Jake Washabaugh, a native of Cleveland, Ohio, has been invited to appear as a guest artist with Lake Erie Ballet, Erie Contemporary Ballet Theatre, Ballet Theatre of Ohio and at the Fête de la Danse Festival to perform leading roles in The Nutcracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Swan Lake, and Giselle in addition to the contemporary choreography of Darren McIntyre. He performed for four seasons with The Mercyhurst Dancers where he had the opportunity to work with such notable guest artists as Daniel Lewis, Nancy Jordan, Amanda Edge, Nilas Martins, Matthew Prescott, and Ursula Payne. In addition he worked with Professor Tauna Hunter to co-choreograph the contemporary solo, Escaping the Dimensions of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde, in which he performed at the Mary D’Angelo Performing Arts Center. Jake holds a B.A. in Dance Performance and a B.S. specializing in Early Childhood and Special Education. During his four years at Mercyhurst University, he served on the Leadership Team and as President of the National Honors Society for the Dance Arts while spending his summers serving as an instructor at Creative Movement Center and The Dance Centre as well.  In addition to choreographing for their pre-professional companies, Jake has taught ballet, jazz, contemporary, modern, lyrical, and adaptive dance classes to students ranging from age 1 to 21 years old. Through artistically incorporating his two passions of dance and disability, Jake intends to dedicate the majority of his career towards advocating for those who aren’t always able to do so for themselves. 

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