Sarah Pierce

From Cambridge, Mass.
With Nashville Ballet since 2016

Training and Education
Boston Ballet School, School of American Ballet, Canada’s National Ballet School, Chautauqua Institution

Previously
NB2

BIO
Sarah Pierce trained in Boston Ballet's school and pre-professional program before being promoted to a trainee in 2014. As a Boston Ballet trainee, she danced in productions with the company, among them Swan Lake and Gaité Parisienne. She attended summer intensive programs at the School of American Ballet, Chautauqua School of Dance, and Canada’s National Ballet School as an exchange student. Pierce joined Nashville Ballet 2 in 2016, and was promoted to apprentice in 2017 and company artist in 2018.

Principal roles Pierce has performed with the company include Waltz Girl and Dark Angel in George Balanchine’s Serenade, Mina in Paul Vasterling’s Dracula, Tiger/Rooster couple in Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit, Mattie in Cathy Marston’s Snowblind, and Third Theme in Balanchine’s Four Temperaments. She has originated lead roles in new works, including Sam in Nick Mullikin’s Erase the Night, the title role in Vasterling’s Billy the Kid, the Living One in Vasterling’s Anthology, and the pas couple in Matthew Neenan’s Hilos. She has performed as the Sugarplum Fairy and Dewdrop Fairy in Nashville’s Nutcracker, as Princess Florine in The Sleeping Beauty, and as a cygnet in Swan Lake. She has appeared in works by Twyla Tharp, Jiři Kylián, Val Caniparoli, Jennifer Archibald, and Yusha-Marie Sorzano. Pierce danced the GiselleAct 2 pas de deux at the Nashville Dance Festival, and in 2024 made her UK debut in Mullikin’s Leto pas de deux at Ballet Nights Cadogan Hall. She has also appeared in Vasterling’s Lucy Negro Redux, which she performed on tour across the US and on film (re-titled Black Lucy and the Bard) for PBS Great Performances’ 50th season.

Pierce is currently on leave of absence from Harvard University, where she matriculated in the fall of 2015 while still a Boston Ballet trainee. She teaches in the School of Nashville Ballet and has choreographed on SNB students and on the company. She recently staged excerpts from Paquita on SNB Summer Intensive students for their final performance. When she is not in the studio, she enjoys reading and playing the piano