After joining San Francisco Ballet in 2001, Frances Chung quickly became one to watch, rising to principal dancer in 2009. Her incredible versatility, dynamic presence, and pristine technique make her the ballerina choreographers want to work with. Now, the mother of two still treasures every learning experience she has when she steps into the studio. […]
Helen Pickett is a happy camper. When we speak over Zoom, she is in the final weeks of creating a new work for the National Ballet of Canada, Emma Bovary—her first commission for the company. The 60-minute contemporary ballet focuses on the flawed and tragic heroine of Gustave Flaubert’s ground-breaking 1856 novel Madame Bovary. It […]
More and more, it seems dancers are interested in pursuing college alongside their professional ballet careers. Of course, the necessity of “plan B” remains an ever present refrain, but for many dancers education isn’t just the plan B — it’s just as important a part of their artistic and human development as their dancing is. […]
On March 5, 2022, Victor Caixeta was supposed to dance Don Quixote on a stage that had come to feel like home: that of Russia’s Mariinsky Theatre, in St. Petersburg. Instead, the 24-year-old from Brazil found himself in a minivan on the road to Tallinn, Estonia, with just one suitcase and his dog, Coco. Together […]
You’d be hard-pressed to find a dance lover who hasn’t heard of New York City Ballet principal Tiler Peck. Her lightning-fast footwork, and magnetic performance quality, has made her a household name. But it’s not just her dancing that’s causing a buzz this fall—she’s making waves in her choreographic career, as well. Peck has been […]
Globetrotting choreographer Alexei Ratmansky is a peculiarly 21st-century figure. Having served as artistic director of the Bolshoi Ballet, and then artist in residence first at American Ballet Theatre and now New York City Ballet, he embodies geopolitics in a shrinking and more fractured world. Marina Harss’ terrific biography, The Boy from Kyiv: Alexei Ratmansky’s Life […]
Dance may be a wordless art form, but Ballet Hispánico makes itself heard—with a unique artistic voice and an ever-expanding concept of Latinx/Latine culture. “We are a contemporary ballet company, and we celebrate the intersectionality of this culture,” says Eduardo Vilaro, BH’s artistic director and CEO, and a former company dancer. “I hear the question […]
Originally from Matanzas, Cuba, Philadelphia Ballet principal Arian Molina Soca has set himself apart in both classical and neoclassical works onstage—and his camera work offstage. You moved here from Cuba in 2015 with your then-girlfriend, now-wife, fellow Philadelphia Ballet principal Dayesi Torriente. How was the transition moving to the U.S.? It was hard—we didn’t have […]