Aesha Ash

Ash lives in San Jose, California with her husband and their two children. Later in life, she teaches at various SAB auditions. She proudly includes Pilates as part of her cross training as a dancer, and started her Pilates certification in 2008.

In 2001, Ash appeared in Richard Blanshard's documentary Living a Ballet Dream. She also served as Zoe Saldana's dance double during more complex sequences in the 2000 film Center Stage.

Ash was born on December 30, 1977 in Rochester, New York. As a child, she began taking jazz classes and later moved to ballet. Ash was accepted into the School of American Ballet at age 13. While at the school, she won the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise. At age 18, she joined the corps de ballet at New York City Ballet. In 2003, she moved to Switzerland to perform as a soloist in the Béjart Ballet. She then returned to the United States in 2005 to join the Alonzo King LINES Ballet, a contemporary ballet company in San Francisco. She retired from ballet in 2008. After retirement, she started the Swan Dreams Project, a project that encourages African-American girls to become ballet dancers. In 2016, she received an award from the National Women's History Museum for her contribution to the arts. Ash was also featured in the 2016 book The Ballerina’s Little Black Book.