If you have seen Skylar Brandt perform, or taken a glance at her social media, you know that she is a force of nature—her technical power is only surpassed by her unyielding love of ballet. But many Brandt fans might be surprised to learn that the American Ballet Theatre principal is also passionate about sleeping. […]
What is the secret sauce to Skylar Brandt’s seemingly superhuman technique? (Those balances! Those turns!) Well, the American Ballet Theatre principal is ready to share some insights. Take a free online class with the cover star of our February issue through Dance Media Live! On Wednesday, March 3, at 4 pm ET, Brandt will teach […]
Master pointe shoe fitter Josephine Lee of the California-based ThePointeShop chats with American Ballet Theatre soloist Skylar Brandt to hear about how she prepares her pointe shoes. We think Brandt might win an award for how long she makes her shoes last; watch the below video for the staggering number of days (or weeks!), and […]
When American Ballet Theatre soloist Skylar Brandt‘s phone lit up with a message from Julian MacKay last summer, she never could have imagined the journey it would set her on. Brandt barely knew the Mikhailovsky Ballet first soloist—they’d met briefly in St. Petersburg a few months earlier—but he wrote that he had a project he […]
You never have to worry about Skylar Brandt. The 19-year-old corps member is unflappable, whether she’s tackling a performance, a photo shoot or an interview. As a charter student of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School of American Ballet Theatre, she’s been the face of the organization—and one of its brightest success stories. Brandt fell in […]
With a wish list of companies and performers in mind, Stanford Makishi, the vice president and artistic director of dance at New York City Center, works with his team to solve the puzzle that is creating its annual Fall for Dance Festival. How they do so is simpler than you might think. “We literally have […]
In May of 2022, American Ballet Theatre director of repertoire Carlos Lopez was preparing Alexei Ratmansky’s Of Love and Rage. On the day Ratmansky joined rehearsal, Lopez was uneasy because he had to put in a new apprentice, Jake Roxander. “I said, ‘I’m sorry, Alexei, we have a lot of people out today,’ ” Lopez recalls. […]
Like anything in life, ballet is not immune to trends, not even when it comes to variations. And when the competition circuit gives a certain variation high visibility—usually following a winner’s standout performance—suddenly it seems to be everyone’s favorite, appearing over and over in the next season’s competition lineup. But while it’s easy to imagine […]