Deborah Engerman trained under Wally Saunders in Pikesville, Maryland, from
1977 to 1979, and with the Baltimore Ballet School (formerly the Maryland Ballet
School) under the direction of Wendy Robinson from 1979 to 1985, in the RAD
(Royal Academy of Dance) tradition. Her classical studies also included training
with Petrus Bosman, David Keener, and Christine Hennessy at National Academy
of the Arts and Virginia School of the Arts. While pursuing her Bachelor of Arts in
International Policy and Management Studies at Dickinson College from 1986 to 1990,
she continued her study of classical ballet with the teachers of Central Pennsylvania
Youth Ballet. Her dance training includes Vaganova technique, French methodology,
Martha Graham technique, and the Dance Education Program at Towson University.
She has staged ballets including The Nutcracker and Swan Lake: Act II.
For more than three decades, dancers under Engerman’s tutelage have gone on
to earn professional contracts and danced with companies including American Ballet
Theatre, Ballet Inc., Boston Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Hubbard
Street Dance Chicago, Nashville Ballet, Texture Ballet, Universal Ballet, the Vienna
Opera Ballet, the Washington Ballet, and on Broadway. She has also coached dancers
for numerous international competitions, such as the Prix de Lausanne, the Varna
International Ballet Competition, and Youth America Grand Prix. Her student Adrienne
Canterna took the Junior Gold Medal at the 1998 Jackson USA International
Ballet Competition.
For most of 2010, Engerman toured Europe as ballet mistress for Rock the Ballet,
of Sweetbird Productions. Back in the United States, from 2010 to 2020, she was
director of the Maryland Classical Dance Academy at Centre Pointe Performing
Arts, and simultaneously trained students at Charm City Ballet, Dance Conservatory
of Maryland, and Susquehanna Dance Center. Mrs. Engerman continues to contribute
to the future of ballet by training dancers throughout Maryland and Pennsylvania.
She lives with her husband and two canine companions in South Central Pennsylvania
Photo: Wide-Eyed Studios