by Jennifer Heimlich | Feb 19, 2024 | News, Onstage, The Latest
In a studio rehearsal for Boston Ballet’s new Raymonda, principals Ji Young Chae and Jeffrey Cirio run through the dream scene pas de deux with a liquid elegance that camouflages their heavy breathing. It’s only when the music stops and Cirio puts his hands on his...
by Kyra Laubacher for Dance Teacher | May 31, 2023 | News, Onstage, The Latest
In 2019, two leaders from Phoenix’s youth arts scene bumped into each other at a Phoenix Symphony rehearsal. Maria Simonetti, who directs the School of Ballet Arizona, recalls being impressed with conductor Matthew Kasper’s work and introduced herself. Delighted...
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 Steve Sucato | Mar 30, 2022 | Onstage, The Latest
On April 3, Dutch National Ballet presents the crown jewel in its 60th-anniversary season: a new, full-length production of Raymonda, the company’s first. “Raymonda is one of the greatest classical ballets,” says DNB artistic director Ted Brandsen. “It is...
by April Deocariza | Jan 4, 2022 | Onstage, The Latest
Updated 01/06/2022 This month, English National Ballet artistic director and lead principal Tamara Rojo will add another title to her growing list of credentials: choreographer. For her choreographic debut, Rojo decided to revisit a classic from the ballet canon,...
by Julia Guiheen | Mar 18, 2020 | TBT
The Bolshoi Ballet’s Ekaterina Shipulina was promoted to principal rank in late 2011, after over 13 years of dancing with the company. Yet from the earliest days of her career, her performances revealed the makings of a leading ballerina. In this 2003 clip of...
by Julia Guiheen | Nov 6, 2019 | TBT
Noëlla Pontois, the striking, lithe and fiercely technical former étoile of the Paris Opera Ballet, was renown for her interpretation of aristocratic roles in 19th-century ballets. In this 1983 performance from Rudolf Nureyev’s production of Raymonda, Pontois is...
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....