Melinda Baker
Melinda Baker has spent 30 years performing and teaching throughout the U.S. and abroad. Her training includes The Baker School, Washington School of the Ballet and American Ballet Theatre.
She has appeared with Chicago Ballet, Ballet Hispanico, Eglevsky Ballet, Ballet Met/Columbus, Deutche Oper am Rhein in Dusseldorf, and is a founding member of Columbus Dance Theatre.
She appeared in the role of "Coquette", in the Ruth Page production of "Die Fledermaus," filmed for PBS. She has taught for the pre-professional programs at Ballet Met and Columbus Dance Theatre, at Kenyon College and Farleigh Dickinson University, and was the Ballet Mistress for Garden State Ballet.
Melinda founded the Lancaster Ballet in 1986, and Melinda Baker and Company in 1993. Her choreographic work has been presented each year at the nationally recognized Lancaster Festival. Her performance work now includes dance with spoken text, incorporating her own writing, which has appeared in numerous journals including The Midwest Quarterly, and the Dunes Review.
In addition to nurturing the Ballet Program at Dance Arts Academy, Melinda co-founded the Michigan Dance Collective, Northern Michigan’s only professional dance company.