Roman Mejia is only 19, and he has the energy to prove it; in the studio and onstage at New York City Ballet, this standout corps member bursts with a kind of uncontainable ebullience. Like his idol, Edward Villella, he specializes in extroverted, allegro roles: Puck in A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Candy Cane in The […]

Here are the latest promotions, appointments and transfers, plus notable awards and accomplishments from the last month. Comings & Goings Alejandro Cerrudo has been named Pacific Northwest Ballet’s first resident choreographer. Kyle Davis has been promoted to principal. Paris Opéra Ballet étoile Eleonora Abbagnato will give her final performance May 18. Manuel Legris has been […]

With the premiere of Voices at New York City Ballet, Alexei Ratmansky has challenged ballet conventions in breathtaking ways. Can we now count him as a “postmodern” choreographer? In the areas of music, gender and curtain behavior, he has wittily dashed expectations. Just as pianist Stephen Gosling begins to play, you hear a voice speaking […]

For decades the name Alicia Alonso has been virtually synonymous with Ballet Nacional de Cuba, the company she co-founded in Havana in 1948. Alonso died on October 17, just shy of what would have been her 99th birthday. In recent years, she had stepped back from day-to-day decision-making in the company. As if preparing for […]

Just before retiring in 2015, Sylvie Guillem appeared on “HARDtalk with Zeinab Badawi,” the BBC’s hard-hitting interview program. Badawi told Guillem, “Clement Crisp of the Financial Times, 14 years ago, described your dancing as vulgar.” Guillem responded, “Yeah, well, he said that. But at the same time, when they asked Margot Fonteyn what she thought […]

This month, American Ballet Theatre principal David Hallberg sees the first test of his directorial chops with the launch of ABT Incubator, the company’s latest initiative to promote the creation of new ballets, particularly by in-house talent. For the first iteration, the choreographers were selected by a panel comprising Hallberg, ABT artistic director Kevin McKenzie, […]

We might have gotten a little bit carried away with this year’s “Season Preview”—but with the 2018–19 season packing so many buzzy shows, how could we not? Here are over two dozen tours, premieres and revivals that have us drooling. A Night of Natalia Osipova—With David Hallberg David Hallberg and Natalia Osipova have a rare, […]

What do Alexei Ratmansky and rising Israeli star Sharon Eyal have in common? Both have had creations partly funded by an innovative new organization: FEDORA, which was launched in 2014 as a tribute to composer Rolf Liebermann by French arts patron Jérôme-François Zieseniss to promote innovation and collaboration in ballet and opera across Europe. Since […]