The School of American Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet School, The Rock School of The Pennsylvania Ballet, The Washington School of Ballet, and The Chautauqua School of Dance before joining the Metropolitan Opera Ballet in New York City.  Hilary appeared in Christopher Wheeldon’s Le Voyage and in the New York City Ballet Education Department’s Lecture Demonstration program, performing Peter Martin’s Eight Easy Pieces, Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, Cortege Hongrois and Puss n’ Boots for local area school children under the direction of Suki Schorer.  She danced principal roles in Swan Lake and The Nutcracker, under the tutelage of New York City Ballet principal dancers Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, and performed in Petipa’s Giselle and Balanchine’s Serenade, Western Symphony, La Source and Four Temperaments.

Hilary is the owner and founder of Ballet With Hilary, LLC and has been awarded "Best of Children’s Instruction" in Suburban Essex Magazine’s Best of Essex Awards.  She has choreographed for New Jersey Ballet School, New York University's Masters Concert and for many other studios and schools throughout New Jersey. She is a contributing member of the National Dance Education Organization, Dance New Jersey, New York State Dance Education Association, and Steinhardt Dance Education Association. She has shared insights in interviews with The Whole Dancer and To The Pointe Nutrition and presented her masters culminating seminar "Centering Feminist Leadership Pedagogy for 14–18-Year-Olds in a Preprofessional Ballet Program: A 21st Century Curriculum” at NDEO in Detroit, Michigan.

She is an accomplished instructor of 13 years and is recognized for her uncompromising attention to detail and challenging her students to challenge themselves. In addition, Hilary is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Pre-Primary through Level 7 & Partnering of the ABT® National Training Curriculum and as a teaching artist, she has shared her expertise at American Ballet Theater.  She holds a BA in Literature and Writing from Columbia University (cum laude) and an MA in Dance Education, specializing in Teaching Dance in the Professions: ABT Pedagogy from New York University. She is honored to have been selected as a 2026-2027 School of American Ballet National Visiting Fellow and will be teaching at SAB in the spring as part of the program.