Born in Johnson City, Tennessee, Aaron Jackson began his dance training at age ten with Susan Pace-White at Holloway Dancing School. He attended summer intensives on full scholarship at the Joffrey Ballet School, the School of Pennsylvania Ballet, and the San Francisco Ballet School, before enrolling at the School of American Ballet in 1998.
In 2000, Arthur Mitchell invited him to join the Dance Theatre of Harlem. He joined The Washington Ballet in 2001 under Septime Webre and danced there for eight seasons, followed by two seasons with Company C Contemporary Ballet in San Francisco. He retired from performing in 2010.
His repertoire included works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon, Choo San Goh, Paul Taylor, Trey McIntyre, William Forsythe, Twyla Tharp, Lar Lubovitch, Septime Webre, Arthur Mitchell, and Geoffrey Holder.
Aaron began his teaching career in 2010, joining The Washington School of Ballet after teaching at Jones-Haywood Dance School and Berrend Dance Centre. He joined The Dance Institute of Washington in 2019 and served as Head Ballet Instructor for its Pre-Professional Division from 2022 to 2025.
At the School of American Ballet, he served as National Visiting Fellow (2017–2018), Visiting Faculty Co-Chair and Principal Teacher (2022–2023), and on the Alumni Advisory Committee on Diversity & Inclusion (2017–2024).
In 2023, he introduced The Jackson Method for Adult Ballet at CityDance Studios.
His international teaching includes Tanzwerk101, Tanz Akademie and Zürcher Hochschule der Künste in Zürich, Musical Factory in Lucerne and Tanzkompanie des Theaters St. Gallen.
Aaron works as a freelance guest teacher and private coach across the United States and Switzerland.
