About Dr. Andrew Carr
Dancer. Scientist. Movement Specialist.
Movement is movement. The principles governing balance, power, reactivity, injury prevention, and longevity in the body are the same whether you are performing Swan Lake, competing at the junior national level in figure skating, stepping onto a Broadway stage, or training as a professional athlete. For over 30 years, Dr. Andrew Carr has worked at the intersection of all of them.
His clients and students have gone on to principal roles in ballet companies, careers on Broadway and in contemporary dance, professional athletic careers, national-level skating competition, and — in a reflection of the discipline he brings to everything he teaches — careers in medicine, law, and science. Some now run their own dance schools and studios. What they share is a coach who lives at the nexus of art, science, and movement — driven by the same relentless pursuit of excellence in all three, and who brings that rare convergence to every person he works with.
That standard comes from two careers most people don’t hold simultaneously. As a performer, Dr. Carr danced principal roles with major professional ballet companies for over a decade. As a scientist, he holds a Ph.D. in Bioinformatics from George Mason University and currently works as a data scientist developing AI and machine learning pipelines that drive novel therapeutic discovery — including programs targeting ALS and other serious diseases. These are not sequential chapters. They are parallel lives, and the thinking from each sharpens the other.
That combination produces something most coaches cannot offer: the ability to teach artistry, not just technique. Expression in human movement is not magic. It has grammar, vocabulary, and learnable patterns — and Dr. Carr, drawing on decades of performance and a career built on recognizing and modeling complex systems, can decode those patterns and teach them. Most coaches can fix what your body is doing wrong. Dr. Carr can teach you to mean something with what your body does right.
His work extends beyond the studio into post-physical therapy rehabilitation and surgery preparation, supporting dancers, skaters, actors, and athletes through injury recovery with the same evidence-based, movement-first approach. He works in person in the San Francisco Bay Area and virtually with clients worldwide.
Performance Career
Dr. Carr trained at the Washington School of the Ballet under Kevin McKenzie, Lupe Serrano, and Patricia Berand, and at Indiana University under Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Jacques Cesbron, Patricia McBride, and Violette Verdy — a lineage that connects directly to the Balanchine, Tudor, and Hawkins traditions.
He danced as a Principal and Soloist with several professional companies, performing a broad repertoire spanning 19th-century classics, Balanchine neoclassicism, Tudor dramatic works, and contemporary choreography:
- Kansas City / State Ballet of Missouri — Principal and Soloist roles including Siegfried in Swan Lake (Ivanova/Petipa), Nutcracker Grand Pas (Bolander), Prodigal Son and Serenade: Elegie (Balanchine), Four Temperaments: Sanguinic & Phlegmatic (Balanchine), Giselle (Perrot/Coralli), Offenbach and the Underworld: Grand Duke and Lilac Garden: W. Cadet (Tudor), Gala Performance (Tudor), Gloria (Lila York), Suite Kander (Anne Reinking), and Carmina Burana (Weber)
- Sacramento Ballet — Soloist in Cinderella and Nutcracker; Rythmetron (Arthur Mitchell); Rubies (Balanchine)
- Washington Ballet — La Fille Mal Gardée and Carmina Burana (Nault); Nutcracker Prince
- Chautauqua Ballet Company — Carmina Burana (Bonnefoux), Sleeping Beauty (Petipa), Tristan and Isolde and The Machine (Diamond)
- Indiana University Ballet Theater — Principal roles in works by Balanchine, Peter Martins, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, and others; featured performer in Feast of Ashes (Alvin Ailey)
- EE Motion — Contemporary work including OHOT and Soul Intent (Balcos); guest appearances at the North Carolina Dance Festival and Charlotte Dance Festival
He has appeared as a guest artist with companies throughout the United States and internationally, including performances in Bermuda and a nationally broadcast appearance on PBS: A Grand Night of Singing (1995).
Choreography
Dr. Carr is an active choreographer with over 25 original commissioned works to his credit. Notable works include White Witch (full-length story ballet, 2017), Velveteen Rabbit (full-length, 2015), Saraphuge (winner of the CEDA Choreographic Award, 2013), and Arrival in C-minor (Rachmaninoff, 2007). His choreographic work spans classical story ballets, contemporary concert works, and original festival pieces.
Selected recent commissions include works for the Open Door Dance Foundation Spring Concerts (2018–2021), the ODDF Spring Concert (2020–2021), and the Denver Dance Center Summer Intensive (2025). A full list of choreographic works and classical stagings is available on request.
Education & Credentials
Dr. Carr holds two degrees that anchor his uniquely integrated approach to teaching:
- B.S. Music (Ballet) — Indiana University Jacobs School of Music, 1997
- Ph.D. Bioinformatics — George Mason University School of Computational Sciences, 2006
He holds the following professional certifications and specializations:
- ABT® Certified Teacher — Pre-Primary through Level 5, ABT® National Training Curriculum
- NASM-CPT — National Academy of Sports Medicine Certified Personal Trainer (2017–present)
- NASM-CES — Corrective Exercise Specialization
- NASM-PES — Performance Enhancement Specialization
- NASM-YES — Youth Exercise Specialization
- NASM-GPTS — Group Personal Training Specialization
- NASM-MMACS — Mixed Martial Arts Conditioning Specialization
- NASM-SFC — Stretching & Flexibility Coach
- AFAA-GFI — Athletic Fitness Association of America Group Fitness Instructor (2019)
Teaching & Coaching
Dr. Carr has been teaching and privately coaching since 1997 — a span of nearly three decades that encompasses virtually every level, context, and discipline in which human movement matters. His students have included six-year-olds in their first ballet class, pre-professional dancers preparing for company auditions, principal dancers at major ballet companies, junior national-level figure skaters, Broadway and stage performers, professional athletes, and adults returning to movement after injury or surgery. The range is not incidental. It reflects a coaching philosophy built around the individual body and what it specifically needs — not a single method applied uniformly.
For over a decade he served as Artistic Director of the Open Door Dance Foundation Youth Ensemble and as Master Instructor of the pre-professional program at Open Door Studios, where he developed curriculum spanning ballet technique, pointe, contemporary, conditioning, boys technique, partnering, anatomy, and kinesiology. He held faculty positions at the Kansas City Ballet School, Gaston Dance Theater, and Albemarle Academy of Dance, and has been a featured master instructor at summer intensives and conventions across the United States and internationally — including the Texas Association of Teachers of Dance Annual Convention, multiple programs in Bermuda, and most recently the Denver Dance Center Summer Intensive.
As an ABT® Certified Teacher through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum, Dr. Carr brings one of the most rigorous classical frameworks in American ballet pedagogy to every level he teaches — from young students just beginning their training to experienced dancers refining the details of a professional career.
Where Students Go
The long view of a teaching career is measured in what students do with what they learned. Dr. Carr’s former students and coached athletes have gone on to principal and soloist positions at professional ballet and contemporary companies, careers on Broadway and in the performing arts, national-level athletic competition, and — in a testament to the discipline the work instills — careers in medicine, law, and science. Others now direct and teach at their own studios, passing forward the same integrated approach to movement they received. A list of professional references is available upon request.
The Science Behind the Teaching
Dr. Carr’s doctoral research in bioinformatics and his ongoing work in computational biology directly inform how he approaches movement training. His classes and workshops in dance anatomy, kinesiology, and injury prevention are grounded in current exercise science, drawing on NASM’s evidence-based frameworks for reactive neuromuscular training, corrective exercise, and performance enhancement.
He has worked alongside US Olympic trainers and applies the same progressive, systems-based training principles used in elite athletic development to the specific demands of the dancer’s body. His masterclasses on topics such as balance, reactive training, plyometrics, and injury prevention are available for dance schools, summer intensives, and professional companies.
Recent workshops include the Denver Dance Center Summer Intensive (2025) — Ballet, Science of Stretching and Plyometrics — continuing a series of science-integrated teaching engagements stretching back to 2001.
Work With Dr. Carr
Whether you are a student dancer looking to refine your technique, a professional seeking performance coaching, an athlete wanting to improve movement quality, or a school looking to bring a masterclass to your program — Dr. Carr offers in-person sessions in the San Francisco Bay Area and virtual coaching worldwide via Zoom.