Amanda Kraus

Amanda grew up in Westchester, New York, where she began her ballet training at Logrea Dance Academy when she was seven years old. She studied at the School of American Ballet from 2006-2008 and performed in numerous ballets with the New York City Ballet at Lincoln Center including Mozartiana, The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Circus Polka, and An American in Paris. Amanda danced with Westchester Dance Academy (WDA) from 2008-2012 where she continued studying ballet and began training in lyrical, contemporary, and jazz. With WDA she competed at dance competitions, winning various titles, scholarships, and awards. Notably, she was the Onstage New York 2010 National Junior Title winner and placed as 3rd Runner Up, National Teen Title Finalist at New York City Dance Alliance in 2012. From 2012-2014 Amanda studied ballet at Greenwich Ballet Academy, where she performed in multiple ballets, including her role as Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker. During summers Amanda attended dance intensives at Juilliard School, American Ballet Theater, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Bolshoi Ballet Academy, and more. Other notable experience includes her feature in a national BLOCH ad campaign and the cover of the October 2011 issue of Dance Teacher Magazine.

Amanda graduated summa cum laude from Tulane University with a BA in English and a double-minor in philosophy and psychology. She enrolled in ballet classes every semester in Tulane’s dance department and performed with the New Orleans Ballet Theatre during her first semester of freshman year as Spanish soloist, and in the Snow and Flower ensembles in The Nutcracker.

Amanda is a current Food Studies masters student at NYU and a Youth Programs Educator at the Queens Botanical Garden, where she is exploring and enacting her passion for sustainable food systems at the intersection of ethics, advocacy, and environmental justice. Aside from dancing, she loves reading, hiking, camping, doing yoga, cooking vegan recipes, and hanging with her cat, Rosie. Amanda is excited for her second season as a dancer and first season as a choreographer with DanceWorks!