As a teenager, Kansas City Ballet apprentice Amira Hogan spent many hours working with private coaches, polishing her solos for competitions like Youth America Grand Prix. Although the focused, individualized instruction ultimately helped her perform her best, Hogan remembers going into her first few coaching sessions full of nerves: “There were many times early on […] The post Working With a Coach for the First Time? Here’s How to Make the Most of It appeared first on Pointe Magazine ..read more

Becoming a professional ballet dancer is about more than technique and artistry. It’s about understanding the demands of the career and what it means to make dancing your full-time job. Indianapolis Ballet’s Professional Level Program, a new one-to-two-year program, is intentionally designed to support dancers in the transition from student life to professional ballet or higher […] The post Indianapolis Ballet’s Professional Level Program Pairs Balanchine Training With Company Performance Opps appeared first on Pointe Magazine ..read more

Nutcracker season is important for every ballet company, but this year is especially momentous for Ballet West. Not only is the company celebrating 80 years of its version of the production, but the ballet was also named a “living historic landmark” by the State of Utah legislature earlier this year, making it the first living […] The post Ballet West Celebrates 80 Years of America’s Oldest <i>Nutcracker</i> appeared first on Pointe Magazine ..read more

What happens when two ballet dancers with opinions on the dance industry and a shared sense of humor get together? For Louis DeFelice and Lucas Labrador, the founders of the dancewear brand Barre Trash, what started as a friendship has grown into a business and a community for dancers. DeFelice and Labrador met while dancing […] The post Meet the Dancing Duo Behind the Dancewear Brand “Barre Trash” appeared first on Pointe Magazine ..read more

It’s every dancer’s nightmare: You’re backstage, frantically wiggling out of one costume and throwing on the next. Your fingers are shaking so much that you can’t tuck your pointe shoe ribbons properly, or find the right row of hooks and eyes on your bodice. And where the heck did your bobby pins go? The music […] The post Costume Drama: How to Breeze Through a Stressful Quick Change appeared first on Pointe Magazine ..read more

Even to those on the periphery of the ballet world, The Nutcracker’s Sugar Plum Fairy is a familiar character. She appears on Christmas ornaments, wrapping paper, and on the pages of children’s storybooks. The celesta music that accompanies her variation is used in commercials around the world, and for many, those opening notes signal the […] The post The Sugar Plum Fairy May Be a Cultural Icon, but Who Is She Really? appeared first on Pointe Magazine ..read more

A dancer’s long leg reaches skyward as she tilts daringly far off pointe, before launching into a rapid-fire string of intricate steps. Her slinky upper body contrasts with the highly technical classicism of her legs. Her movement has a sense of expansive freedom that’s at once gutsy and elegant. If this aesthetic sounds familiar, that’s […] The post Celebrating 30 Years of Complexions Contemporary Ballet appeared first on Pointe Magazine ..read more

If your teachers have ever told you to fix the “chicken wings” (shoulder blades) sticking out of your back, what they’re really asking you to do is engage your serratus anterior muscle. This is a fan-shaped muscle that runs underneath each scapula and attaches to the upper rib cage. Certified Pilates instructor Kerry Shea, a […] The post 4 Serratus Anterior Exercises for a Strong, Supported Upper Body appeared first on Pointe Magazine ..read more

When Joelle Kimbrough, a junior ballet performance major at the University of Oklahoma, moved into a campus dorm, she discovered her neighbors liked to stay up late—and be loud. “It felt like a party vibe, which is expected when you have a whole bunch of 18-year-olds who are not at home,” Kimbrough says. “But I […] The post Handling the Challenges of College as a Pre-Pro Ballet Student appeared first on Pointe Magazine ..read more

Vladimir Shklyarov, a longtime principal dancer of the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg and an Honored Artist of Russia, died tragically over the weekend. A Mariinsky spokesperson told the Russian newspaper Fontanka that the 39-year-old passed away on November 16 after falling five stories from his balcony in St. Petersburg. According to Anna Kasatkina, the […] The post Mariinsky Ballet Star Vladimir Shklyarov Dies in Tragic Fall appeared first on Pointe Magazine ..read more