Ballet News and Views
By Linda Bernstein | Articles and photos showcasing premiere and up-and-coming dancers and companies. Soundtrack on mobile.
Veronika Part of American Ballet Theater Announces Her Retirement
Veronika Part, the Russian-born ballerina who has been a principal dancer with American Ballet Theater since 2009, will retire from the company at the end of this season.<p>Her final performance will be on Saturday afternoon alongside the soloists Blaine Hoven and Arron Scott in George Balanchine’s …
Metropolitan OperaAshton at the Royal Ballet review – miraculous moves and romantic rapture
Royal Opera House, London The company’s founder choreographer Frederick Ashton is celebrated in a sensational triple bill that captures his spirit and style<p>Shortly before his death in 1988, Frederick Ashton grew fretful about the future of his ballets. He worried that he was falling out of fashion, …
Watch the Bolshoi Ballet preview of their Ballet in Cinema season: world premiere trailer
The Bolshoi is one of the world’s great powerhouses of classical ballet.<p>Under director Vladimir Urin and ballet director Makhar Vaziev, the company continues to look as sharp as a razor, its dancers demonstrating, as ever, the grand, dramatic, “bolshoi” (“big”) performance style that has long been …
BalletA Memoir From David Hallberg on Ballet, the Bolshoi and His Injury
David Hallberg, the American Ballet Theater and Bolshoi Ballet principal, has written a memoir, “A Body of Work: Dancing to the Edge and Back,” which will be published on Nov. 7 by Touchstone, an imprint of Simon & Schuster.<p>In a statement on Thursday, the publishers said that the memoir would cover …
Wendy Whelan: The First Time I Danced a Balanchine Ballet (the Day He Died)
My first performance in a Balanchine ballet took place 34 years ago, on April 30, 1983. It was a day that will forever be marked in the history books because it also happened to be the day Balanchine died.<p>I was given the sad news about the legendary choreographer around 11 a.m. as I was prepping to …
Taking Flight: Julie Kent at Washington Ballet
WASHINGTON — Almost exactly two years ago, the ballerina Julie Kent stood onstage at the Metropolitan Opera House, eyes brimming with tears, and bade farewell to her 30-year dancing career at American Ballet Theater. (She was 45.) Her ballerina days were over, but she didn’t have much time to …
Review: Alexei Ratmansky’s Ballet ‘Whipped Cream’ Is a Candyland Triumph
American Ballet Theater’s gala at the Metropolitan Opera House on Monday was a triumph on many levels. Alexei Ratmansky’s two-act “Whipped Cream,” an exuberantly nutty piece, new this March, in which a candy shop coming to life is only the start of the tale’s subversive craziness — made its New …
On the Frivolities of Ballet, the Contradictory Art
Is ballet a serious art or a frivolous one? Very often, it’s both at the same time. Since frivolous means “lacking in seriousness” — also lightweight, flippant, of little weight or importance — that would seem a contradiction in terms.<p>But ballet abounds in self-contradictions. It continually shows …
Misty Copeland, a Ballerina With Real Acting Chops
Misty Copeland isn’t one of those principals who step onstage a few times a season. She dances. A lot.<p>“It’s crazy how I took jumping for granted all these years,” Ms. Copeland, 34, said as she stretched out on the floor between rehearsals at American Ballet Theater’s studios. Stella Abrera, a …
Behind The Tutus, Ballet Is A Boys' Club. This Ballerina Wants To Fix That.
The ballerina may be the visual symbol of the art form, but men wield most of the creative control.<p>Ballerina Ashley Bouder is crying. She’s standing alone in a rehearsal studio in front of 20 or so dance journalists and several funders of her small self-titled ballet company, and she’s crying. And …
Balletmolehill GIF
Discover & Share this molehill GIF with everyone you know. GIPHY is how you search, share, discover, and create GIFs.
Inside Boston Ballet’s record-smashing season
What happens when big data meets classical dance? Judging from Boston Ballet’s record-breaking 2015-16 season, you get a high-tech pas de deux in …
Bolshoi Ballet: the first Soviet invasion
This summer’s appearance in London by the Bolshoi Ballet marks the 60th anniversary of the Moscow troupe’s first season at Covent Garden. I remember …
BalletBallet superstar Misty Copeland gets her own Barbie doll
Misty Copeland Barbie Doll. Photographer Dennis Di Laura<p>Pinning their buns in place and slipping on their pink shoes, dancers at the San Pedro Ballet …
Boston Ballet casts a spell with latest ‘Swan Lake’
It’s no surprise that after more than 100 years, “Swan Lake” is still considered one of the most beloved of all classical ballets. It is set to a …
Ballet companies must stop wrecking our bodies, warns Russian star
Irina Kolesnikova, who performs at London’s Coliseum in August, says dancers should be nurtured, not pushed to the limits<p>A world-renowned Russian prima ballerina has become the latest star to condemn ballet companies worldwide for putting their dancers through unnecessarily brutal regimes.<p>Irina …
Romania’s Culture Minister Steps Down as Ballet Dispute Continues
PARIS — The culture minister of Romania tendered his resignation on Wednesday amid a crisis at the ballet company of the Bucharest National Opera involving its artistic director, Johan Kobborg, and the star ballerina Alina Cojocaru, which had led to the cancellation of several performances.<p>In a …
BalletPrince loved ballet. Here’s why Misty Copeland, the Joffrey Ballet & their fans love him back.
The ballet world has had no better superstar friend than Prince, who gave the art form money, celebrity and irresistibly danceable music–and treated it with respect.<p>Years before she became famous for her commercials and her top-rank status at American Ballet Theatre, ballerina Misty Copeland caught …
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