Welcome to Director’s Cut, a fresh series of snappy, engaging interviews with ballet artistic directors all across the country. These micro-interviews blend ballet insights with get-to-know-you questions for a quick yet meaningful peek behind the ballet curtain. Whether you want to learn about a dream song to choreograph to, or the perfect summer reading book, you have come to the right place.

From 2001-2015, Dani Rowe, born in Shepparton, Australia, was a Principal Dancer with the Australian Ballet and Houston Ballet and danced with the prestigious Nederlands Dans Theater. 

After retiring as a dancer in 2015, Rowe turned to choreography. She has created works for San Francisco Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater’s SWITCH program, Royal New Zealand Ballet, Co.Lab Dance (featuring dancers from American Ballet Theatre), Milwaukee Ballet, Ballet Idaho, Grand Rapids Ballet, SFDanceworks, Dance Aspen, Barak Ballet, Diablo Ballet, Oakland Ballet, and Berkeley Ballet Theater.

In addition to her work as a choreographer, from 2018-2019, Rowe served as the Associate Artistic Director of SFDanceworks, a contemporary repertory company in San Francisco, California, acting as the intermediary between the Artistic Director and dancers.

Rowe begins her tenure as Artistic Director with Oregon Ballet Theatre in February 2023, becoming the first woman to permanently hold the role in the company’s history.