Superhuman. Otherworldly. Next-level. Jeffrey Cirio has reached the top rank of three world-renowned companies—Boston Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and English National Ballet.

“My favorite thing in the whole world is to laugh,” she says. “Making people smile is one of the greatest gifts, and if I can do that, then my work here is done.”

Since joining NYCB, Woodward has delighted onlookers with her mix of elegant classicism and ebullient pluck. Both offstage and on it, she brings a warmth and generosity that make her appear just as at home in the Sugarplum Fairy’s mint-green tutu as it does in the minimalist gold lamé leotards of Pam Tanowitz’s Bartók Ballet.

Her Insta posts are reposted and slid into DMs like old-school mixtapes. Ballet celebs and novices alike are enamored with her technique and versatility, her infectious charm and humility.

As a rising senior at the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, Rena Butler asked Amber Lee Parker to create her graduation solo. Parker, a Purchase alumna, was then dancing with choreographer Kyle Abraham’s company. To suss out Butler’s ways of working, Parker invited the 21-year-old to a rehearsal on a hot summer day in […]

Maybe even more than most industries, the dance field is obsessed with youth. We fawn over prodigies, we love to predict the next big thing. Yes, Dance Magazine itself is 100 percent guilty of this, with features like “25 to Watch” and On the Rise. But just because a performing career can be short doesn’t […]

There are two sides to Edward Watson, the mold-breaking principal who is bidding farewell to The Royal Ballet this fall. Wayne McGregor and Christopher Wheeldon, who have created landmark roles for him over the past two decades, both call him “shy,” and the 45-year-old agrees, describing himself bashfully as “quite tense about my abilities.” Yet, […]

A New York City subway car in the dead of summer 2005 was an unlikely setting for Britt Stewart to launch her career. But soon-to-be Emmy Award–winning choreographer Bonnie Story had spent the previous week quietly watching Stewart (then just 15 years old) compete at New York City Dance Alliance, and knew she was the […]