Photos of Aynsley

Aynsley’s passion for dance began the moment she started at Miss Anne Marie’s Dance Studio in Delaware at age 3. By seven she was dancing every day at the Academy of the Dance, performing in the Nutcracker at the Playhouse Theater every December, and loving it. By age eleven she was serious about becoming a ballerina so went to train with Pasha and Kristina Kambalov. After less than two years with them she was accepted into the ABT NYC Summer program and the Kirov Academy Summer Intensive in Washington DC, she attended the Kirov’s summer intensive and was accepted to the year-round program. There she made lifelong friends who all continue in the field of dance and performing arts today and was trained by Angelina Armeiska, Jaqueline Akmedova, Anatoli Kutcheruk, and Ludmila Markovina. 

After training there for two years she did finally go to the ABT NYC summer program, then returned home to Delaware to continue training again with the Kambalovs and Lev Assouiak at the School of First State Ballet Theatre. She received First Place in the Youth American Grand Prix in Philadelphia in 2006 in both the Senior Classical and Contemporary categories. Upon graduating high school from Ursuline Academy, she both started college at the University of Delaware and became one of the first company members of First State Ballet Theatre performing the roles of Kitri, Aurora, Carmen, Sugar Plum, Paquita, and Odile and premiered in Victor Plotnikov’s “Everlasting Arms” premiering the role of Eve.  

In 2010 Aynsley was accepted into the Jackson International Ballet Competition, which is considered the Olympics of ballet. She was entered into the Library of Congress that year for being the first ballerina from Delaware to compete in this prestigious event. For this, she was coached by former Bolshoi and New York City Ballet principal dancer Valentina Kozlova in NYC and worked with renowned choreographer Margo Sappington for her contemporary repertoire. 

After this life-changing event, she accepted a job with the Universal Ballet Company in Korea. She moved there and was on their world tour performing various roles in Swan Lake, La Bayadere, Giselle, the Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, Kenneth McMillan’s Romeo and Juliet, Onegin by John Cranko, Jiri Kylian’s Senches Tanz, Ohad Nadin’s Minus 7, Shim Chung, and her favorite Don Quixote. While living in Korea she also received the Ye Cheon Miji award, modeled for the designer Kuho and was in a television commercial. 

Returning home to the US in 2012 she performed first with choreographer Christopher Fleming in Philadelphia and the with the Tulsa Ballet Company in Ben Stevenson’s Dracula, Phlegmatic in George Balanchine’s Four Temperaments, and Marcello Angelini’s Nutcracker. Then in NYC she worked with choreographer Christopher Caines and premiered two of his works with original roles, the Fairy Queen and La Revue De Cuisine. She guested in Coppelia as Swanhilda in Houston TX, Kitri in Minnesota, and the Nutcracker in Pennsylvania more than once. Was a semifinalist on So You think you can dance, the tv-show going to Vegas in 2015. She also received the Wilmington Award for the Arts from the city she was born and raised Delaware.

In 2016 she moved back to Delaware to finish her degree at the University of Delaware and graduated in 2018 with a bachelor’s in arts. During this time, she also met her husband and married. She was teaching at the Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the Wilmington Ballet before helping found a pre-professional training program for Monarch School of Dance in NJ. The success of the Aynsley Ballet coaching program has really opened doors for the mentees and Aynsley alike. She is now stepping into the role of Director at First State Ballet Theatre's new Whitehall location. Aynsley is also a realtor® with Coldwell Banker Realty in Haddonfield, NJ. She enjoys time with her husband, pets, family and friends, loves the Phillies and the beach.