Midway through Harald Lander’s one-act ballet Etudes, part of the Royal Danish Ballet’s Giant Steps mixed-bill this season, a ballerina wearing a white, romantic tutu enters the Old Stage at the Royal Danish Theatre. The corps, which has been demonstrating classroom steps, disperses as she performs delicate and understated choreography: skimming bourrées, lilting port de bras, and carefully placed walks on pointe. Both her carriage and costume are reminiscent of the Sylph’s in August Bournonville’s La Sylphide (1836). This solo within Lander’s homage to classical ballet training, which premi ..read more

Alberta Ballet School believes that no student should have to compromise their education for their ballet training. For its Professional Division Grade 7–12 program, “it is our philosophy that education and dance training need to be equally prioritized so that all opportunities and pathways are there for our students,” says ABS director Ashley McNeil. Through its own on-site private academic school, students earn their high school diplomas, and, notes McNeil, “the education system in Alberta is well known around the world for its academic prowess.” The ..read more

British choreographer Cathy Marston is no stranger to transforming literature into ballet. With her long-time collaborator, dramaturg Edward Kemp, she’s adapted everything from John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men to Charlotte Brontё’s Jane Eyre for the stage, mounting her productions on companies including The Joffrey Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre. Now, for her first new creation as the artistic director of Ballet Zurich, Marston presents her take on Atonement, Ian McEwan’s 2001 novel that meditates on guilt and self-deception through the story of Briony Tallis, the no ..read more

Pacific Northwest Ballet principal Kyle Davis has had a longtime dream of bringing professional ballet to his hometown of Green Bay, Wisconsin. Five years ago, he and his fiancée, fellow PNB principal Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan, decided to make it happen. The couple started conversations with community leaders in the Green Bay area, including Kelli Strickland, executive and artistic director of Green Bay’s Weidner Center for the Performing Arts, and the team set plans in motion. Then a familiar obstacle rose: the pandemic. “We honestly thought it was the end,” says Davis, “and that the idea wasn’t g ..read more

New York City’s midtown streets were abuzz with bunheads last week—it seemed everywhere you looked, you’d see large groups of young dancers, hair slicked and garment bags in tow, rushing to a studio or to Lincoln Center’s Koch Theater for Youth America Grand Prix. It was a nostalgic moment; for much of its 25-year history, YAGP, the world’s largest student ballet scholarship competition, held its Final Round in New York City. It relocated its finals to Tampa during the pandemic—it’s logistically easier and more affordable for dancers and their families, said Larissa Saveliev, YAGP’s founder an ..read more

When it comes to her dance bag, Anais Bueno takes a practical, no-frills approach. “I don’t really need a lot, and I’ve always carried the same things,” says the Joffrey Ballet artist. She’s relied on her LeSportsac bag since she first joined the company 11 years ago. “It’s very durable, and I like the size, too,” says Bueno, who hails from Mexico. “It’s not too big and yet I can fit most of my stuff in it. And I like that it has shorter straps—it stays up by my shoulder and doesn’t interfere with my tutu when I’m backstage.” Another item she’s had for years: a striped Juicy Couture pouch, whi ..read more

Ballet-book lovers are in for a treat this spring with the release of Karen Valby’s The Swans of Harlem: Five Black Ballerinas, Fifty Years of Sisterhood, and their Reclamation of a Groundbreaking History (Penguin Random House, $29). Valby’s book, out April 30, reports on five women who were the bedrock of Arthur Mitchell’s Dance Theatre of Harlem. Lydia Abarca Mitchell was a prima ballerina for the troupe, and the first Black ballerina to grace the cover of Dance Magazine. Gayle McKinney-Griffith and Sheila Rohan were founding company members, as well, while Karlya Shelton and Marcia Sells we ..read more

In 1989, Ariel Serrano, then 17, and Carlos Acosta, 15, were selected from among hundreds of peers at the Cuban National Ballet School to spend a year dancing in Italy as part of a cultural exchange. That year, which Acosta recalls as one of the most beautiful of his life, opened their eyes to the world, ignited their careers, and sealed their friendship for life. Acosta, now artistic director of Birmingham Royal Ballet, would, of course, go on to worldwide fame, dancing internationally and as a principal with The Royal Ballet in London; he retired from The Royal in 2015, then founded Acosta D ..read more

When Youth America Grand Prix was founded 25 years ago, ballet training experienced a big shift. While elite international ballet competitions have existed for decades, YAGP’s model helped democratize them by granting access to any student wishing to participate. Not only did it give young dancers an opportunity to gain valuable performance experience and feedback, it offered a platform for them to be seen by top school directors and considered for placement and scholarships. Since then, several other ballet competitions have entered the scene that are similarly education-focused. Performing i ..read more

Minori Sakita recalls being rather naïve about how to effectively cross-train when she was starting out in her career. “I used to always go to the gym when I was in my first year in the corps, but I would be exhausted or get hurt,” she explains. “There was no strength training, and if there was, it was something very little.”  With the guidance of her former Tulsa Ballet colleague, Chong Sun, a National Council on Strength and Fitness personal trainer, Sakita was able to learn the basics of cross-training and maintaining proper form. Now a Cincinnati Ballet first soloist, Sakita has a tho ..read more