Arthur Fredric
Artistic Director, Director & Choreographer
Arthur Fredric, Artistic Director, Director/Choreographer, is an award-winning teacher with the National Dance Institute and a former Broadway performer. In 1997, he and Lisa Denton, first joined with Nancy Sudik, James Humphreville and the good people of the DMC to re-imagine and deliver anew this beloved holiday tradition, the Nutcracker Ballet.
Arthur is directing and choreographing with Lisa for the 20th time. With their leadership, dancer participation has nearly tripled. In 2007, they received a Mayor’s Proclamation from the honorable Mark Boughton for “the exceptional service that Arthur Fredric and Lisa Denton have provided to the Greater Danbury Community.” Arthur is in his 24th year with the National Dance Institute, the brainchild of the great Jacques d’Amboise and the gold standard in arts education in the United States and around the world. He teaches at four public schools in and around Harlem and was a recipient of the Sylvia Gilman Teacher of the Year Award in 2006.
Mr. Fredric performed in the 1980 Broadway revival of West Side Story, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, touring in the role of Action. He collaborated with the jazz dance innovator Ronn Forella for 11 years, helping choreograph for Liza Minnelli, Ann Reinking, Fred Ebb, Marc Shaiman, and Bill Murray (Stripes). Arthur’s choreography was featured in Off Broadway shows for Elizabeth Swados, Carey Perloff, and Carol Hall.
He was Stunt Coordinator for the horror movie Mad Man Marz and was the founding choreographer of Park Playhouse in Albany. Arthur and Lisa collaborated with Associate Professor Beth Osnes at the University of Colorado, contributing to her book, Performance for Resilience, while directing and choreographing an ecology-minded theater piece as part of the Rockefeller Foundation 100 Resilient Cities Initiative.
They also conducted workshops for Cirque du Soleil in acting, dance, and stage combat, working in Las Vegas with the casts of Michael Jackson ONE and The Beatles LOVE. Arthur and Lisa live in Connecticut and are the proud parents of three children, Will, Maya, and Dylan.