The Actually-Good News You Might Have Missed in the Last Month

With the circumstances created by the pandemic changing from day to day, looking to the future right now can feel particularly fraught, if not downright farcical. But in the face of so much uncertainty, pausing to celebrate the good news when it comes is as important as it’s ever been. Here are the latest promotions […]

5 Veteran Ballet Dancers on What It Takes to Survive Nutcracker

Few people who are busier during the holidays than corps members of American ballet companies. December is officially Nutcracker season—a company’s chance to earn a huge chunk of their revenue for the year, and a dancer’s chance to go a little, ahem, nuts, waltzing and swallowing fake snow night after night for weeks on end. […]

How Can Companies Retain Family Audiences Post-Nutcracker?

Most ballet administrators will admit that they hear the tinkling of a celesta each December and think “Ka-ching!” Performing The Nutcracker generates revenue to fund the remainder of many companies’ seasons. But what if families didn’t wait 12 months to return? While not every 6-year-old is ready to sit through Swan Lake, some enterprising troupes […]

Celebrating 75 Years of Sugar Plum

America’s oldest Nutcracker celebrates its milestone 75th anniversary this month. Willam Christensen created his production for San Francisco Ballet in 1944—the first full-length version in the U.S.—but it has been a fixture of Ballet West’s repertory since 1963, when he became the company’s founding artistic director. The tradition that launched our nationwide holiday fixation on […]

The Sophomore Slump Can Hit Dancers Hard—Here's How to Beat It

You did it: You landed the job, a spot at the pre-professional school of your dreams or at the best-of-the-best university dance program. And that first year was hard, and exhilarating. But since then, the shiny new has worn off, and the patina of the everyday has left you in a rut. The sophomore slump […]

How the Dance World is Celebrating a Century of Merce Cunningham

Throughout 2019, the Merce Cunningham Trust continues a global celebration that will be one of the largest tributes to a dance artist ever. Under the umbrella of the Merce Cunningham Centennial are classes and workshops, film screenings and festivals, art exhibitions and symposia, and revivals and premieres of original works inspired by the dancemaker’s ideas. […]

What Ballet Directors Look for During an Audition Class

Audition classes may not differ much from any other class—but directors have ways of sussing out who has what they’re looking for. We spoke to three artistic directors to get their perspective from the front of the room. Show You’re Adaptable Lopez says that dancers must have a clean, classical foundation. Alexander Iziliaev, Courtesy Miami […]

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