A native of Glasgow, Scotland, ELAINE GARDNER studied ballet and modern dance in Syracuse, Phoenix, Los Angeles, Boston, London, and New York. She performed in contemporary dances by Margo Sappington, Bill Evans, Charles Weidman, Donald Byrd, Kei Takei, and Doris Humphrey. She was a member of the touring repertory companies Phoenix Metropolitan Dance Theater and Dance/L.A. Gardner founded Pick of the Crop Dance in Los Angeles in 1980, and in 1982 re-established the company in Buffalo with her husband, musician/composer Curt Steinzor. Since then, she has performed individually and with the company throughout the northeastern United States as well as in Scotland and Latvia.

Gardner first began creating works in Los Angeles, focusing on collaborations with musicians. Since then, she has created over ninety works for Pick of the Crop Dance, many of them incorporating original music, environmental sculpture, and literary texts. In 1995, Gardner began the creation of a cycle of three full length, Broadway scale productions based on fairy tales with large casts of young dancers and professional soloists. Hansel & Gretel, The Snow Queen, and Cinderella have been seen by over fifty thousand people in Buffalo, Jamestown, Geneva, and Potsdam.

Gardner’s work has also been performed by Western New York ballet and theater companies. A past recipient of a National Endowment for the Arts dance/video grant, Gardner has also been funded by the highly competitive New York State Council on the Arts Dance Program (annually since 1989) and the Arts Council in Buffalo and Erie County. She is a founding member of the New York State DanceForce and has served as a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts Dance Program. In 2001, Gardner was inducted into the Western New York Dance Hall of Fame, and was honored by the University at Buffalo Department of Theatre and Dance at their fall dance concert as one of seven western New York dance “treasures.”

Gardner has taught contemporary dance, ballet, choreography and improvisation since 1986 at Nichols School in Buffalo, where she also directs and choreographs for the Nichols Dance Ensemble. Gardner has taught and choreographed at private dance schools throughout the northeastern United States and in Scotland and Latvia. Gardner has been a panelist for the New York State Council on the Arts Dance Program and has also served as a dance consultant for independent schools.

As an extension of her creative work, she creates artist residencies and in-depth projects to introduce children to movement. These residencies have been funded by regional arts councils and service providers throughout upstate New York and New England.