Susan Jaffe will succeed Kevin McKenzie as American Ballet Theatre’s new artistic director, starting in December 2022.

No one would blame Susan Jaffe if she wanted a mulligan on her first season at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Taking over from longtime artistic director Terrence S. Orr in the middle of 2020 upended any expectations of a smooth transition into her first artistic directorship. Nonetheless, since starting at the post in July, she’s tackled […]

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 […]

Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre announced today that former American Ballet Theatre principal Susan Jaffe will succeed Terrence Orr as artistic director of the company, effective July 1. Jaffe becomes PBT’s seventh artistic director and only the second female director in the company’s history. Dubbed “America’s Quintessential American Ballerina” by The New York Times, Jaffe comes to […]

If you ask Luca Sbrizzi what he remembers about performing Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, he can provide you with a laundry list of his mistakes. “Although I remember feeling an incredible connection to my partner and hearing comments afterwards on how moving and beautiful our performance was, those are not the first things that […]

As graduation day looms, college seniors might find themselves reeling with both excitement and dread. “They have to navigate this tender moment where they’re opening their wings and about to jump out of the dance department and wondering if the ground is going to catch them,” says Courtney Harris, interim chair of the dance and […]

Update: Additional perspectives have been added to this story as more responses have come in. When news about the lawsuit against New York City Ballet and Chase Finlay emerged last week, plaintiff Alexandra Waterbury, a former School of American Ballet student, told The New York Times: “Every time I see a little girl in a […]

Since its founding in 1999, more than 80,000 ballet dancers have participated in Youth America Grand Prix events. While more than 450 alumni are currently dancing in companies across the world, the vast majority—tens of thousands—never turn that professional corner. And these are just the statistics from one competition. “You may have the best teacher […]