by Julia Guiheen | Apr 14, 2021 | TBT
In Jerome Robbins’s 1944 ballet Fancy Free, three sailors on leave spend the day at a bar, attempting to woo two young women by out-dancing and out-charming one another. In this clip from 1981, Mikhail Baryshnikov, who was then both the artistic director of...
by Amy Brandt | Mar 25, 2021 | Company Life, Instagram, News, The Latest
Kevin McKenzie, American Ballet Theatre’s longtime artistic director, announced yesterday that he will retire at the end of 2022, after three decades at the helm. He will continue to oversee the company’s 2021–22 season while a search for his...
by Katie Slattery | Mar 9, 2021 | Instagram, Technique, Training
What is it that makes walking in ballet so difficult to perform well? And why does a movement that seems so simple cause many dancers to feel uncomfortable and awkward? Raymond Lukens, associate emeritus and former artistic director of the ABT National Training...
by Kyra Laubacher | Mar 7, 2021 | News, Onstage
As the ballet world pushes into spring, companies across the country are adapting to the pandemic by premiering new digital works, wrapping up virtual seasons and engaging in artistic collaborations. Here are a few of the world-premiere digital programs on tap this...
by Amy Brandt | Jan 10, 2021 | Dance Magazine, Dance Spirit, Dance Teacher, Instagram, The Latest
Gabe Stone Shayer, American Ballet Theatre’s newest soloist, has long been a standout onstage. But the 27-year-old dancer—the first African-American male to graduate from Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet Academy—is also branching out into choreography and...
by Margaret Fuhrer | Dec 13, 2020 | Instagram, Profiles
One of Gabe Stone Shayer’s favorite collaborations happened thanks to his agent, Henri Lemic. In August 2019, Shayer—frustrated after being passed over yet again for a promotion at American Ballet Theatre—started to think about the company’s...
by Cadence Neenan | Nov 15, 2020 | Career, Profiles
Betsy McBride has already had the dance career many bunheads dream of. For eight years, she danced with Texas Ballet Theater, where she rose to principal, before joining American Ballet Theatre in 2015. She’s performed featured roles in Giselle, Don Quixote,...
by Marina Harss | Sep 30, 2020 | Instagram, Profiles
When the curtain opens on Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, there are two women onstage, wearing striped pants and tops, and sneakers. By the end, after almost 40 minutes of high-intensity dancing, they’ve stripped down to red leotards, their fists lifted...