Betsy McBride has already had the dance career many bunheads dream of. For eight years, she danced with Texas Ballet Theater, where she rose to principal, before joining American Ballet Theatre in 2015. She’s performed featured roles in Giselle, Don Quixote, Romeo and Juliet and Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker. She even graced the cover of […]
While American Ballet Theatre and Complexions Contemporary Ballet fall into very different size and repertoire categories, both institutions’ dancers start their day with pliés and tendus—even in quarantine. A ballet class seemed like a natural connection point for a recent teacher swap initiative between the two organizations. Sascha Radetsky, artistic director of ABT Studio Company, […]
Over the last 18 years, American Ballet Theatre’s Alexandre Hammoudi has become a household name. So Instagram was abuzz when the longtime soloist’s departure from the company was announced, leaving fans shocked and saddened. His career has been one that aspiring dancers can only dream of: After dancing for two years with the Ballet Nacional […]
Though Isabella Boylston meticulously keeps to-do lists and writes down her commitments in her well-loved planner, her dance bag is far less organized. “I’m pretty haphazard with my stuff,” says the American Ballet Theatre principal. “I leave things behind in the studio after every rehearsal.” Nevertheless, the contents of Boylston’s bag show off her colorful, […]
Stella Abrera’s name (“stella” means “star” in Latin) proved prophetic in the final stretch of her 24-year career at American Ballet Theatre. Abrera joined ABT’s corps de ballet in 1996, was promoted to soloist in 2001 and, finally, after an uncommonly lengthy stretch, principal in 2015, making her the first Filipina American to reach the […]
Uodated 6/11/2020: Please note that some performances have been rescheduled. New dates updated below. How many of us have hovered breathlessly over our iPads, watching grainy YouTube footage of Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov in Theme and Variations? Or Suzanne Farrell in Mozartiana? (Hundreds of thousands of us, to be exact.) Well, get ready: Yesterday, […]
Like so many others, American Ballet Theatre corps member Virginia Lensi didn’t know how bad the coronavirus’s impact on the U.S would be. But soon, her family in Milan, Italy, was sounding the alarm. “My mom was telling me this is just the beginning, it’s going to get so much worse,” says Lensi. Sure enough, […]
With live performances cancelled and dancers stuck at home, American Ballet Theatre has found a new way to reach its audience: Instagram LIVE. The company has just announced a number of upcoming social media events, ranging from a humorous Instagram series hosted by Ethan Stiefel and Gillian Murphy (yes, we’re serious, and we can’t wait), […]