Catherine Oppenheimer

A former professional ballet dancer with the New York City Ballet and Twyla Tharp dance companies, Catherine Oppenheimer moved to New Mexico in 1994 and founded and operated the National Dance Institute of New Mexico (NDI-NM) for 15 years, currently serving nearly 9,000 children each year in public schools. In 2010, Catherine founded New Mexico School for the Arts (NMSA), New Mexico’s first public, residential high school for the performing and visual arts, currently in its 16th year of operation. 

Catherine’s work, along with many others, has garnered several awards including a National Arts and Humanities Award: Coming Up Taller Award (NDI-NM in 2003); a United States Department of Education: National Blue Ribbon for closing the achievement gap (NMSA in 2016); and a Governor’s Award for Excellence in the Arts in 2016.

Catherine is a life-long devotee of yoga, meditation and breathwork and a certified Pilates teacher. She is a graduate of Modern Elder Academy’s online program and as the liminality of midlife proves spent a year and a half (2021-2022) as CEO of Sky Railway, Santa Fe’s adventure train.

Catherine currently serves as a Trustee of the Exodus Ensemble and will be rejoining the board of Save the Children in 2026. She is a lifetime trustee for NDI-NM and on the Advisory Council for the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University.