Conversations with Ashleigh Doede

Today we’d like to introduce you to Ashleigh Doede.

Hi Ashleigh, can you start by introducing yourself? We’d love to learn more about how you got to where you are today?
Ashleigh Doede received her early ballet training at Le Studio Dance, studying with Philip and Charles Fuller, Gilma Bustillo DeQuattro, Roberto Almaguer, Julia Ortega, Roxanne Olesijuk, Charles Maple, and Nancy Evans Doede. She graduated from the Los Angeles County High School for the Arts in 2006, training with KaRon Brown Lehman, Don Martin, Vera Ninkovic, Beth Hirschhaut-Iguchi, Reggie Brown, and Randall Graham. Ashleigh went on to study with Glenn Edgerton and perform with Anaheim Ballet under the direction of Larry and Sarma Rosenberg, dancing a range of soloist roles. From 2007–2009, she joined Nancy Einhorn Milwaukee Ballet II, performing in works by Michael Pink, Marius Petipa, and Anthony Tudor.

From 2006-2010, she has participated in renowned summer programs including Boston Ballet, San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, Springboard Danse Montréal, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and Northwest Dance Project. Ashleigh met James Canfield at NWDP and thereafter joined Nevada Ballet Theatre (2010–2011) as a trainee. She choreographed and performed for the in studio series that Canfield created for company dancers as well as contributed choreography to the 4th annual Choreographer’s Showcase, collaborating with Cirque du Soleil dancers at the Aria Hotel and Casino Theatre.

Her professional career also includes performing with Pasadena Dance Theatre (2009–2021). She performed many works choreographed by Laurence Blake, Cynthia Young, Antonio Lopez, and more. Some highlighted roles she danced include the Snow Queen and Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker, Mustardseed in Laurence Blake’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, and various soloist roles in contemporary works. Additionally, she joined the Conservatory as a faculty member in 2011 and quickly became a primary foundational teacher. She also choreographed original work for PDT in their contemporary series, Passion Moves.

Beyond her work with PDT, she continues to expand her artistry as a founding member, choreographer, and Associate Artistic Director of Nancy Evans Dance Theatre since 2009. Ashleigh continues to grow and change as an artist and creator within this special and unique company. NEDT has always been a creative outlet for Ashleigh and another wonderful way in which she can bond with her mother (the Artistic Director).

Dancing and creating for both PDT and NEDT has been a massively inspiring and well balanced career path for Ashleigh. Since LACHSA, she always desired to keep both ballet and modern movements equally in the forefront, which is just what these two companies have done for her. Being able to dance part time with both companies while teaching on the side also gave her time and space to start her next career path. She was drawn to yoga in 2006 when she sustained a mild fracture in her second toe, and since then she knew her life would change. She became a dedicated daily practitioner and could feel the positive support it was giving her not only physically, but also mentally and emotionally. Her struggles with dance and figuring out where she belonged didn’t feel as daunting, knowing she always had yoga to ground her. This led her to accomplish over 500 hours of teacher training through YogaWorks, Urban Zen, and Therapeutic Yoga styles. She started this journey in 2012 and is now a yoga teacher trainer as well, fulfilling her truest passion or digging into the details of the body and wellness to share with others. She taught for YogaWorks from 2014-2021 and is now back at her home studio, Yoga House and couldn’t be happier.

Ashleigh loves to move in a variety of different ways, and just when you think there couldn’t possibly be more that she does, wait for it, there is…! In 2017 she got hooked on aerial dance due to the fault of one of her closest friends following this pathway. She was craving a new skill set and challenge which aerial quickly brought to the table. This new endeavor was one of the most humbling forms of movement Ashleigh had ever tried, particularly in the beginning years – gaining muscles mass in totally new areas of the body and overcoming literally new fears of heights were just a few to name. The thrill and beauty of this art form sung to her in a new deep way that allowed her to be a student again. it was so refreshing to just learn something totally new, yet be able to integrate the other passions of dance and yoga. This quickly became a new hobby and performance avenue/creation platform for Ashleigh over the years. She has also met some of the most incredible people and life long friends from this community. She adores her aerial family primarily from Womack and Bowman The Loft. She has since then studied the first level of Aerial Hoop/Lyra Teacher Training with Paper Doll Militia and has gone abroad to study and explore more aerial in the European Aerial Dance Festival in Worthing, UK.

As Ashleigh has continued to mature, grow, and challenge herself with all these various movement pathways, her teaching career has also continued to do the same. Ashleigh was appointed Conservatory Director of Pasadena Dance Theatre in 2020 and soon thereafter additionally Artistic Director in 2025. These roles reflect her long-standing history with the organization as both alumna and faculty member. Her passion for teaching and leading continues to blossom in her various roles that continue cross over and support one another. She is currently still dancing and choreographing for NEDT as well as teaches for Yoga House and co-leads trainings. She still studies and trains in the aerial arts, always looking for small performing opportunities. She has a very full life of movement and creativity which she wouldn’t trade for the world!

I’m sure it wasn’t obstacle-free, but would you say the journey has been fairly smooth so far?
The road of professional dance is never an easy one, particularly ballet. The beauty of ballet often goes hand in hand with the complicated relationship of perfection. What is perfection anyway? It is an unachievable psychological warfare when you really think deeply about this…especially when you reach a certain point in your training or searching for a job. This idea of perfection I’m sure applies in many other fields/professions as well. What I have learned through hardship is how to embrace perfection.

Striving for perfection was also one of the best driving factors to never give up. It 100% pushed me to be where I am today. When a teacher gave a combination of new steps, it was known in the classroom that I would achieve it usually on the first try. If a new harder, more complex brain teaser combination was given, it was also known that I would remember it flawlessly. I quickly fed off this reputation which drove me to excel and to push for the highest form of achievement – perfection. The only problem is that this method is flawed and can be a steep downfall if one is not careful. It’s all about balance which I only began to learn in my early 20s but not fully understand now into my late 30s.

Once I graduated LACHSA and my ballet school’s program I felt I was ready to just go get a job dancing somewhere; that anything was possible and it was all going to fall into place for me. I was working my butt off ever since I was 7 and there was just no way I wasn’t going to fulfill my dream, my destiny, to dance ballet since the age of 5. My feet were always an issue that I worked tirelessly at changing. I was born with “not good feet” meaning the top of my foot did not arch in the gorgeous banana way most prized ballerinas had. I actually couldn’t even get all the way over onto the tip of my pointe shoes when I first started pointe work. I stretched my feet every night for years and finally achieved a line that was compete from my ankle down and I was certainly over the tips of my shoes. My teachers recognized this and only continued to encourage me down my path. I also had to work at stretching my hamstrings and turn out muscles to have acceptable extension in this ballet world as well. In short, I had to work for everything physically in my body. I was always the reliable one with my sharpness in picking up choreography and knowing ever role which was essential to my drive and overcoming these physical hardships. I had all the passion, acting abilities, depth in my dancing that allowed me to have many lead roles as a child growing up. Then reality hit more and more as I put myself out there to get ballet jobs. My feet continued to be my obstacle until I found PDT. It was so refreshing to walk into a space and not have my feet even pointed out. I was embraced for the dancer I truly am there and was given so much performing opportunity there that was both challenging and fulfilling. This is why it became a quick home for me back in 2009 and a place I could never imagine leaving.

Additionally I’ve had my struggles with anorexia throughout my early high school years and then relapsing in my early professional years. It was a way in which I felt I could control myself and my body image if my feet weren’t good enough. It took time to heal emotionally, but with the aid of yoga, my dear family and friends, and ultimately my love for dance over all for me to work through the eating disorder. It is something that always lingers, but with the self work I’ve done and continue to do, that part of myself stays quietly in the background.

Thanks for sharing that. So, maybe next you can tell us a bit more about your work?
I love all forms of dance and where it can lead us! I am a master teacher and mentor with classical ballet; I am evolving into a master choreographer of modern/contemporary dance; I restate Don Martin’s Horton work at LACHSA (my Alma mater and SUCH an honor); I am a master yoga teacher and teacher trainer; I am an aerialist of 9 years. These were my first career paths and now I’ve evolved even more so.

Now I am an administrator: I email and meet with parents frequently about their children’s status; I organise various schedules from classes to productions; I oversee my faculty and the training programs at PDT; I’m learning about marketing and budgeting which are totally out of my wheelhouse but are now becoming very much integrated. I am learning skillsets that most dancers do not learn early on and SHOULD. There needs to be more education on this front; I am very proud of myself for not having gone to any traditional college and here I am making a full career out of what I love most. I’ve just learned along the way and that tenacious perfectionist drive within me has never let me give up! I can also be very present in each various career path I have which helps me to compartmentalize in a good way. yoga has taught me to be present!

Can you talk to us a bit about happiness and what makes you happy?
Being able to help others seek out their dreams and to see their full potential while being creative at the same time gives me immense joy. The strong sense of who I wanted to become at such a young age propelled me often beyond peers my own age. As I mentioned previously, I had continuous opportunities to perform with dancers older than me and I earned countless featured roles throughout my formative years of training. This set me a part from a young age with a great sense of purpose. By the time I got to my junior year of high school I had already determined I was on the path of joining a ballet company once I was done. I did audition for a few colleges but deep down I didn’t want to go to school for dance. I felt I already had this amazing conservatory experience at LACHSA and if I were to get a degree, why in dance? I knew I could pursue teaching dance later if I wanted to as well as traditional college if that was my desire (and I’m so very grateful for parents that understood and supported this path). I felt if I were do purse something else other than professional dance I wanted to help people – perhaps through psychology or therapy. I never did end up going to college or pursing that exact career path, but rather I now feel I help others through yoga and teaching dance to our youth. Even if the students I teach never go on to become professional dancers, if I can provide an avenue and a safe space for them to discover themselves as their own individual selves through the art of dance, I have done my job. Seeing their immense growth through ballet fills my cup, especially as I transition away from performing ballet on stage myself. Don’t get me wrong though, I don’t think I’ll ever leave the stage myself – performing and expressing myself through movement will always be a part of me. It will just change throughout the years – for now I am happily still dancing and creating with my mom’s company and through aerial dance. =]

Contact Info:

• Website: https://Ashdoede.com
• Instagram: @ashdoee
• Facebook: Ashleigh Doede

Image Credits
Rowan Metzner, Ayame Foto, Jenn Logan, Jeremy Jackson