by Kyra Laubacher | Nov 4, 2024 | News, Onstage, The Latest
What if Odette and Siegfried were brother and sister, not lovers? What if Odette might ultimately want to remain a swan? In Norwegian National Ballet dancer and choreographer Cina Espejord’s A Tale About Swan Lake, questions like these guide new twists on the classic...
by Kyra Laubacher | Oct 7, 2024 | News, The Latest
While it’s always important to thank your accompanist after class or rehearsal, ballet dancers can take an extra moment to show their appreciation on October 9 for the first-ever World Ballet Pianists Day. Created by Massimiliano Greco, main pianist and head of the...
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 Julia Rosica | Jul 8, 2020 | TBT
It’s not often that you get to see eight principal dancers sharing a stage, but Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky’s centennial is a special circumstance. In a 1993 gala honoring the composer, former Royal Ballet principals Darcey Bussell and Zoltan Solymosi, Leanne...
by Hannah Chang Foster | Mar 21, 2019 | News, Profiles
Without him we wouldn’t have The Nutcracker, Swan Lake or Sleeping Beauty. But how much do you know about Pytor Ilyich Tchaikovsky, the man behind classical ballet’s most recognizable music? Did you know that the Russian composer hid his homosexuality for...
by Chava Pearl Lansky | Dec 10, 2017 | Career, Dance History, Everything "Nutcracker"
Literary Roots E.T.A. Hoffmann, a German writer, penned the eerie and dark tale “Nutcracker and Mouse King” in 1816. About 30 years later, the French writer Alexandre Dumas took the Nutcracker story into his own hands, lightening things up and softening...