Today, American Ballet Theatre announced a new initiative to foster the development of choreography by company members and freelance dancemakers. Aptly titled ABT Incubator, the program, directed by principal David Hallberg, will give selected choreographers the opportunity to spend two weeks workshopping new dances. “It has always been my vision to establish a process-oriented hub […]

American Ballet Theatre artist in residence Alexei Ratmansky‘s latest full-length, a reconstruction of Marius Petipa’s Harlequinade, premieres tonight as part of ABT’s spring season. Here’s a glimpse of what it takes to produce a new ballet of this scale: It has been 10 months since American Ballet Theatre began planning its new production of Harlequinade, […]

It’s no secret that American Ballet Theatre’s artist in residence, Alexei Ratmansky, is obsessed with the choreography of Marius Petipa. Since 2007, he has been involved in reconstructions of several of Petipa’s ballets, starting with Le Corsaire for the Bolshoi and continuing through Paquita (2014), The Sleeping Beauty (2015) and Swan Lake (2016). As Ratmansky […]

When an anonymous letter accused former New York City Ballet leader Peter Martins of sexual harassment last year, it felt like what had long been an open secret—the prevalence of harassment in the dance world—was finally coming to the surface. But the momentum of the #MeToo movement, at least in dance, has since died down. […]

Many choreographers have been defeated by Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring. However, one dancemaker whose stridency, rhythmic daring and sheer inventiveness could possibly match Stravinsky’s is Wayne McGregor. For his first commission from American Ballet Theatre, McGregor has taken on this earth-cracking music in AFTERITE, to premiere at ABT’s Spring Gala. Also on the May 21 […]

The role of Harlequin in Marius Petipa’s comic ballet Harlequinade is one American Ballet Theatre dancer Gabe Stone Shayer knows quite well. He first performed a variation of the role when he was just nine years old. Today, he explores commedia dell’arte in Alexei Ratmansky’s new take on the ballet, premiering at the Metropolitan Opera […]

As a kid, I often had trouble getting any words out the way I really wanted to. I developed a fantasy where I could find each character from each story I read within myself, and use them to communicate. I was always “Evan,” but embodying different characters broadened the way I could connect with people. […]

Last week we wrote about how choreographer Alexei Ratmansky set off a Facebook firestorm with a post proclaiming that “there is no such thing as equality in ballet” when it comes to gender roles. Coming from one of today’s foremost choreographers in ballet, his words unsurprisingly drew hundreds of heated reactions. And maybe that was […]