Patti Eylar

Patti Eylar has been dancing professionally and teaching for over 40 years. She studied at the Maryland Youth Ballet and in NY at the American Ballet Theatre School with Patricia Wilde, Leon Danielian and Valentina Pereyaslavec and with Melissa Hayden. In 1977 she moved to Chicago to join the Lyric Opera Ballet and was a founding member of the Chicago City Ballet, directed by Maria Tallchief and Paul Mejia. She then danced with Ballet Chicago, directed by Daniel Duell, from its inception in 1987 until 1993. She was also a soloist in Ruth Page’s Nutcracker at the Arie Crown Theater, dancing the roles of Columbine Doll and Marzipan, directed by Dolores and Larry Long.   

She was a faculty member and accountant at the School of Ballet Chicago from 1995 to 2001, and started teaching at Chicago Ballet Arts in 2002.  In 2005, she and Leslie Saunders became Co-Directors of CBA. Patti was on the faculty of the Lou Conte Dance Studio from 2002 until its closure in 2020. 

Patti has served on the Boards of the Chicago Dance Coalition, Chicago Dance and Music Alliance, and the Civic Ballet of Chicago. She is currently a Board member and Past President of the Joffrey Ballet Women's Board, and is a Board member of The Joffrey Ballet, The Auditorium Theatre, Chicago Dancers United and See Chicago Dance. In 2011 she received the Ruth Page Award for her contributions to the Chicago dance community. In 2014 she and her husband, Charles Gardner, received the JUBA award from the Chicago Human Rhythm Project and in 2019 they received the Adler & Sullivan Award for their lasting contributions to the arts and the National Historic Landmark Auditorium Theatre.