Drew
Jacoby

Benois de la Danse nominee

Drew Jacoby was born in Boise, Idaho in 1984. She studied at the School of American Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and Pacific Northwest Ballet. She began her professional career in 2002 with Lines Ballet in San Francisco, where she was a Principal dancer and had numerous original works created for her by award-winning choreographer Alonzo King. In 2005 she was invited to join Sylvie Guillem‘s Japan tour, where she performed principal roles with dancers from the Royal Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet. She won a 2005 Princess Grace Award and in 2006 was voted Dance Magazine’s It Girl. In 2007, she moved to New York City to begin her freelance career.

Jacoby has performed works by many acclaimed choreographers including George Balanchine, Kenneth MacMillan, Marcia Haydée, Jiří Kylián, William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Lar Lubovitch, Dwight Rhoden, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Crystal Pite, Andrea Miller, Mauro Bigonzetti, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Maurice Bejart, Jean-Christophe Maillot, Pina Bausch, and Lightfoot Leon.

In 2008 she co-founded an independent partnership, Jacoby &Pronk, with former Dutch National Ballet dancer Rubinald Pronk. The duo was featured on the August 2009 cover of Dance Magazine and in many leading dance publications. With fine art photographer Alvin Booth they made a collection of films entitled Les Beau est Toujours Bizarre, which premiered at American Dance Festival’s 2009 Dance on Camera Film Festival. Jacoby and Pronk have been guest dancers with the Dutch National Ballet and have performed multiple seasons with Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, as well as working on their own projects all over the world.

In 2010, Jacoby and Pronk formed a small touring company which was presented at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Holland Dance Festival, Belgrade Dance Festival, and New Orleans Ballet Association.Drew danced with the Netherlands Dance Theater 1 from 2012–2015 and joined the Royal Ballet of Flanders as a Principal dancer in 2015. During her time there she the central figure in Maurice Bejart’slegendary Bolero and the role of Pina Bausch in her iconic Cafe Muller.

While continuing to produce and perform at prestigious international galas, Jacoby also founded a media website in 2009 called DancePulp.com featuring video interviews with high profile dance industry professionals. She teaches master classes and has co-produced summer programs across the world.