American Ballet Theatre soloist Misty Copeland is not the first African American woman to dance the iconic role of Odette/Odile. And some warn, rightly so, that the rich history of black ballerinas (Lauren Anderson, Debra Austin, Anne Benna Sims, Nora Kimball and Virginia Johnson, to name just a few) has gotten lost in all the […]
Virginia Johnson as Giselle at The Royal, with Zoltán Solymosi Maria Tallchief and Erik Bruhn in a later performance of The Nutcracker February 1954 Maria Tallchief dances the Sugar Plum Fairy in the premiere of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker. Though Tallchief, who was half Osage Indian, had great success earlier on in parts that played […]
Stanton Welch has transformed Houston Ballet into a leading force in the dance world. A rtistic director Stanton Welch looks at home in Houston Ballet’s airy new Center for Dance. The windows of his office frame views of Houston’s tangled highways, the winding inner city river known as the bayou and the majestic Wortham Theater […]
Misty Copeland will dance her Odette/Odile debut in American Ballet Theatre’s Swan Lake on Wednesday, September 3, during the company’s tour to Brisbane, Australia. The performance will be another historic moment in Copeland’s career: she will be ABT’s first black Swan Queen. She follows in the footsteps of other groundbreaking African American ballerinas, like Houston […]
From now until mid-October, Nashville Ballet’s Kayla Rowser will be putting the final touches on her role of a lifetime. This month, she’ll dance her first Odette/Odile in the company’s Swan Lake (Oct. 17-19). In our bi-weekly newsletter, Pointe spoke with Rowser for about what it means to her, both as an artist and as […]
The transition from one artistic director to another is a time of change, especially for dancers, who often must adapt to a new style almost as quickly as they learn their next roles. Sometimes audiences feel a strain, too. In 2003, when Houston Ballet Artistic Director Emeritus Ben Stevenson stepped down and Stanton Welch, former […]
The past few weeks have brought another exciting round of dancer career news—check out the latest farewells, appointments, promotions, and more in this month’s ballet roster roundup. Promotions and Appointments San Francisco Ballet corps members Kamryn Baldwin, Carmela Mayo, and Joshua Jack Price have been promoted to soloist; apprentices Sofia Albers, Jacey Gailliard, and Dylan […]
The past few weeks have brought another exciting round of career news—check out the latest dancer farewells, appointments, promotions, and more in this month’s roster roundup. Promotions and Appointments Miami City Ballet’s Dawn Atkins has been promoted to principal, effective at the start of the 2023–24 season. Christopher Gerty has been promoted to principal at […]