Mary Schnepf has performed with the Greater Niagara Ballet Company for many years both as a principal dancer and as a soloist in productions including The Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Les Patineurs, Les Sylphides, and Pas de Quatre among others. She is excited to return to the company in her new role as Artistic Director after directing the contemporary ballet company, Ballet ex Machina, for several years. She has choreographed pieces for the GNBC, Buffalo Aerial Dance, Ballet ex Machina and the MFA dance program at the University at Buffalo including Red Poppy, La Danse, For Ellen, End Transmission and Murmuration.
Ms. Schnepf earned her Bachelor’s degree in Theatre Design with concentrations in costuming and set design from Buffalo State College. She later earned her M.A.H. in Film & Performance and her M.F.A in Dance from the University at Buffalo. She completed internships at Artpark (musical theater) and Late Night with Conan O’Brien (NBC). She has an interest in interdisciplinary art including screendance. Her short dance film, Where Emptiness Lies, was presented at the 2018 as part of the 40 North Dance Festival in California and her most recent dance film, As Within, So Without, recently premiered with the Zodiaque Dance Company at the University at Buffalo.
She has performed with various dance and theater companies including the GNBC, Configuration Dance Theater, Neglia Ballet Artists, The National Ballet of Canada, Red Thread Theatre, Buffalo Aerial Dance and Torn Space Theater. Ms. Schnepf received her Cecchetti dance training at the Feder School of Classical Ballet. Under the direction of Beverley Feder, she completed all the Cecchetti student examinations including the Enrico Cecchetti Final Diploma in April 2021. She has also studied ballet and modern dance with Finis Jung, Joseph Cipolla and Ana Marie Forsythe. In addition to her own dance studies, Ms. Schnepf currently teaches ballet, jazz and modern dance in higher education. She is an Assistant Professor in the Humanities at Erie Community College, an adjunct instructor of ballet at the University at Buffalo, and recently taught ballet as a Visiting Guest Instructor at the College at Brockport.