Ib Anderson as Apollo. From Balanchine: Celebrating a Life in Dance. Photo by Costas. What does it take to don the mantle of a newborn god? The role of Apollo has been coveted by dancers, in part because it was a role that Balanchine liked to rehearse himself, customizing the interpretation to suit each Apollo… Read More
Diving into the Details of Second Detail: A Dancer's Perspective
This picture is of Lucas Threefoot and Xuan Cheng rehearsing for the Body Beautiful program. Photo is by Blaine Truitt Covert. The Second Detail is the kind of ballet that dancers love to dance. It’s a challenging, body-twisting, mind-bending, powerful ballet that requires constant attention to what is going on around us; I can’t think of… Read More
Learning Apollo from the Master: A Conversation with Francia Russell
Some ballets take time to develop their full character and others change the face of the art form the minute they premiere. Balanchine’s Apollo did both- evolving significantly over the first 20 years of its production history while consistently being hailed as the event that launched neoclassical ballet. It was the beginning of a deep… Read More
