Julie Kent

In March 2016, The Washington Ballet announced Kent would assume the role of artistic director, succeeding Septime Webre. During her tenure, she has commissioned works by Gemma Bond and Ethan Stiefel. She also staged The Sleeping Beauty alongside Victor Barbee.

In 2015, Kent retired from dancing. Her farewell performance was Romeo and Juliet, with Roberto Bolle as her Romeo. Having danced with ABT for 29 years, she is the longest-serving principal dancer in the company's history.

In Nicholas Hytner's 2000 film Center Stage she played principal dancer Kathleen Donahue, with original choreography by Susan Stroman. The film also stars her ABT colleagues Ethan Stiefel and Sascha Radetsky.

Along with Mikhail Baryshnikov, she starred in Herbert Ross' 1987 film Dancers. She was chosen after Baryshnikov saw her audition for ABT.

Kent joined the American Ballet Theatre in 1985, as an apprentice. The following year, she competed at the Prix de Lausanne, and was the only American to win any medal that year. Later that year, she became a member of the corps de ballet. In 1990, Kent was promoted to soloist. In 1993, she was named principal dancer, she also became the first American to win the Erik Bruhn Prize that year. In 2000, she received the Prix Benois de la Danse, and is the first American to win that.

Julie Kent (born Julie Cox, 1969) is an American ballet dancer; she was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre from 1993 to June 2015. In 2016, she was named the artistic director of The Washington Ballet.