Luciano Aimar, Head of Children's Curriculum

Luciano Aimar was born in Italy and began studying ballet at age nine at the Teatro Nuovo in Turin. He then traveled to Paris, where he studied at both the Peter Goss Dance School and Carolyn Carson Dance School. He returned to Turin to dance with the Teatro Nuovo as part of the corps de ballet, performing his first solo in their production of Coppélia.

In 1985, he entered the Ballet Theatre l’Ensemble in Brussels, directed by Micha van Hoecke. The company was considered the Junior Company of Maurice Bejart’s Ballet du XXe Siècle. With the Ballet Theatre l’Ensemble, Aimar danced original roles as both a soloist and principal for more than seven years. He received his master’s degree in dance therapy at the Centro Regionale per la Danza Terapia, Maria Fux in Florence, Italy.

From 1992 to 1996, Aimar developed and instructed dance therapy programs, working with individuals with Down syndrome, mental illness, and blindness. He also developed a special program for children ages one to three, born and living in prisons, and for female cancer survivors. In addition to his work in special education, Aimar taught ballet to children ages seven to twelve at the Centro Studi Danza e Movimento in Florence, Italy. He was chosen as team manager and coach for the Italian team at the First Children’s Dance Festival in Seoul, South Korea.

In 1997, Aimar moved to the United States where he worked as a volunteer at the Perkins School for the Blind in Watertown, Massachusetts as a dance therapy instructor. After his volunteer work, he joined the Creative Movement and Arts Center in Needham, Massachusetts as a teacher and program director, where he successfully developed programs for children ages three months to seven years.

He joined Boston Ballet School in 2005 and teaches at the Newton and Boston studios. Aimar’s passion for understanding the process of learning helped him develop the Children’s Program curriculum. Aimar was named the Head of Children’s Curriculum in 2009, and is responsible for building the curriculum for both the Children’s Program and the Education and Community Initiatives Department’s Adaptive Dance Program, training and certifying the programs’ faculty, and leading the annual Step-by-Step presentation of the Children’s Program curriculum.