Charles Askegard is a world-renowned dancer, teacher and choreographer. Growing up in Minnesota gave him the opportunity to study with Loyce Houlton, the choreographer and founder of the Minnesota Dance Theatre. His training there enabled him to attend many ballet summer intensives with the San Francisco Ballet, School of American Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre. At age sixteen he moved to New York to further his studies where he trained with famed teacher Maggie Black.
Mikhail Baryshnikov, who was then directing the American Ballet Theatre, hired him when he was eighteen years old as a member of the corps de ballet. Mr. Askegard would perform with the ABT for ten years rising to the rank of soloist and performing many lead roles in both full length and repertory ballets. He was appreciated for both his technical prowess, as well as his dramatic and artistic skills starring in ballets by Agnes de Mille, Glen Tetley, Twyla Tharp, Antony Tudor, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Natalia Makarova and more.
He left the American Ballet Theatre to pursue further knowledge and explore aspects of ballet that weren’t represented in the repertoire of ABT. He accepted an offer to join the New York City Ballet as a soloist, and the following year was promoted to Principal Dancer. During his tenure at the NYCB, he had the incredible opportunity to work with Jerome Robbins on several of his ballets, create roles in ballets by Peter Martins, Christopher Wheeldon, along with other emerging choreographers, and also perform a large part of the Balanchine repertory, dancing many of the most demanding male roles.
When he retired from the stage, he co-founded his own company “Ballet Next” which had successful seasons at the Joyce Theatre, BAM Fishman in New York City, and also toured to the British Virgin Islands, Syracuse University, and the Lensic Theatre in New Mexico. During this time, he was sought after as a guest dancer, teacher, and choreographer.
Choreography was always a passion of his, and he has continued to pursue that aspect of his artistry for many years. He has been recognized both locally and nationally, choreographing for his own company Ballet Next, and has been commissioned for work by the Columbia Ballet Collective, the Minnesota Dance Theatre, Philadelphia Ballet II, and the main company of Philadelphia Ballet. He is the 2025/’26 Dance Vision Artist of the Performance Garage in Philadelphia and is an alumnus of the National Choreographers Initiative (2024) in Irvine, California.