The musical-theater world loves to typecast, but Sam Faulkner (who uses “he/they” pronouns) is hard to classify.

Chicago Tap Theatre’s Sterling Harris is a study in dualities. An effervescent performer and budding choreographer, he’s an amalgam of his training in rhythm tap on Chicago’s South Side and in Billy Siegenfeld’s exuberant, theatrical Jump Rhythm technique via Northwestern University. “Sterling walks in the room and the energy shifts,” says CTT artistic director Mark […]

Myssi Robinson moves from the inside out. It’s as if she has conversations with every breath, registers them in her limbs, and then envelops the space. Whether in works by David Dorfman or Kyle Marshall, she masterfully mixes text and technique. Age: 30 Hometown: Richmond, Virginia Companies: Kyle Marshall Choreography, David Dorfman Dance Training: City […]

Last October, American Ballet Theatre’s Xuelan Lu stepped out of the corps for the first time, to perform a leading role in Twyla Tharp’s Deuce Coupe. As one of two dancers who open the ballet, she provided a kind of throughline from beginning to end. It’s not a role that requires flash, but it takes […]

During Kathryn Manger’s very first Nutcracker season with Pennsylvania Ballet in 2015, an injury and a hunch prompted artistic director Angel Corella to cast her in the role of Sugarplum Fairy. She learned it overnight. “That’s all quite rare for an apprentice,” says assistant artistic director Samantha Dunster, who has known the dancer since her […]