Thomas Baird is a Historical Dance specialist, and is the co-director of Apollo’s Banquet, a New York City-based Baroque dance and music ensemble. For ten years, he directed the East Coast Baroque Dance Workshop at Rutgers University. Mr. Baird is a regular guest lecturer on Baroque Dance at The Juilliard School, Mannes School of Music, and the Manhattan School of Music. He is a long-time faculty member of the Opera Division at SUNY Purchase where he teaches Movement Styles for Singers and choreographs the annual opera productions. He is on the faculty of the Hartt School of Music where he also teaches movement for singers. He was the Period Movement Coach for the Broadway productions of O’Neill’s “A Touch of the Poet,” and, at Lincoln Center Theater, Sheridan’s “The Rivals.” He also choreographed period dances for the Metropolitan Opera production of Alfano’s “Cyrano de Bergerac,” starring Placido Domingo. For five seasons, he choreographed and performed period dances for the New York Philharmonic’s Young People’s Concerts at Avery Fisher Hall. Mr. Baird taught Period Dance at the Gelsey Kirkland Academy of Classical Ballet during its inaugural year. Thomas is a certified teacher of the Alexander Technique, having received his training from the Balance Arts Center in NYC, Ann Rodiger, director. He teaches the Alexander Technique privately, and in the Dance Divisions of Purchase College and The Juilliard School.
