Southern California becomes a destination for world-class training. Southern California gets a bad rap. It may be a destination for commercial dance careers, but when it comes to classical and contemporary dance, it’s long been overlooked. Former New York City Ballet star Jenifer Ringer sums up the prevailing myth: “In New York City, there […]
American Ballet Theatre has been spreading out its educational efforts. In 2011 it designated the University of North Carolina School of the Arts an affiliate school, and recently announced a joint series with Columbia University. But last week’s announcement was the biggest of all: ABT will join with Segerstrom Center for the Arts in […]
Although Los Angeles is a clear destination for commercial dance, it’s famously a place where ballet companies founder. And it’s not a big city for modern dance either. But during my visit there last week, I saw that things are changing. Los Angeles could become a mecca for dance students of all genres. At the […]
Following the retirements of the irreplaceable Jenifer Ringer and Janie Taylor, Wendy Perron called out five other extraordinary principal women who continue to electrify New York City Ballet performances. But that dynamism characterizes many of the company’s greenest dancers, too. During the past two or three seasons—thanks to the sheer amount of dancing NYCB does—audiences […]
L.A. is becoming a powerhouse center for dance training. Of course, there have long been mainstays like the Debbie Allen Dance Academy, Millennium Dance Complex and Edge Performing Arts Center, hotspots for commercial dancers. But now, smaller studios like The Sweat Spot and Pieter are drawing L.A.’s professional concert dancers to open classes. University of […]
When Jerome Robbins showed George Balanchine his work-in-progress to Chopin music, Mr. B said, “More, make more—like popcorn.” OK, so maybe you’ve heard that story—or maybe you’ve heard the version where Mr. B says peanuts, not popcorn. But there are some other tidbits you may not know about this divine masterpiece, to have its […]
Four major New York City Ballet stars recently announced that they will say goodbye next season. Jenifer Ringer and Jonathan Stafford—who are both also stars of city.ballet.—will be taking their final bows in the spring, as will husband-and-wife team Janie Taylor and Sébastien Marcovici. If you’ve been following city.ballet., you’ll know that Ringer (a […]
The short city.ballet. episodes may not have many extended dancing scenes, but they are unparalleled when it comes to showing the small details that make up a New York City Ballet dancer’s life. For example, in the third episode on the challenges of dancing in the corps de ballet, we get to see inside the […]
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