Meet the Artist
Dottie Dillard

At a young age, Dottie studied ballet with Nina Stragonova and Lisan Kay at the Ballet Arts Studio in Carnegie Hall. She later was awarded a full scholarship with American Ballet Theatre where she studied with Dimitri Romanoff, Alexandra Danilova and other noted instructors. From ages 15 to 17, while continuing her classes at ABT, she was a member of the Ballet Company of Radio City Music Hall. She also was a principal dancer with the Denver Company of Ballet Theatre.

Graduating “Who’s Who in American Colleges and Universities” with degrees in English, French and Education, she was hired by the Department of Defense as a teacher in the school system for dependent military children in Germany. There she met her husband, Toney. With a love for travel, she has lived in 2 foreign countries and traveled in over 40 others.

Dottie is a self-taught photographer – originally with an emphasis on nature photography. She photographed her first ballet performance in 1997 and subsequently embraced dance photography with a passion that reflects her knowledge and love of that art form.

Specializing in performance photography, she has photographed some of the greatest dancers in the world including several gold medal winners. One of these dancers, Lucia Lacarra, was presented the prestigious Nijinsky Award in 2002 for the best female dancer in the world at the Monaco Dance Forum.

Dottie has been a company photographer with Ballet Internationale which was under the artistic direction of Eldar Aliev who was principal dancer for thirteen years with the world renowned Kirov Ballet. The assistant artistic director of Ballet Internationale was Irina Kolpakova – former Prima Ballerina Assoluta of the Kirov Ballet and partner of Mikhail Baryshnikov and Rudolf Nureyev. Prior to joining Ballet Internationale, Ms. Kolpakova served as ballet mistress at American Ballet Theatre.

Other ballet companies that Dottie has photographed include San Francisco Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Metropolitan Classical Ballet, and Washington Ballet. Her images have appeared in Pointe Magazine and she is a member of ASMP. She has won numerous awards in photography competitions – including several 1st place awards. She was one of 157 winners out of over 50,000 international entries in the American Photo Magazine contest 2004.

Her works have been chosen for the 2004 and 2006 Spoleto Festival Juried Art Exhibition in Charleston, S.C. The Center for Fine Art Photography has exhibited her work. Her photographs are available in galleries.