Spotlight | Doricha Sales: New Program Director of Dance for All at The Sarasota Ballet

By Lisa Codianne Fowler | Header Photo by Matthew Holler | January 2023

Doricha Sales is always on her toes. Always has been! Her professional history could fill a book of her extraordinary achievements over the years, including authoring two children’s books amid her prestigious curriculum vitae.

Growing up

Sales’ fascinating background began long before she was born. Her genetics prove that she is where she was meant to be.

“I come from four generations of professional artists on the paternal side of my family, which is kind of amazing. They started way back to the mid 1800s where the kids took dance, music, and art classes, and we have an aunt, my great-great aunt, and she’s 107, she remembers taking dance classes with her sisters. She became a professional author and illustrator. And then my grandmother took classes in Harlem in the 1920s.”

When Sales was growing up, she was one of three Black students that trained in the Boston Ballet school. She remembers feeling that maybe she should give ballet a chance. “Maybe just one time could this be something that I could be interested in? I’ve seen kids find their place in the world through ballet; inside a ballet studio, they feel like everything is okay. Your background doesn’t matter. The ballet studio is very welcoming. It’s all like life, your determination measures your success.”  

Her illustrious journey

After careers as a child model and performing with regional ballet companies around the nation, Sales began her post-performing career as Director of Ballet and Co-Director of the Dance Department at Rochelle School for the Arts in Lakeland, Florida. She progressed to Dance Representative at Hawaii Alliance for Arts and Education, and moved on to the Indiana University of Jacobs School of Music. Here she was responsible for overseeing all aspects of production, specialized happenings in a Big 10 University, departments and employee budgets, community liaison and more.

Her energy never ceased. She became a fulltime faculty member at Pinellas County Center for the Arts in St. Petersburg, Florida, where she taught high school courses in dance, kinesiology, history, movement, and music appreciation. Her expertise in writing, research, and project management further elevated her roles to include career and college advising, financial strategies, curriculum design and implementation, data analysis, fundraising, community engagement, and audience development. 

For the past five years she directed a small nonprofit ballet company in Hillsborough County. “It was a unique community engagement project involving preprofessional performing opportunities for a diverse ensemble,” she says. 

“But I had a major knee injury, and, I had been 45 years on the artistic side of ballet, meaning dancer, choreographer, teacher all of that, and it was just time for something new.” 

Fueled by her knee injury as well as her desire for a change, Sales decided to retire. But word got out that she might be available, and she was approached by The Sarasota Ballet. Today, we are blessed that she agreed to direct The  Sarasota Ballet ’s Dance for All—their new community engagement initiative to broaden opportunities for all to enjoy the beauty of dance through expanding their six community engagement programs. 

Though her roles are somewhat different from those she held in the past, she continues her lifelong mission: “To contribute my vast expertise and 30+ years of experience in ballet performance, pedagogue and administration to an established dance school/dance organization… to continue my passion of unifying artistic and academic intellect and producing viable artists while working as part of a dedicated team of faculty, staff and students…”

Dance for All

Dance for All is The Sarasota Ballet’s new community initiative designed to provide access and opportunity for thousands in Greater Sarasota communities to explore the world of dance through its six pillar programs . These programs offer free and low-cost options for all to engage with dance: Dance – The Next Generation; Silver Swans; Joyful Movement through Parkinson’s; Community Performances; Public School Performances and Programs; and Lectures, Tickets, and Tours.

Dance – The Next Generation (DNG), The Sarasota Ballet’s original community engagement program, was founded in 1990, with a focus on instilling discipline, heightening self-esteem, and increasing the desire for higher education. DNG has served the children in need in our community for over thirty years. The children begin their studies in third grade, with DNG enrolling an average of 40 students in Grade 3, and a total of 160 through Grade 12 each year. Nearly 100 percent of the students are from Title 1 schools, meaning they are from high-poverty areas, with higher risk of dropping out of school. 

The DNG program is free to the students and their families. From transportation, dance instruction, dance clothing, dance shoes, mentoring, enrichment activities, and tickets to The Sarasota Ballet’s main-stage performances, these resources are completely free to the participants.

Why The Sarasota Ballet?

Doricha Sales was naturally drawn to help enhance the programs at The Sarasota Ballet. The ballet studio had long been her home and not only as a performer, but also as a teacher and director. The Sarasota Ballet was a natural fit. Here’s a summary of some of the company’s stellar accomplishments.  

• Under the leadership of Iain Webb, The Sarasota Ballet has achieved national and international acclaim, recognized for its diverse repertoire of rarely performed ballets, as well as the integrity and artistry of its performances. In the last five years, The Sarasota Ballet has been invited to perform twice at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and the Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center, as well as week-long residencies at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and the Joyce Theater in New York. The Company performed in May 2017 at the inaugural National Choreographic Festival in Salt Lake City.
• It is dedicated to education through its three schools: The Sarasota Ballet School, where students can discover dance with our nurturing and exceptional staff; The Margaret Barbieri Conservatory, an award-winning pre-professional program for students that are pursuing a career in Classical Ballet; and Dance – The Next Generation, an after-school tuition-free dance education program for underserved and at-risk children of Sarasota and Manatee Counties.
• In recognition of the importance of cultural diversity and to embrace all individuals in the beauty of dance, The Sarasota Ballet seeks to engage individuals of all languages, races, national origins, religions, genders, sexual orientations, ages, abilities, and socio-economic status.  

Be sure to visit The Sarasota Ballet website, sarasotaballet.org, and sarasotaballet.org/DNG. Enjoy learning more about Sales’ fascinating past and present career moves described in detail on her website, dorichasales.com.