Ethan Stiefel takes on his biggest role yet as artistic director of Royal New Zealand Ballet. I nternational ballet stars labeled “Made in America” are an endangered species. But former American Ballet Theatre principal Ethan Stiefel is one of the rare few. He first made a global name for himself through guest appearances with The […]
By phone from Europe, where she now performs with a major ballet company, a 24-year-old dancer we’ll call “Claire” recalls the moment she realized cocaine would ruin her life if she kept doing it. She was 19 and training at a renowned ballet academy in New York City. “I’d been living on my own for […]
Dancing in Europe may seem like the ultimate ballet fantasy—elegant theaters, noble traditions, royalty in the audience—but careful planning and some strategic moves can actually get you there. Despite the current recession, some companies are hiring, and many more have pre-professional programs and second companies that prepare students for future opportunities. Here, several dancers who […]
Dancers go to the studio every day to polish their technique, to deepen their artistry. But all those hours spent in front of the mirror have just one goal: to create something captivating onstage. These 10 performances from the past year took audiences to new places, and made them see the dancers—and dance—in a whole […]
Every dancer has some tube of pain-relieving gel or cream stashed inside her dance bag. It’s a quick, easy way to soothe sore muscles and achy joints. In fact, the simple act of massaging the products in helps to increase blood flow, which aids healing and relaxes overused muscles, says Craig Westin, orthopedic surgeon at […]
The last time the Royal Danish Ballet performed in New York City, some 23 years ago, Nikolaj Hübbe was dancing with the company. Soon after that, he joined New York City Ballet, and his purity of line and expression made him a favorite in New York until his retirement in 2008. In June, Hübbe comes […]
On a stage filled with dainty Danish dancers, Shelby Elsbree looks very American: spunky, playful and a little bit feisty. Even in the prim, polite confines of Bournonville choreography, this 20-year-old Royal Danish Ballet corps member moves with a sense of bubbly abandon. As a student, Elsbree never imagined she would begin her career in […]
Back in St. Petersburg in 1892, when those four courtier-artists (director Vsevolozhsky, composer Tchaikovsky, ballet masters Petipa and Ivanov) were concocting their magical grownup-child ballet The Nutcracker, no one could have dreamed that 100-plus years later Nutcrackers would pop up every Christmas on stages all over the world. And this December, another one pops up […]