by Gavin Larsen | May 31, 2024 | Pointe+, Training
Grace Li trained hard at her local studio all through high school, and by her senior year she was excited to take the next step towards a ballet career. But she and her parents knew higher education was also in her future. After Li applied to both colleges and trainee...
by Amy Brandt | Aug 16, 2022 | The Latest, Training
Joffrey Ballet artistic director Ashley Wheater announced last month that the Joffrey Academy of Dance is starting a full-time Contemporary Ballet Trainee Program this fall. The school has appointed two new leaders to oversee the launch: Katlin Michael Bourgeois, who...
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 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 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...
by As Told To Helen Hope | May 20, 2021 | Training
Imagine taking all your academic classes with fellow dancers—plus actors, painters and musicians. Imagine spending all day, every day, on a campus designed and outfitted to support your total dedication to dance. If you’re a ballet dancer who attends a public or...
by Haley Hilton | May 10, 2021 | Training
Many dancers have goals of taking their training to the next level by attending full-time pre-professional programs next fall. But it’s hard to get to know the organizations without physically experiencing them first. Even when the world isn’t practicing...
by April Deocariza | Mar 11, 2021 | Career, Instagram, News, Profiles
Ashley Ellis has enjoyed a storied career that has taken her from American Ballet Theatre to Corella Ballet in Spain, and, during the last decade, to Boston Ballet, where she’s been a principal since 2013. She’s danced leading roles in works by George...