Across the pond in London, dancers at The Royal Ballet are busy gearing up for an exciting new debut. For the first time ever, edgy and theatrical contemporary choreographer Crystal Pite is creating a work on the company. (This season, she’s become even more of an “it girl,” gaining ground in the ballet world with a premiere at the Paris […]

Increased confidence. Better range of motion. Improved balance. A sense of freedom. Most dancers, including those who are blind or partially sighted, would say that ballet training teaches all of these. Though dance is a highly visual art form, there’s no denying the kinesthetic reward of moving the body. That’s exactly why these students attend […]

Principal dancer with The Royal Ballet PC Alice Pennefather, Courtesy ROH Love is a struggle, and so is my love of dance. It is not the same love that so many little girls think they have for ballet. That is a love of pink and puff, a desire to be a princess. That early concept […]

A King Re-Gendered Setterfield in Lear. Photo by Patrick Moore, courtesy NYLA. Play King Lear? Valda Setterfield has done so many other things that when she turned 79, she felt ripe for the challenge. At the request of Irish maverick choreographer John Scott, she played (and danced) the plagued king in Ireland two years ago, […]

Pale, intense and writhing in black slime, The Royal Ballet’s Edward Watson made an indelible impression on Americans on his 2013 tour. The Londoner’s extraordinary performance as the hapless insect-man in Arthur Pita’s ballet version of Kafka’s The Metamorphosis was as far from the English ballet’s celebrated lyricism as is possible to conceive. America’s next […]

Principal dancer with The Royal Ballet Adrenaline junkie: Steven McRae in David Dawson’s The Human Seasons. Photo by Bill Cooper, courtesy ROH. The first time I experienced a true sense of freedom was in my first dance lesson: I was 7 years old, and my jazz teacher told me to spin as fast as I […]

Melissa Hamilton’s late start should have prevented a ballet career. Instead, it pushed her to unthinkable heights.  Photo by Nathan Sayers The first thing you notice about Melissa Hamilton is the classical beauty of her lines: the dainty features, the long arms, the sinewy legs and gorgeously arched feet. Yet The Royal Ballet first soloist […]

This summer’s Vail International Dance Festival features the biggest stars in dance.   Lil Buck and Tiler Peck at Vail 2013. Photo by Erin Baiano, Courtesy Vail.   Since Damian Woetzel took over Colorado’s Vail International Dance Festival in 2007, audiences have come to expect novelty: diverse styles of dance, collaborations between of-the-moment stars and […]