Sarah was born in Dayton, Ohio. She began her ballet training at the age of 9 with Jon Rodriguez and the Dayton Ballet School. She was a scholarship student at the Washington Ballet School, Boston Ballet School, the Rock School of the Pennsylvania Ballet, and Chautauqua Dance School. Ms. Barragán entered the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of the New York City Ballet, in the fall of 1995. While a student at SAB she performed in the annual SAB spring workshops in George Balanchine's Valse-Fantaisie, and Symphony in Three Movements before dancing with the Colorado Ballet.

Ms. Barragán has a M.F.A. in Dance from the University of California, Irvine, and a B.S. in Ballet Performance from Indiana University. Sarah has taught ballet and pointe technique at Ballet Pacifica and Focus Dance Center in southern California, and was the Artistic Director of the University of Iowa Youth Ballet from 2007-2008.

Sarah Barragán is an ABT® Certified Teacher, who has successfully completed the ABT® Teacher Training Intensive in Primary through Level 5 of the ABT® National Training Curriculum.