Bruce Thornton

Bruce Thornton received his foundational training at the Cornish Institute, now Cornish College of the Arts with Frank Bays, Gwen Barker, and Pat Hon. He then studied with former Ballet Russe dancers Ludmila Dukodovsky and Antoni Zalewski, in St. Louis Missouri before continuing his training with the legendary Marcia Dale Weary at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. There he was also taught by Leslie Hench and his best friend and mentor Richard Cook.
From there Mr. Thornton joined the Miami City Ballet in 1991 dancing across the United States and Internationally in works by George  Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor, Sir Frederick Ashton, August Bournonville, Lynn Taylor Corbett, and Jimmy Gamonet, to name a few.
He was a part of the cast of “Rubies, Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra,” that was performed  for Edward Villella’s 1997  televised Kennedy Center Honors Award. He has performed as a guest artist with Carolina Ballet in their “Cabaret at Cafe Marcovicci” by Lynn Taylor Corbett, and “Rodin, mis en vie” by Margot Sappington. Both televised.
Mr. Thornton retired from professional performing in 2006 and joined the renowned faculty at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet in 2007. There he helped young dancers become professional dancers and has many former students that are currently dancing out there today in Americas larger companies. He wrote their syllabus for “Beginning Partnering” and presented this to August Teachers Workshop participants annually. He also assisted in the development and implementation of their Male Dancer Syllabus. In 2018 Mr. Thornton moved with his wife to Atlanta Georgia and had joined the wonderful faculty at Sugarloaf Performing Arts/Gwinnett Ballet Theater. He is now proud to join his good friend from Miami City Ballet Paulo Manso de Sousa at Southern Arc.