Search results for: Gillian Murphy

News of Note: What You Might Have Missed in June 2021

Here are the latest promotions, appointments and departures, as well as notable awards and accomplishments, from the last month. Comings & Goings Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui has been named director of Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, beginning June 2022. He will remain with Royal Ballet of Flanders until the close of its 2021–22 season. Cathy […]

Kevin McKenzie to Retire from American Ballet Theatre in 2022

Kevin McKenzie, American Ballet Theatre’s longtime artistic director, announced yesterday that he will retire at the end of 2022, after three decades at the helm. He will continue to oversee the company’s 2021–22 season while a search for his successor begins this summer. In an interview with The New York Times’ Rosalyn Sulcas, McKenzie noted […]

Stella Abrera's Final ABT Season Was Cut Short, But She's Looking to the Future

Stella Abrera’s name (“stella” means “star” in Latin) proved prophetic in the final stretch of her 24-year career at American Ballet Theatre. Abrera joined ABT’s corps de ballet in 1996, was promoted to soloist in 2001 and, finally, after an uncommonly lengthy stretch, principal in 2015, making her the first Filipina American to reach the […]

ABT Dancer Xuelan Lu on the Best and Worst Parts of Life in the Corps

Last October, American Ballet Theatre’s Xuelan Lu stepped out of the corps for the first time, to perform a leading role in Twyla Tharp’s Deuce Coupe. As one of two dancers who open the ballet, she provided a kind of throughline from beginning to end. It’s not a role that requires flash, but it takes […]

10 Times Our Fave Ballet Dancers Made Turning Actually Look Easy

At this point, you’d think we’d all be used to the level of technical absurdity Daniil Simkin achieves when he’s playing around in the studio. But then he did this: …and now we’re low-key appalled in the absolute best way. After we picked our jaws up from the floor, we were inspired to dig up […]

7 Tough-Love Lessons from the Legendary Irina Kolpakova

Being coached by a treasure like former Kirov prima Irina Kolpakova is an experience most dancers only dream of. But company members at American Ballet Theatre have been the lucky beneficiaries of her wisdom since 1990. Thanks to Instagram, where pros like Gillian Murphy and James Whiteside share snippets of their sessions with Kolpakova, any […]

9 of Our Favorite Valentine's Day Dancer Posts

No matter how much anti–Valentine’s Day sentiment I’m feeling in a given year, there’s something about dancer couples that still makes me swoon. Here’s a collection of wonderful posts from this year, but be warned: Continued scrolling is likely to give you a severe case of the warm fuzzies. Herman Cornejo got engaged! Herman Cornejo […]

54 Thoughts I Had Watching "Center Stage" for the First Time

I have a confession. Until today, I had never seen the seminal classic Center Stage. Now that you’ve picked your jaw up off the floor, allow me to explain. It’s not that I don’t love a good dance movie—I did my time with all but the most recent flicks in the Step Up franchise, my […]