Juliet Doherty looking out from the Radio City Music Hall stage
A list of Clara alumnae from Radio City's Christmas Spectacular reads like a star-studded, international gala program: Tiler Peck and Brittany Pollack of New York City Ballet (and Broadway), Meaghan Grace Hinkis of The Royal Ballet, Whitney Jensen of Norwegian National Ballet and more. Madison Square Garden's casting requirements for the role are simple: The dancer should be 4' 10" and under, appear to be 14 years old or younger and have strong ballet technique and pointework.
The unspoken requisite? They need abundant tenacity at a very young age.
You could just drown in all the gorgeousness. Still via YouTube.
How is American Ballet Theatre gearing up for its fall season, October 17-28 at Lincoln Center? With an epic video featuring its dancers being their beautiful selves on a beautiful NYC rooftop, as you do.
Directed by dance-videographer-about-town Ezra Hurwitz, the vid features a slew of ABT standouts, including Misty Copeland, Isabella Boylston, Hee Seo, Calvin Royal III, and Catherine Hurlin, doing mind-bendingly beautiful things with the NYC skyline as a backdrop. They're living on the edge, quite literally—because nothing adds to the excitement of world-class ballet like a little bit of danger.
I have a guilty pleasure to confess: I kind of really, really love Le Corsaire.
I totally get why many people hate this ballet. Although it's loosely based on a Lord Byron poem, the plot as it exists in ballet form today is absurdly thin. More importantly, it's morally repugnant: Centered around the selling and stealing of sex slaves, it basically portrays women as weak, non-human objects, and Muslims as evil or buffoon-like. (Yep, the last stereotypes that need to be reinforced today.)
Much of the story is silly, unnecessary or nonsensical. Like how the women flirt coquettishly as they're being bought and sold. Or how in the end, the two lead characters survive a sinking ship solely because of "the strength of their love," as American Ballet Theatre's program notes put it.
