Stoner Winslett is the Founding Artistic Director of Richmond Ballet, The State Ballet of Virginia. When she arrived in Richmond in 1980, Richmond Ballet was a thriving civic company featuring students from the then five-year-old School of Richmond Ballet along with guest artists from major New York companies. Ms. Winslett oversaw the merging of these two not-for-profit dance organizations and founded the Richmond Ballet professional company in 1984. Richmond Ballet was declared The State Ballet of Virginia in 1990 by then Governor Douglas Wilder.

During her 44 years as Artistic Director of Richmond Ballet, Ms. Winslett built the Company into one of the most respected dance organizations in the United States. She founded the Minds In Motion program in 1995 and was instrumental in moving the Ballet to 407 East Canal Street in 2000. She also led the Company through six seasons in New York City, its international debut in London in 2012, the Company's Asian debut in China in May 2015, and continued to fulfill the Ballet’s mission and vision safely during the Covid pandemic in 2019-21. Richmond Ballet boasts an impressive repertory with a foundation of full-length classics and 20th-century masters (George Balanchine, John Butler, Agnes de Mille, José Limón, and Anthony Tudor, among others), coupled with a strong commitment to new works, nine of which are Ms. Winslett's own choreography and include her own highly-acclaimed version of The Nutcracker.

Recognized as a decades-long leader in diversity and inclusion in the ballet field, in 2017, Ms. Winslett was part of a small group of artistic directors invited by Dance Theatre of Harlem to begin discussions addressing these issues throughout the field. This two-day exchange of ideas launched The Equity Project, a 3-year cohort led by Dance Theatre of Harlem, International Association of Blacks in Dance, and Dance/USA and funded by the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. The promotion of equitable representation throughout the ballet industry remains ever-present at the heart of Richmond Ballet.  

Ms. Winslett received her early training in Columbia, South Carolina, and later trained at the American Ballet Theatre School and the North Carolina School of the Arts on scholarship. After knee injuries curtailed her performing career, she pursued a course of independent study at Smith College, where she graduated summa cum laude and Phi Beta Kappa. Ms. Winslett was the longest tenured artistic director of a major ballet company and one of the few female artistic directors in the United States. She has received countless awards and recognitions at local, state, and national levels, and remains an active leader in the country's performing arts community.
In addition to her lifetime appointment as Founding Artistic Director effective July 1, 2024, Ms. Winslett is also a Richmond Ballet Trustee Emerita.