by Linnea Swarting | Apr 9, 2025 | Career, Company Life, Pointe+
At Atlanta Ballet’s 2024 premiere of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Coco Chanel: The Life of a Fashion Icon, I saw something for the first time in years: Not only was the performance virtually sold out, but the audience was buzzing with energy. Attendees dressed in black and...
by Steve Sucato | Dec 27, 2024 | Career, Company Life, Pointe+
Like many ballet companies in the U.S., Ballet Palm Beach grew out of its affiliate dance academy. Begun in 2001 by founding artistic and executive director Colleen Smith, the company has its roots in Smith’s dance school, the Esther Center, and its subsequent student...
by Sierra Hitchcock | Oct 28, 2024 | Career, Company Life, Pointe+
One of the most challenging, but fascinating, jobs artistic directors undertake is planning their company’s repertoire each year. Programming is a task that requires insight, forethought, and creativity. Here, four artistic directors share how they approach designing...
by Claudia Bauer | Sep 25, 2024 | Career, Pointe+, Profiles
The gold rush of 1863 put Boise, Idaho, on the map, but today the city is experiencing a boom of a different kind. As one of America’s fastest-growing cities—and ranked second on the 2024–25 U.S. News & World Report’s “Best Places to Live” list—Boise enjoys a...
by Emma Love Suddarth | Aug 7, 2024 | Career, Company Life, Pointe+
When Margaret Mullin, a former Pacific Northwest Ballet soloist, took the reins as artistic director of Ballet Tucson in the spring of 2022, she was coming back home. A Tucson native, Mullin had trained at the School of Ballet Tucson and returned at various points to...
by Steve Sucato | Jul 30, 2024 | News, The Latest
This past June, Columbus, Ohio’s BalletMet named Remi Wörtmeyer as its new artistic director. The choreographer, visual artist, fashion designer, and former dancer became BalletMet’s sixth director since its founding in 1978. He succeeds Edwaard Liang, who is now the...
by Steve Sucato | Mar 7, 2024 | Career, Company Life, Pointe+
Madison Ballet’s long-term goal of becoming a full-time professional ballet company finally came to fruition in 2022 with the hiring of new artistic director Ja’ Malik. Founded in 1981 as Wisconsin Dance Ensemble to produce an annual Nutcracker production, the...
by Kirsten Evans | Nov 21, 2023 | Career, Company Life, Everything "Nutcracker", Pointe+
Each November, when most of the country is slowing down in preparation for Thanksgiving, ballet dancers are ramping up for their busiest time of the year: Nutcracker season. But with notoriously intense rehearsal schedules eating up precious time and energy, it can be...