Christopher d'Amboise

Christopher d'Amboise, born in 1960 in New York City, is an American dancer, choreographer, writer, and theatre director. He is the son of dancers Jacques d'Amboise and Carolyn George, and his sister Charlotte d'Amboise is also a professional dancer. He published the book Leap Year: A Year in the Life of a Dancer through Doubleday in 1982.

Before his Broadway career, d'Amboise trained and performed as a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he worked directly with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. In addition to performing the company's major roles, he originated several new works during his tenure. He departed the New York City Ballet in 1983 to pursue broader interests in theatre and other fields.

His Broadway career spanned 1984 to 1987 and included the musical On Your Toes and the play The Song and Dance Man. His performance in Song and Dance — a role consisting entirely of dance — earned him a Tony Award nomination for Best Featured Actor in a Musical in 1986.

From 1990 to 1994, d'Amboise served as artistic director, President, and CEO of the Pennsylvania Ballet, where he programmed classical repertoire alongside new works by contemporary choreographers. As a choreographer, he has created more than fifty ballets for companies in cities including San Francisco, Amsterdam, and Flanders. His musical theatre choreography includes productions of High Society and William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet, a rock musical conceived by his brother-in-law, Terrence Mann.

His television work includes two appearances on the Kennedy Center Honors, a credit on Live from Studio 8H, and a role in the Emmy Award-winning documentary He Makes Me Feel Like Dancing. In 2007, he wrote, directed, and choreographed The Studio, a play with dance centered on a Manhattan choreographer, for South Coast Repertory.

D'Amboise teaches dance at George Mason University, where his curriculum includes Moving Story and other master's-level courses for aspiring professional dancers and choreographers. He and the university launched the LIVE Center, formally known as the Center for Live Interactive Virtual Education, in late 2020. Conceived before the COVID-19 pandemic, the initiative connected geographically separated dancers and instructors during the height of the US resurgence of the virus. He married fellow dancer Kelly Crandall in the late summer of 2008.