Michael Vernon studied at the Royal Ballet School in London, training with Dame Ninette de Valois and Leonide Massine. During his career, he performed with the Royal Ballet, the Royal Opera Ballet, and the London Festival Ballet. Upon moving to the US, Mr. Vernon became a Ballet Master and choreographer with Eglevsky Ballet, company teacher at ABT and Metropolitan Opera Ballet, a guest teacher for the Juilliard School, Dance Theatre of Harlem and the Alvin Ailey Company and School. Mr. Vernon has choreographed for Mikhail Baryshnikov and Cynthia Harvey at American Ballet Theatre (ABT) and was an assistant choreographer on Ken Russell's movie Valentino, starring Rudolph Nureyev and Leslie Caron. Mr. Vernon is currently the Chair of the Ballet Department at the Jacobs’ School of Music in Indiana University, and is an advocate for Dance in Higher Education.