by Lucy Van Cleef | Jul 19, 2022 | Training
When David Hallberg entered the Paris Opéra Ballet School during his final year of training at age 17, he remembers feeling like a fish out of water. “I wasn’t prepared for the cultural shock. Not only the language, but the mannerisms, style, technique,” he...
by Katie Slattery | Jul 13, 2022 | Summer Study, Training
LeeAnaca Moore, a conservatory student at Florida Ballet, has a busy summer ahead. She’ll be attending the Alonzo King LINES Ballet Summer Program for three weeks, followed by a four-week summer intensive at Philadelphia Ballet. She then plans to stay on at...
by Alexandra Martin | Jun 13, 2022 | Health & Body
Ballet is a performing art that prides itself on the aesthetics of physical alignment. We train from a young age with the underlying message that our bodies should be symmetrical. But what if your physical stature is inherently out of balance? While almost everybody’s...
by Gavin Larsen | May 9, 2022 | Training
Today, Ben Lepson is a corps member with Miami City Ballet. But as a teenager at the School of American Ballet, he struggled—and not just with demanding classes. Almost all his classmates lived in SAB’s residences, but Lepson, a native New Yorker, commuted every day...
by Kathleen McGuire | Oct 12, 2021 | Career
As Jenna Rae Herrera neared the end of her second season with Ballet West II, she knew she would either get a company contract or move on to a new, more uncertain future. “I had fallen in love with this company, and it felt like such a good fit,” she remembers. But a...
by Grace Young, PhD | Sep 10, 2021 | Career, Higher Ed
People often ask me about my ballet background because it seems like strange preparation for an engineering career. To me it’s not peculiar at all. Ballet taught me many of the skills I use to excel in both the classroom and technical fields. When Royal Ballet first...
by Katie Slattery | Sep 2, 2021 | Technique
Some dancers may seem born to turn, but most of us spend years in the studio working to improve our pirouettes and fouettés. Is there a secret to turning well? Magaly Suárez, founder and artistic director of The Art of Classical Ballet in Pompano Beach, Florida, has...
by Amy Brandt | Jun 7, 2021 | Ask Amy
I’ve always wanted to be a ballerina. Nothing makes me happier than when I’m performing on a stage. I want to pursue this career, but so much goes along with it. How do I mentally and physically prepare myself for when I’m old enough to get into a...