PHOTO BY LAURA PETRILLA

James Manning
Artistic Administrator, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre

James Manning has been dancing since age 3. He came to Pittsburgh in 2007 to study dance at Point Park University and went on to become one of the founding members of the August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble.

His dance took him to South America, Houston, Kansas City, Missouri and then New York before he settled back in Pittsburgh in 2018. In the thick of the pandemic, he became chair of the dance department at Pittsburgh CAPA 6-12.

The experience “allowed me to be so much stronger as an educator, as a person, I think, as a human because I was able to really create connections with the families, build trust.” He’s been full-time with the ballet for more than a year and is working on his master’s degree in arts administration.

“I was a performer, I’ve been an educator, I’ve been a choreographer and now I’m transitioning as an artistic administrator here at the ballet,” he says.

With his experience of seeing every angle of the arts, he hopes to one day lead an arts organization in Pittsburgh.