A Dancer's Final Pre-Show Weekend

Xuan Cheng and Lucas Threefoot pas de chat in rehearsal for Ekho, one of 4 works on the Body Beautiful program that opens Saturday. Photo by Blaine Truitt Covert. Shows are coming up, and fast. It’s hard for me to believe that we have been rehearsing for five weeks already, but considering how last week… Read More

The Myths and Muses of Body Beautiful

This Jean Raoux painting from the 1700s depicts Orpheus and Eurydice leaving the underworld. In the back left you can see Hades (god of the underworld) and his wife Persephone, who have been charmed into granting Orpheus’ plea by the beauty of his music. A hero. A muse. A god. A nymph. A beautiful youth.… 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