Sarah Slifer has been a professional performance artist and dance teacher for over 15 years. Starting with ballet classes from her next door neighbor at age 2, she has been studying dance fairly steadily her entire life. She graduated from George Washington University in 1996 with a BA in Philosopy of Science and a minor in Dance, and was a Performing Arts Scholar. She has taught ballet and modern dance at the George Washington University, Dance Base in Edinburgh, Scotland, and the Theater school in Amsterdam, the Netherlands. Sarah worked as a dancer for several choreographers and companies, including Vincent Cacialano, the Maida Withers Dance Construction Company, and Ballet Theater of Boston. Her own choreographies and improvisational performances have been on national and international stages. Since her move to Gloucester, MA in 2004, she started the Gloucester New Arts Festival for contemporary art and performance, which happens every August.