Robin Sturm

Robin Conrad Sturm began her ballet training at the Washington School of the Ballet and is a graduate of the Academy of the Washington School of the Ballet. She was a full scholarship student at the American Ballet Theatre School and the School of American Ballet in New York City. She was a principal dancer with the Washington Ballet, of which she was a founding member. As a principal dancer with the Washington Ballet, Ms. Sturm originated many lead roles in the ballets of famed choreographer Choo San Goh, including “Introducing”, “Fives”, and “Synonyms.” She performed principal roles in many other ballets, including Heinz Claus’s “Carmina Burana,” Balanchine’s “Serenade,” and Goh’s “Octet.” She also appeared as a soloist in Jerome Hines’s opera, “I Am the Way,” at the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow.

Ms. Sturm has been on the ballet faculty at the Washington School of the Ballet and the American University in Washington, D.C. Ms. Sturm and her husband, Robert, were the founding directors of the Masterworks Festival that has become one of the nation’s largest summer programs for classical music and dance. Ms. Sturm was a principal dancer and is currently artistic director of the Asaph Dance Ensemble. Ms. Sturm was the choreographer for the Asaph’s Handel’s “Messiah,” which was a Washington, D.C. tradition for many years and attracted thousands of people every Christmas season.

Ms.Sturm is the author of Breathing Life Into Dance-second revised edition and several children’s books that are true accounts of life issues and their resolutions that are common to all studios and children as they grow and learn, including Hannah Finds Her Voice, Daniel Doesn’t Dance, Finally Friends, Luke’s Double Turn, That’s All I Do?, and Truman’s Triumph.

Ms. Sturm and Hannah, the heroine of Hannah Finds Her Voice, have appeared on the Today show with Hoda Kotb and Kathie Lee Gifford to talk about her book.