Artistic Director
Nikki Hefko
Artistic Director
Nikki Hefko is the Owner and Artistic Director of the New Orleans School of Ballet. She is a 2017–18 School of American Ballet National Visiting Fellow and an American Ballet Theatre® Certified Teacher for Pre-Primary through Level 7 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.
Previously, Ms. Hefko served as a full-time faculty member and Summer Intensive Director at the Dance Theatre of Harlem School. She has also been a faculty member, company teacher, and Summer Intensive Director at Brooklyn Ballet, a ballet instructor at The Joffrey Ballet School in New York, and an adjunct lecturer in the Department of Theatre and Dance at Tulane University and is. Throughout her teaching career, she has trained, mentored, and coached dancers who have gone on to study and perform with prestigious institutions and companies, including New York City Ballet, the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Juilliard School, Charlotte Ballet, Carolina Ballet, The Rock School for Dance Education, SUNY Purchase, Nashville Ballet, and Oklahoma City Ballet. She is also a sought-after guest instructor and choreographer, traveling throughout the United States to teach and create new works.
Ms. Hefko graduated with high honors from Loyola University New Orleans, earning both bachelor's and master's degrees in Literature and Education.
As a member of Dance Theatre of Harlem under the direction of Arthur Mitchell, Ms. Hefko performed at many of the world's most celebrated venues, including Lincoln Center, the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, and Sadler's Wells Theatre in London. She toured extensively throughout the United States and internationally, performing a diverse repertoire of classical, neoclassical, and contemporary ballets by renowned choreographers including George Balanchine, Michael Smuin, and John Taras. In 2006, she performed at the White House in the PBS special In Performance at the White House, honoring the life and legacy of Arthur Mitchell. She also performed as a freelance artist with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, The Metropolitan Opera, and other professional companies.
As a choreographer, Ms. Hefko's work has been presented at venues throughout New York City, the Louisiana Dance Festival in Baton Rouge, the Contemporary Arts Center in New Orleans, and by Madison Ballet in Wisconsin. She was selected by Harlem Stage to present her acclaimed work myself when i am real, set to the music of Charles Mingus. Her collaborative projects include works with composer Patricia Giannattasio for Music and Motion: Original Dance and Music, the CUNY Composers' Alliance alongside Dance Theatre of Harlem company members, and Rising Sun Blueswith composer Helen Gillet for Marigny Opera Ballet. Her choreography for Marigny Opera Ballet received Big Easy Entertainment Award nominations in both 2016 and 2017.
In addition to leading the New Orleans School of Ballet, Ms. Hefko serves as a Board Member of the Junior Philharmonic Society of New Orleans.
