American Ballet Theatre Stars on Jeopardy!

November 15, 2015

“Ballet for 400!”

On Tuesday, November 17, for the second time, contestants on Jeopardy! will take a stab at ballet trivia with the help of dancers from American Ballet Theatre—another event to celebrate the company’s 75th anniversary season. Look out for principals Gillian Murphy and Cory Stearns and corps member Blaine Hoven, who will read clues and give demonstrations of ABT’s repertoire. The first episode (which aired last May) featured James Whiteside, Craig Salstein, and Pointe cover girls Hee Seo, Sarah Lane and Misty Copeland.

It looks like the contestants could, indeed, be in jeopardy with the ballet category. On the first episode, one of them misidentified Swan Lake as the Nutcracker (cue groaning ballet fans), and no one could name Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free. Even some dancers may have been stumped when the contestants were asked to name who authored the poem that inspired Giselle. (Answer: French writer Victor Hugo. The poem is called “Fantômes” from his collection Les Orientales.) Hopefully this round’s contestants have brushed up on their ballet repertoire!