Nicole Duffy

Nicole Duffy began her career with the Joffrey Ballet in New York, and was part of the inaugural Joffrey Chicago company. She is currently a répétiteur for the Gerald Arpino Foundation, recently staging ballets for ABT Studio Company, Ballet Hispánico 2, and QCD in Brisbane, Australia. Ms. Duffy is also a rehearsal director for the Ballet Hispánico company in New York.

During her time with the Joffrey, she danced leading roles in ballets by Robert Joffrey, Gerald Arpino, Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, John Cranko, Agnes de Mille, Kurt Jooss, José Limón, Vicente Nebrada, and Ruth Page, among others, and was featured in the Joffrey’s Ballets Russes reconstructions. She collaborated with Alonzo King, David Parsons, Anne Reinking, Laura Dean, Peter Pucci, and Margo Sappington on new creations, and was an original cast member of the Joffrey Ballet’s groundbreaking production Billboards, to music by Prince.

A native of San Juan, Puerto Rico, Ms. Duffy trained with Ana Garcia and María Carrera at Ballets de San Juan, where she danced the 19th-c. classics, Balanchine repertory, ballets by Alberto Mendes and Ramon Molina, and worked with guest artists and répétiteurs such as Fernando Bujones, Frederic Franklin, Melissa Hayden, and Ivan Nagy. She furthered her training at SAB, the Ailey School, and the Joffrey Ballet School, before joining the Joffrey. She also performed with the Chautauqua Ballet company under Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, working with Patricia McBride, Violette Verdy, and Michael Vernon.

Ms. Duffy has guest taught for Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Companhia de Danza Deborah Colker (Brazil), STEPS on Broadway, and has been on faculty at Barnard College, Ballet Hispánico School, Joffrey Ballet School, Harlem School of the Arts, and Marymount Manhattan College. She co-founded NYDP, a preprofessional company, and directed performances at Symphony Space, NY Live Arts, and annual summer workshops in Florence, Italy. She has adjudicated for Entreatos International Brazil, the Universal Ballet Competition, and Regional Dance America, and is a member of the Latinx Dance Educators Alliance.

A graduate of Columbia University, she also holds an MA from New York University’s Gallatin School. She writes about dance for Eye on Dance and The Massachusetts Review, and was the assistant curator for the New York Public Library for the Performing Art’s exhibition The Joffrey + Ballet in the US. A dedicated teacher, coach, and mentor, she is passionate about supporting and uplifting the next generation of dance artists at every stage of their journey.

photo: Nir Arieli