Digital Cover Star

Quickfire Questions With July/August Digital Cover Star Taylor Naturkas

July 9, 2026

To get to know Taylor Naturkas a little bit better, we asked her a series of quickfire questions. Read on to hear more about the Miami City Ballet principal’s bucket-list ballets, least favorite barre exercise, current reads, and more.

What is your favorite part of class?

I love a waltz—or something where we’re moving through the space and that I can make my own. 

What is your least favorite part of class?

Frappés. 

Shimon Ito lunges on his left leg facing upstage and holds Taylor Naturkas by the waist. Naturkas balances on pointe with her left leg bent and tucked underneath her and her right leg extended, and looks Ito as she leans back slightly in his arms. They wear pink and red tops, with Naturkas in a green skirt and Ito in matching pants.
With Shimon Ito in Pontus Lindberg’s Petrichor. Photo by Alexander Izilaev, courtesy Miami City Ballet.

Do you have a favorite spot at the barre?

I’m not too particular, but I love to stand near the piano.

Coffee or tea?

I recently got into matcha, but I still enjoy a latte or black coffee.

What is your pre-performance routine?

It depends on the day, and I’m not too superstitious. You’d have to be there to fully understand how my dressing-room mate Adrienne Carter and I get ready—it would make you laugh! But we have lots of fun, chocolate, and music. 

What are you watching right now?

“Love Island,” UK edition.

Taylor Naturkas, wearing a white tutu trimmed with feathers and a gold crown, does a low arabesque on pointe, leaning slightly on her partner's chest as he lunges behind her, their faces almost touching. A corps de ballet in white tutus balance in sus-sous on pointe behind them.
Naturkas with former MCB soloist Brooks Landegger in Alexei Ratmansky’s Swan Lake. Photo by Alexander Iziliaev, courtesy Miami CIty Ballet.

What are you reading right now?

I’m trying to read the ACOTAR [A Court of Thorns and Roses] series by Sarah J. Maas, but I just picked up Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke, as a recommendation from one of my close friends.

What are your three top favorite ballets to dance?

It’s so hard to choose…I’d say Firebird, by Balanchine; Herman Schmerman, by William Forsythe; and Swan Lake, by Alexei Ratmansky. More recently, I enjoyed dancing in Alexei’s Pictures at an Exhibition and Balanchine’s Tarantella and “Rubies.” In general, the rehearsal process is what really makes a ballet for me.

Taylor Naturkas, wearing a burgundy practice tutu, brown leotard and pink shrug, faces the camera and stands with her right foot propped onto pointe and her hands on her hips. She looks at the camera confidently.
Photo by Gary James.

What are three ballets you’d love to dance one day?  

Definitely The Cage, by Robbins, and Romeo and Juliet—specifically Jean-Christophe Maillot’s version. And I already did “the bomb squad” in Twyla Tharp’s In the Upper Room, but I would love to do “the stompers,” which looks like so much fun. I’d also jump at the chance to dance more Forsythe works.

Three words to describe yourself?

My friends would say I am compassionate, authentic, and supportive.

miami city ballet pointe july/august 2026 digital cover star quickfire questions taylor naturkas