Faculty, ABT’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and Steps on Broadway
Independent Master Teacher
Former Premiere Danseuse, Paris Opera Ballet and former Principal, San Francisco Ballet

Karin Averty was born in France on February 25, 1963. Her ballet training began in 1972, at age 9, with Yvonne Goubé at the Centre de Danse de Paris. One year later, in 1973, she was admitted to the Paris Opera Ballet School and joined the company in September 1979 at age 16.

In July 1980, she received international recognition early in her career when she won the Grand Prix, junior category, at the International Ballet Competition in Varna. In June of 1983, at the Paris Opera Ballet, she rose to Premiere Danseuse.

Starting in 1984, under Artistic Director Rudolf Nureyev, Karin performed leading roles in his versions of Raymonda, Swan Lake, Don Quixote, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, and La Bayadere.

She danced in masterpieces by prestigious choreographers such Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Patrice Bart, August Bournonville, Nils Christe, Agnes De Mille, Michel Fokine, Martha Graham, James Kudelka, Pierre Lacotte, Harald Lander, Serge Lifar, Kenneth MacMillan, John Neumeier, Vaslav Nijinsky, Jerome Robbins, Leo Staats, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Antony Tudor et Hans Van Mannen.

In 1986, the Paris Opera Ballet Friends Association (AROP) awarded her its Prix du Public. The following year, William Forsythe chose Karin to be in the original cast of Somewhere in the Middle.

In August 1987, Karin took a one-year leave of absence from the Paris Opera Ballet to become a Principal Dancer with the San Francisco Ballet under Artistic Director Helgi Tomasson. She returned to the Paris Opera Ballet the following year but remained a Guest Artist with the SFB for its 1988-1989 season.

In 2003, Karin received her official ballet teaching diploma, the Diplôme d’Etat de Professeur de Danse.

In 2004, the Prime Minister of France honored her with the National Merit Order as a Chevalier (Knight).

For her farewell performance at the Bastille POB on July 9, 2005, Karin danced Juliet in Rudolf Nureyev’s version of Romeo and Juliet. In February 2009, her last appearance as a guest artist was in Tokyo. There she performed in Bronislava Nijinska’s Les Biches with the NBA Ballet Company to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Serge Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes.

Since 2009, Karin has been a free-lance ballet teacher and coach for ballet companies, universities and ballet schools. She has taught in France, Korea, Japan, Canada and Israel.

In 2012 she realized one of her dreams and relocated to New York. She began teaching at a number of well-known dance schools throughout the US, among them: Juilliard, Alvin Ailey, ABT/JKO, The Rock School, and the summer intensive programs of the Boston Ballet, Ballet West and Kansas City Ballet. She has served as a judge for international ballet competitions such as Varna and the Youth America Grand Prix. Karin is on the ballet faculty at Steps on Broadway. On September 7, 2016, she joined the faculty of American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School.