Meet Amy Lambert: SAAS Dance Educator, Artist, and Choreographer

In the Arts section of our latest SAAS In Focus magazine, we shine the spotlight on talented faculty who are creating masterpieces both within SAAS and the broader Seattle community. Below, get to know dance educator Amy Lambert. 

By: Sarah-Mae McCullough, Editorial Content Manager

An award-winning, Seattle-based dance artist, Amy spends much of her time outside the classroom choreographing and directing concert dance and musical theater, on top of running her own company, RicketySticks Dance-Theater. With a BFA in dance from Cornish College of the Arts, she’s been honored with a DanceCrush award from SeattleDances and has had her choreography presented at numerous venues, including Seattle International Dance Festival and Benaroya Hall.

This spring, she premiered a new, evening-length production titled This Is A Drama Comedy. Thematically somewhere between tragedy and comedy, and at the intersection of theater and dance, it dove into topics of ritual, sacrifice, loneliness, and community.

“Having a crew of talented artists, donors who believed in the vision, and an audience to share it with was the most magical moment of all,” Amy reflected after the show hit the stage. “Performance is community activation.”

On the connection between choreographing and teaching: I first learned how to teach dance by teaching choreography during rehearsals. Early on, I realized that the clearer I could communicate in the studio, the more success we had with the material. I developed these skills with friends and collaborators, so when I stepped into a more formal teaching role at SAAS in 2018, I felt prepared.

Still, nothing compares to working with an actual classroom or studio full of students. As I gained more teaching experience, I noticed how it began to shape my choreographic process, and it gave me more insight into how to make the rehearsal studio a more equitable space. Teaching and creating are deeply interconnected, and both demand creativity, flexibility, empathy, and a larger vision or mission.

On teaching at SAAS: What I enjoy most about teaching at SAAS is getting to know students at various stages in their journey with dance and the arts. For many of them, our paths intersect in both Middle and Upper School, and it’s incredibly rewarding to build on those relationships over the years.

One of the highlights every year is choreographing the Upper School Musical. It’s a chance to collaborate with other artistic faculty, challenge myself creatively, and celebrate the growth and talent of the students from year to year.