Biography
SANDRA FORTUNE-GREEN: is an experienced teacher of Classical Ballet using Vagonova based teaching techniques and methodology. An acclaimed performer, Sandra was the only African American female to ever compete in the prestigious second International Ballet Competition in Moscow, Russia, finishing 26 out of 126 participating dancers. She has also toured the world with engagements in the United States, Bulgaria, Canada, Santo Domingo, and China. Mrs. Fortune is the recipient of a Mayor’s Arts Award for “Excellence in Artistic Discipline,” and was interviewed and honored by History Makers, an archival project of video oral history collections on New York’s Schomburg Library and the Birmingham Civil Rights Museum. Sandra has served as a faculty member at Howard University in the Department of Theater Arts/Dance Major Area of Concentration for fifteen years and had been on the dance faculty of Duke Ellington School of the Arts, Dance Department for 31 years. Sandra is the proud owner/guardian of Jones-Haywood Dance School, Inc. (formerly known as Jones Haywood School of Ballet), where she began her formal training, now assuming leadership as Artistic Director. Mrs. Fortune-Green is a 2011 recipient, and accepted a leadership and Visionary, DC Mayors Arts Award in the Arts. This award recognizes the founders, Doris Jones, and Claire Haywood for their tireless efforts in the arts. Currently, Sandra serves on The Committee for Diversity and Inclusion for the School of American Ballet, the official training school for New York Ballet Company. Selected ballet instructor into the National Visiting Fellow Program at the School of American Ballet for instructor, who have proven commitment to teaching students from diverse backgrounds 2017-2018. Most recently, she received the “Trailblazer Award” presented by Delta Sigma Pheta Sorority Inc. and was also acknowledged in the “Black Ballerina Roll Call” where 46 Black Ballerina of several decades were recognized for their contributions to the Classical Discipline presented by Dance Theater of Harlem. Sandra Fortune-Green has been invited to return to the Dance Majors Degree Program as an Adjunct Professor at Howard University College of Fine Arts, Department of Theater Arts under new directorship of Dean Phylicia Rashad.