This week’s episode features a special live presentation of See the Music, hosted by Associate Music Director Andrews Sill and Resident Conductor Clotilde Otranto. With a little help from the New York City Ballet Orchestra, they explore the combination of old and new, romantic and acrobatic in Igor Stravinsky’s commissioned score for George Balanchine’s Agon. As Otranto notes, Agon displays Stravinsky’s creativity in “full bloom.” (10:39) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: Symphony in Three Movements (1945) by Igor Stravinsky Agon (1953-56) by Igor Stravinsky All music performed by New York Cit ..read more

Host and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is back with another New Combinations episode, chatting with long-time friend, former ballet partner, and Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. He describes his journey from Royal Ballet dancer to New York City Ballet to Broadway and back again, with first new work for the Company in six years premiering on May 4. As Wheeldon shares, the “turbulent beauty” of artist Kylie Manning’s work was a major inspiration in the studio as he wrestled with the Schoenberg score; their collaboration, along with that of the dancers, helped bri ..read more

Our special two-part episode of Hear the Dance continues with former Principal Dancers Allegra Kent and Jared Angle exploring Kent’s career at New York City Ballet, zeroing in on two key roles: the Sleepwalker in La Sonnambula, and the lead in Agon. Kent shares that she was coached extensively by Balanchine for La Sonnambula—the first ballet Kent saw onstage, and immediately fell in love with—but perhaps learned most from an impromptu session with originating dancer Alexandra Danilova at a bus stop. Beginning as an understudy for Principal Dancer Diana Adams, Kent performed Agon, which she des ..read more

Host and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is back with another intimate and insightful New Combinations conversation. Choreographer Alysa Pires joins Wendy between rehearsals for her first NYCB stage commission, discussing her childhood and training in Canada, the uniquely collaborative relationship she has developed with composer Jack Frerer, and the challenges—and rewards—of balancing motherhood and her artistic career. Alysa says of her time with the Company so far that she is like the coloring book; "the way that that’s colored in, maybe going outside the lines here and there, is r ..read more

For the latest See the Music episode, host and Associate Music Director Andrews Sill do-si-dos with George Balanchine’s Square Dance. Sills demonstrates with recordings of traditional square dance calls and excerpts from the Vivaldi and Corelli score the ways in which the fiddlers of the former connect with the solo violins of the latter, and how this 1957 ballet contributed to the choreographer’s efforts to build a trusting American audience for the classical art form. (15:14) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music:  Symphony in Three Movements (1945) by Igor Stravinsky. Square Dance (1969) by ..read more

Host Jared Angle returns for this season’s first Hear the Dance episode, focusing on 1978’s Kammermusik No. 2. Jared is joined by Soloist Daniel Applebaum and Corps de Ballet Member Lars Nelson to discuss the only Balanchine work with an all-male corps and the communal feeling they share when performing this challenging ballet. They describe the ways in which certain hieroglyphic moments give them the sense of being a vessel for a larger, “inhuman" architecture in what originating dancers referred to as Mr. B’s "Star Wars” ballet, premiering a year after the sci-fi classic. (33:32)  Edite ..read more

This week, The Rosin Box host Claire Kretzschmar talks with Principal Dancers Megan Fairchild and Isabella LaFreniere about promotions within the Company and their experiences moving up the ranks. Megan shares the struggles she faced after being promoted to principal less than five years after joining as an apprentice, while Isabella describes the lessons she learned and gratitude she felt during her earlier years as a corps de ballet member. They both highlight the unique pressures and responsibilities of each rank, and reveal their favorite principal roles. (54:55)  Edited by Emilie Sil ..read more

Join us at The Rosin Box for a winter highlights chat with host Claire Kretzschmar and Corps de Ballet Members Mary Elizabeth Sell and Anna Snellgrove. Mary, who has been dancing with NYCB for 18 years, describes the unique challenges and joys of performing in The Sleeping Beauty while in her third trimester; Anna remarks on the full-circle experiences of her first year in the Company, including debuting in Donizetti Variations with a day’s notice; and the trio reflect on the most recent world premieres to hit the stage. (41:01) Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by Pink Mar ..read more

Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky joins Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan to discuss Voices, his most recent ballet for NYCB, which premiered at the Company’s annual New Combinations evening on January 30, 2020. Ratmansky describes his early career as a dancer in Kiev, the importance of watching bootleg VHS dance recordings in his early development as a choreographer, and how he came to set a ballet to Peter Ablinger’s complex, avant-garde composition, Voices & Piano. (34:06) Originally released January 20, 2020 Edited by Emilie Silvestri Music: "Sisyphus" by Andrew Wegman Bird Wixen M ..read more

Three sailors walk into a podcast studio… and chat with Hear the Dance host and Principal Dancer Jared Angle about Jerome Robbins’ first ballet, Fancy Free, choreographed on the American Ballet Theatre in 1944. Fellow Principal Dancers Tyler Angle, Daniel Ulbricht, and Andrew Veyette describe the importance of developing their individual characters—the “shy” midwestern farm boy, the short-fused “tough guy,” and the “cool” know-it-all, respectively—and the camaraderie they share, recalling the collaboration between Robbins and composer Leonard Bernstein, who were just 25 years old when they cre ..read more