by Emily May | Apr 9, 2026 | Dance History, News, Onstage, Profiles, The Latest
These days, it’s de rigueur for ballet choreographers to incorporate modern-dance–inspired steps into their works, or for companies to commission pieces by contemporary choreographers—just think of Wayne McGregor, Sharon Eyal, and Crystal Pite. But this wasn’t always...
by Doug Fullington | Nov 26, 2025 | Career, Dance History, Pointe+, Training
Many versions of The Sleeping Beauty are performed by companies all over the world. While each of these has its own artistic value, their source is nearly always Marius Petipa’s original choreography, made for the St. Petersburg Imperial Ballet in 1890. As a dance...
by Amy Brandt | Sep 30, 2024 | News, The Latest
Today, the Joffrey Ballet is among the 10 largest and most financially robust companies in the U.S., and very much associated with its home city of Chicago. But many young dancers may not know much about its founder, Robert Joffrey, the company’s long tenure in New...
by Caedra Scott-Flaherty | Mar 11, 2024 | Career, Dance History, Pointe+, Profiles
If you were asked to name the influential ballet choreographers of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, you’d probably list a lot of men: Marius Petipa, Michel Fokine, Vaslav Nijinsky, George Balanchine, Frederick Ashton. Maybe, if you really knew your stuff, you’d...
by Martha Anne Toll | Apr 12, 2022 | News, The Latest
Toni Bentley reached ballet’s heights as part of the last group of New York City Ballet dancers to work with George Balanchine. Even before a hip injury forced her into early retirement, she had penned Winter Season: A Dancer’s Journal, a beautiful take on daily life...
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 G. Phillips | Feb 8, 2021 | Dance History, 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 | Dance History, 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...
