by Amy Brandt | Feb 21, 2018 | Profiles, TBT
Whenever Debra Austin jumped, she soared—and not only onstage. Invited by George Balanchine to join New York City Ballet at age 16, she was the first African-American woman to enter the company. She later joined Zurich Ballet, returning to the U.S. to accept a...
by Julia Guiheen | Dec 20, 2017 | Everything Nutcracker, Profiles, TBT
Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov in The Nutcracker are simply iconic—two of the world’s most celebrated dancers in the world’s best-loved ballet. Starring as Clara and the Prince in American Ballet Theater’s 1977 made-for-television film,...
by Julia Guiheen | Dec 6, 2017 | Everything Nutcracker, Profiles, TBT
December is here and the holiday season—better known to ballet dancers as Nutcracker season—is in full swing. To celebrate, we’re throwing it back to Patricia Barker and Wade Walthall as Clara and the prince in Pacific Northwest Ballet’s 1986 Nutcracker:...
by Julia Guiheen | Nov 1, 2017 | TBT
Updated 4/12/23. When La Sylphide premiered at the Paris Opéra Ballet in 1832, it was an instant hit, establishing the romantic aesthetic and ushering in a golden age of French ballet. La Sylphide’s legacy is part of the fabric of the Paris Opéra Ballet—as is...
by Hannah Foster | Oct 11, 2017 | Profiles, TBT
Black Swan wasn’t the film industry’s first ballet-themed psychological drama. In The Red Shoes (1948), theater and life conflate, with tragic results for the dancer caught in the middle. Unlike Black Swan, however, The Red Shoes starred a real life...
by Julia Guiheen | Oct 4, 2017 | Profiles, TBT
Later this month, six dance companies from around the UK will come together to celebrate Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s life and works with performances at Covent Garden. As the program highlight, members of five different troupes will perform in the British...
by Julia Guiheen | Sep 13, 2017 | Profiles, TBT
This video from Sir Frederick Ashton’s The Dream will transport you to a warm, enchanted summer evening. In this clip from an American Ballet Theater performance from 2004, Alessandra Ferri and Ethan Stiefel play Titania and Oberon, rulers of the woodland fairy...
by Julia Guiheen | Aug 30, 2017 | Profiles, TBT
Lauren Anderson, a former star of Houston Ballet, broke down barriers when she became the company’s first African American principal ballerina in 1990. It was with enormous strength, personality and passion that she earned this elusive rank, as well as critical...