by Lydia Murray | Aug 16, 2022 | Black History Month, Profiles
History’s rare gems often languish in the shadows of what might have been, and ballet is no exception. Those credited with shaping the artform—usually choreographers, principal dancers and impresarios—become legends, while corps de ballet members mostly go...
by Toba Singer | Jun 21, 2021 | Profiles
Last month, the legendary Italian ballerina Carla Fracci passed away at the age of 84. A star whose name was eponymous for La Scala Ballet in Milan, she went on to have an international career with companies including The Royal Ballet and American Ballet Theatre. Over...
by Zoe Phillips | Feb 8, 2021 | Instagram, News, The Latest, Training
Last week, Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet celebrated the start of Black History Month with the launch of The Constellation Project, a star-studded online exhibition of dance history. The project maps the lives of six influential Black dancers—Arthur Mitchell, Mel...
by Caroline Hamilton | Dec 21, 2020 | Instagram
The tutu has become the symbol of the ballerina. But what is the history of this strange protruding skirt which allegedly gets its name from the French children’s word cucu, meaning “bottom”? Pointe took a look back at some important moments in...
by Joseph Carman | Jun 10, 2018 | Career
Two hundred is the new 30. Or at least it seems so for Marius Petipa, whose ballets are as active as ever as we celebrate his 200th birthday this year. Nearly all major ballet companies dance Petipa’s iconic ballets, which reflect his prolific creative output....
by Amy Brandt | Sep 11, 2017 | Career, Profiles
This year marks the 50th anniversary of George Balanchine’s Jewels, and companies around the world are paying homage. While last summer’s Lincoln Center Festival collaboration with New York City Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet and Bolshoi Ballet was all...
by Caroline Hamilton | Jul 28, 2017 | Uncategorized
This year, the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in Becket, Massachusetts, is celebrating its 85th season. Over the years, some of the world’s greatest dancers of the 20th and 21st century have performed here. But without the help of two of Britain’s...
by Amy Brandt | Jul 10, 2017 | Career
Ballet’s earliest history can be traced as far back as the royal courts of Renaissance Italy (roughly 200 years before France’s King Louis the XIV established the first ballet academy in 1661). Surprisingly, many of these court dances were written down and...