Big Names Join Faculty of ABT's JKO School
Earlier this year, former American Ballet Theatre principal Cynthia Harvey became the new artistic director of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School. Now, she’s made her first faculty appointments. The faculty for the 2016-17 school year (Harvey’s first season in her new role) was announced yesterday, and the lineup is pretty stellar. Here are a few of the highlights:
—Ethan Stiefel, the former ABT principal, Center Stage star and Flesh and Bone choreographer, will join the faculty as a principal guest instructor, working with the pre-professional division students.
—Robert LaFosse, a former ABT and New York City Ballet principal, will also teach in the pre-professional division.
—Former Hamburg Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet dancer Fabrice Herrault is also joining the faculty. Now a world-renowned teacher, he’s worked with dancers like Aran Bell and The Royal Ballet’s Beatriz Stix-Brunell.
—A former dancer with Paris Opéra Ballet, Karin Averty has become a well-known New York City-based teacher, and now joins the JKO School’s faculty.
This year’s students are a lucky bunch. The JKO School is known for producing some of ABT’s most exciting rising dancers—artists like Calvin Royal III, Skylar Brandt and our June/July cover star, Cassandra Trenary. And with such a strong group of teachers leading the way, who knows what exciting things we might expect from a new crop of students.