Amanda McKerrow

[1] She was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) where she currently teaches.

In 1981 she became the first American to win a gold medal at the Moscow International Ballet Competition when she was 17 years old.

[2] McKerrow was born in Albuquerque, New Mexico, the youngest child of a retired administrator at the National Institutes of Health.

After her sophomore year she dropped out of high school and joined The Washington Ballet (TWB).

She is married to fellow ballet dancer, John Gardner, whom she met when they were both performing with ABT.