Born in Edinburgh, Scotland, Ms. Borthwick received her formal training at The Dance School of Scotland and continued her studies at The Royal Ballet School, London where she graduated with her advanced-level teaching credentials. During this time, she received training from many wonderful teachers and choreographers including Dame Alicia Markova, Lynn Seymour, Christopher Wheeldon, Valerie Adams, Maria Fay, Dame Beryl Gray, and William Glassman. She was an assistant teacher for the Royal Ballet School Junior Associate’s program and was also awarded a scholarship to study for a summer at The Vaganova Ballet Academy in Saint Petersburg, Russia.

Ms. Borthwick moved to the United States to accept a teaching position at The Charlotte School of Ballet in North Carolina. There she taught all levels and coached students in the Royal Academy of Dance and the Cecchetti method. She was also invited as a guest teacher for the Cecchetti Council of America. During her time in North Carolina, she was a dancer with MarthaConnerton/KineticWorks and performed many roles as a guest principal dancer with The Charlotte Youth Ballet. She also danced with Opera Carolina, Columbia City Ballet, and Central Piedmont Community College Theatre.

Most recently Ms. Borthwick was a faculty member at Contra Costa Ballet. She taught for 17 years in the student division, Levels 1–7, and adult ballet and conditioning classes in their open division. Shortly after joining the faculty, Ms. Borthwick was appointed as Associate Artistic Director of the Contra Costa Ballet Company. She rehearsed and restaged many ballets including Nutcracker, Swan Lake, Katarina Wester’s The Sleeping Beauty, Paquita, Robin Dekkers’ Alice in Wonderland and La Bayadere, and Kingdom of the Shades. She also worked to continue to develop their Community Outreach Program and Mentorship Program. In addition to teaching ballet, she taught Vinyasa Flow Yoga at Barefoot Movement and has her 500-hour advanced yoga teacher training certification, RYT®️.

Ms. Borthwick holds her Progressing Ballet Technique Certification and her Advanced level teaching qualifications from The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD), The Cecchetti Council of America (CCA), The Imperial Society of Dance (ISTD), and The Royal Ballet School (Dip. RBS, TTC).

Ms. Borthwick is delighted to join the faculty of San Francisco Ballet School and will be teaching Levels 1–3 in the Children’s Division.