Follow Friday: Celebrity Dance Coach Kurt Froman's Instagram Gives Us Access to Hidden NYCB Gems
Former New York City Ballet dancer Kurt Froman is best known for training celebrities such as Jennifer Lawrence for dance roles on film. Yet Froman’s Instagram has become our newest obsession for a whole other reason. Over the past few months, Froman has been posting rarely-seen clips of old NYCB rehearsal and performance videos. These videos feature Balanchine dancers from the early days, such as Suzanne Farrell, Arthur Mitchell, Karin von Aroldingen, Allegra Kent and Jacques d’Amboise as well as recently retired stars like Damian Woetzel, Darci Kistler, Peter Boal, Wendy Whelan and Lourdes Lopez. The videos are majority of works by Balanchine and Jerome Robbins (often in honor of his centennial this year), mixed in with a few television features on Balanchine.
If, like us, you’re prone to geeking out over ballet history, you might want to set aside the rest of your afternoon (ahem, week) to dive in. We’ve posted some of our favorites below.
Allegra Kent and Jacques d’Amboise in Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, early 1960s.
Merrill Ashley in Balanchine’s Stars and Stripes,1984.
Kay Mazzo, Karin von Aroldingen and Suzie Hendl in Balanchine’s Serenade.
Robbins rehearsing his Goldberg Variations.
Suzanne Farrell and Chris d’Amboise in Balanchine’s Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,1985.
Wendy Whelan and Albert Evans in Balanchine’s Symphony in 3 Movements, 1996.
Darci Kistler and Carlo Merlo in Robbins’ The Concert, 1990.