Autumn in New York is so pleasant that people write songs about it. The bustling city takes on a cozy air as everyone preps for the magical (chaotic) winter wonderland that descends with Thanksgiving. It’s a time for crunching leaves underfoot, warm pastries, and dance!

The Joyce Theater (“New York’s Home For Dance”) presents an array of companies, spanning from classical to contemporary. Highlights include the Sarasota Ballet (Sept 29- Oct 4) in the works of 3 preeminent 20th-century English male choreographers. Sir Frederick Ashton’s featured works include his Balcony Pas De Deux from Romeo and Juliet. Antony Tudor’s emotional Lilac Garden, which celebrates its 90th anniversary, also appears with Sir Peter Wright’s Summertide.

Subscribe now

The theater also hosts the Limón Dance Company as they celebrate their 80th anniversary (Oct 6-11). The program opens with Mazurkas, a 1958 work by the company’s male founder José Limón that has not been presented in its entirety since 1964. Mazurkas will be seen alongside Join by Aszure Barton. Part reconstruction, part original work, the dance is based off of Limón’s description of a lost work of company founder, Doris Humphrey.

The Joyce closes their Fall 2026 season with a two-week residency by the renowned Complexions Contemporary Ballet, who will present 3 exciting premieres across 3 programs (Nov 17-29). Other highlights of the Joyce season include The Surge, a Joyce Theater production (Sept 16-27), London City Ballet (Oct 27-Nov 1), Garth Fagan Dance (Nov 4-8) and Gallim (Nov 11-15), along with Nrityagram Dance Ensemble, the top Odissi dance company (Oct 13-18). Odissi is the oldest style of classical Indian dance, traditionally used to share spiritual stories and ideas through beautiful costumes, exacting expressions, swaying movements and hand gestures called mudras.

New York City Center hosts its annual Fall for Dance festival (Sept 22-Oct 3), an expansive array of companies and styles across several programs. One program includes Philadanco (a Philadelphia-based company known for its innovative works and celebration of African-American traditions through dance) in HEIRBORNE (my mama ain’t never touched the sky, but she gave me wings) by Juel D. Lane alongside a premiere from Robbie Fairchild. His work Lord Chamberlain’s Men excerpts an evening-length exploration of Shakespeare’s love poems written for a man and how his own love life informed his work Romeo and Juliet. Finishing out the program (but not the festival- there really is something for everyone!) is Boston Ballet in Akram Khan’s Vertical Road (Reimagined), seen below.

City Center will also host the Australian Ballet in Oscar, a Christopher Wheeldon ballet based on the life and times of Oscar Wilde, from October 8-11. The theater will also livestream a behind-the-scenes look at Oscar from Studio 5 on October 5, with Wheeldon and the company’s artistic director.

Subscribe now

New York City Ballet (you thought you could escape my NYCB obsession? You thought wrong) kicks off it’s new season on September 22. I am thrilled by the programming for the 26-27 season as a whole (Alexei Ratmansky’s Romeo and Juliet, anyone?) but, lets not get ahead of ourselves.

Share

The fall season opens with a run of Jewels, which celebrates it’s 60th anniversary in 2027. The gemstones the title refers to are reflected in the titles of each ballet- Emeralds, Rubies, Diamonds- and in the costumes. Though these ballets, either together or separately, are some of the most commonly performed Balanchine works worldwide, nobody performs them like these dancers. If you are like me and have been unlucky henceforth in seeing Mira Nadon in Diamonds, get your ticket as soon as possible.

Also look out for some debuts in Rubies and Emeralds- I wish I wish I wish to see Mia Williams in the Rubies pas de deux. Other Balanchine masterworks returning this season include Bouree Fantasque, the monarchy-butterfly hued ballet choreographed for the legendary Tanaquil le Clerq and a young Jerome Robbins, and The Unanswered Question (from Ivesiana), a ballet in which a dancer is held aloft for the entirety of Charles Ives longing score, the quintessential unobtainable woman. Here is the original star, Allegra Kent, in the role she created.

Outside of Balanchine’s work, which continues in La Sonnambula, Theme and Variations, and The Four Temperaments, Robbin’s witty The Concert returns with it’s ridiculous hats, mistake waltz, saucy, music-loving ballerina and butterflies. In a totally different tone is Alexei Ratmansky’s haunting Solitude, created as a response to a photograph of a man beside the body of his young son in the wreckage of his homeland, Ukraine.

Subscribe now

Finally, the season closes with a farewell to longtime principal danseur Adrian Danchig-Waring. His final performance includes 2 Balanchine “Black and white” masterworks, The Four Temperaments and Agon, a pièce d’occasion by choreographer Pam Tanowitz, and Lars Lubovitch’s Each in Their Own Time, a role which Danchig-Waring originated.

American Ballet Theatre takes up residence of the State Theater as soon as NYCB moves out, opening October 21 with the company premier of Helen Pickett’s Petal, alongside the grande divertissement from Paquita and, one of my personal must-see-live-before-I-die ballets, Jiří Kylián’s Petite Mort. The season also includes Frederick Ashton’s lush interpretation of one of the Bard’s greatest comedies in The Dream. The costumes alone are worth the tickets. I would also try to catch Chloe Misseldine and Sunmi Park in Ballet Imperial.

After ABT is finished in the State Theater, Paul Taylor Dance Company swoops in from November 3-22 (and then it’s Nutcracker season! My how the time flies. I can hear the celesta already). PTDC will present new works by resident choreographers Lauren Lovette and Robert Battle. They will honor the company’s founder with 10 of his works, including Esplanade, and Cloven Kingdom (Both below).

Almost anyone can see their opening performance, where every ticket is only $10 (Nov 3). The dancers will be accompanied by live music from the orchestra of St. Luke’s. And, if you can’t wait until November to see them, the company will be present at Works & Process at the Guggenheim on September 14th, with Tanowitz discussing the company premier of one of her works.

Last, but certainly not least, for those interested in seeing the next generation of choreographers and dancers, Juilliard presents “Choreographers & Composers”, a program of 6 original works with student-made music and movement, on November 20th and 21st.

Subscribe now

Before you go, here are some handy-dandy calendars of all the dance to see this fall

!

Here are some highlights.

The program opened with Fáilte, choreographed by Michelle Dorrance and Chelsea Hoy in collaboration with the cast members. Fáilte is a perfect example of the kind of crossover event that is distinctly “Vail”- it had a cast composed of dancers from Trinity Irish Dance Company, New York City Ballet, and independent tap dancers Emiko Nakagawa and Dario Natarelli. Fáilte is Gaelic for “welcome”- a fitting sentiment to begin the evening- which was apparent in the integration of the choreography. Every dancer, no matter their background, had a role to play as both individuals and members of the ensemble.

The dance started with the performers, all in soft shoes or socks, walking around each other, touching arms, before India Bradley, Tiler Peck, and Roman Mejia of NYCB emerged doing adagio steps (Bradley’s développé à la seconde was breathtaking). Different combinations of dancers whirled across stage as the tempo picked up, and taps and hard shoes appeared to accompany the bright music. The enthusiasm to be doing something so fun was clear on the faces of each dancer. Each denomination of dancers was shown off in a way that complimented the piece while playing to their specialities. Once the music ended, the Irish-stepping and tapping and balleting kept on going, excitingly in-sync, for a long while before the dance ended.

Subscribe now

The piece I was most excited to watch, and most sure of its being wonderful, was Alexei Ratmansky’s Hemi-Semi-Demi. Ratmansky is one of the leading choreographers of the times (and Vail’s 2026 artist-in-residence) and he can choreograph to anything, which he proved when he picked music from Looney Tunes composer Raymond Scott. Chloe Misseldine and Takumi Miyake of ABT and Ryan Tomash of NYCB, all incredible dancers, rounded out the notion that, at least on paper, this would be a great ballet.

Ratmansky did not disappoint. The dancers, so different in build and style, danced beautifully in sync. Miyake, if you haven’t seen the videos of him across instagram doing 10+ pirouettes, is an incredible technician. He had such control, and I audibly gasped when I realized he was doing a chaînés manège around the stage1. I loved watching Misseldine as well. She not only showed off her endless lines and executed a thrilling series of fouettés en dedans but also used her face so expressively. The mood of the piece was playful and even a little silly (at one point Tomash and Miyake were fighting over Misseldine). The music was jazzy and ranged in mood, often happy and sometimes dipping into the saucier side.

Amanda Treiber’s work Whims for NYCB’s Dominika Afanasenkov and Naomi Corti with ABT’s Michael de la Nunez and Brooks Landegger was just that- whimsy. It reminded me of Jerome Robbins’ ballet in that the primary connection was felt between the dancers, both between them and the audience. The choreography blended the classical and modern dance vernaculars in a playful, colorful dance. The men performed a duet with lots of jumps and conversational movement. Everyone in the dance was friends- it wasn’t just two couples or two women and two men, but a complete quartet.

Corti’s solo gave her a chance off her crisp lines and impressive speed, even with a less familiar movement vocabulary, while Afanasenkov’s was the more mature and reflective part of the dance. Seeing these two ballerinas next to each other was really interesting. They dance at the same company, got promoted to soloist at the same time, and are even of similar heights, yet have such different qualities to their dancing that they rarely share repertoire or the stage. Corti’s casting so far in her career has leaned into more allegro powerhouse roles while Afanasenkov is put in dramatic adagio parts. While dancing together, however, it was exciting to watch the two together using every inch of their lengths and enjoying the freedom that the stage offered.

Subscribe now

The collaboration Tender Chaos between Kayla Mak (Julliard alum turned ABT ballerina) and Lil Buck (a multi-disciplinary hip hop artist), both staples of Vail, was, in two words: TO SHORT! Mak excelled in the grounded choreography, rippling like water and playing with different dynamics. The pair created a touching duet that I hadn’t seen coming, and my only qualm was wanting to see more.

The live stream is up on Vail’s YouTube page until Monday, August 17th, and I highly recommend seeing the whole performance. It’s not often that one can find current dancers in well-lit, full-length recordings of new works, so take this opportunity while you can!

Share

Serenade is, if not his greatest ballet1, Balanchine’s most performed ballet, and the most rewatchable. I’ve seen it twice, once at New Jersey Ballet and once in a heart wrenching, oh-this-is-how-dance-should-feel performance at New York City Ballet with Sara Mearns. I’ve written about it previously (twice!) but yesterday I watched the ballet yet again, albeit on film. At my summer intensive, the RAs organized a movie night. Much to my relief (I’m the type to fret over casting) it was the recording with Kyra Nichols, Darci Kistler, and Maria Calegari as the principal women. This is my go-to video when I need something for pointe shoe sewing, cheering myself up, or simply reminding myself why I love ballet. I was surprised to see how many new things I noticed on this umpteenth viewing. And that is what makes Serenade so rewatchable. Each viewing peels back another layer of Karinska-tacked tulle, revealing new colors and rhinestones hidden beneath the surface. Here are 3 noticings from yesterday.

Noticing #1

In this short section, where the corps de ballet forms a wedge upstage left. The 16 ballerinas are in 5 lines of 6, 4, 3, 2, and 1 dancers each.

The corps hold this pose (and their backbends!) while a soloist jumps and swoons, and then the back-most line of 6 breaks off two at a time, one from each side, forming a diagonal aisle.

Next, the girls in the front two lines and one girl from the third one create the next two segments of these aisles. Around the same time, the center girl from the third line also turns around. She does a lovely port de brah and saut de chats right of stage. There are 15 dancers left onstage.

By now, the aisle is a group of 10 dancers,and there are 5 remaining dancers upstage. But 15 can also be subdivided into 6 and 9- so when the group of 5 and the group of 10 swap sides, the dancers most stage right stays there, so that the new configuration can materialize.

The reason I walk you through all of this is to try explain how this ballet feels really magical. On paper, it’s just simple arithmetic, but in performance, the groupings seem to materialize out of pure air or ether. We have the numbers, but there is still something a little bit more than 32 or 30 pointe shoes onstage.

Noticing #2

Whenever I hear the score for this ballet, I remind myself to listen for this specific moment because I never could remember what exactly is happening with this section of music. So here it is.

This clip is part of the second movement, the waltz, a part when the strings slow down so much they sound almost hesitant. The simplicity of the movement- the rows slowly forming a gradient of levels, and then four girls breaking away and just walking and pausing and walking and pausing- matches the music perfectly. The moment is quiet and pure.

If you’ve ever heard the pas de deux music from Tschaikovsky’s Nutcracker, you know that simplicity can be the most beautiful thing. Tschaikovsky walked the notes down the musical scale. Balanchine had his dancers walk2 downstage.

Noticing #3

Another moment- I’m not sure if it’s just a quirk of the recording or a facet of Kyra Nichols diamond-cut interpretation of the Russian Girl- that gives me chills is right before she leaps into the arms of her partner in the Elegy.

Subscribe now

After two corps ballerinas are lifted and swiftly run off, Nichols prepares for her own lift. She runs on from the same place as her predecessors, but pauses and lifts her arms for the slightest millisecond (0:11 below). I don’t know what her character is thinking- it could be hesitation or hope or acknowledgement of a great love or shyness- but it gives me chills even as I rewatch the clip.

Where to see dance this week:

While American Ballet Theatre finishes up its run in the Met Opera, just outside the building sits a Dance Floor erected each summer for Lincoln Center’s “Summer for the City” series. This week, you don’t get to just see dance- you get to do it! This Friday features “Tribute to Latin Music Giants with Jimmy Bosch”, an all-ages, free event including live music and a dance lesson in salsa.

Learn more about the dance party, and all Summer for the City events, here.

Subscribe now

Happy Fourth of July!

Stars and Stripes

I’m keeping it short today- just a round-up of some of my favorite parts of some of what I consider the most “Americana” ballets. First up is the Stars and Stripes pas de deux and finale with Margaret Tracey and Damian Woetzel. These dancers seem to have found the perfect balance between the ham-it-up-bravura-look-at-me, Sousa-accompanied personality of the characters in this ballet and the more classical steps. The pas de deuxs of Balanchine’s ballets that lean more into his imperial heritage, like Symphony in C, often culminate in a develope a la second for the ballerina, and while Stars and Stripes is more sparklers than Swarovski, it is no exception.

Subscribe now

Western Symphony

One of my greatest “what ifs” is thinking about all of the great dancing Tanaquil le Clercq didn't get to do before she contracted polio. Here she is with Jacques d’Amboise in Western Symphony, Balanchine’s love letter to the American Western.

Rubies

In the trifecta of “Jewels”, each ballet represents a balletic tradition- French romanticism in Emeralds, Russian imperialism in Diamonds, and American jazz in Rubies. In the section below, with Mira Nadon as the Tall Girl, I can almost see the soloist as a flapper in a 1920s speakeasy, capturing everyone around her with her confidence and sparkle.

Square Dance

Square dancing is one of America’s traditional folk dances- Balanchine’s ballet Square Dance originally had musicians onstage and a caller shouting out the steps. Eventually, the ballet became an example of Balanchine’s “less is more” approach to productions- no costumes, no set, just dance and music. Everything about this ballet feels crystal-clear to me. So, for a special treat, here is Megan Fairchild and her best friend Fifth Position in a completely transparent performance of the opening movement.

Glass Pieces

In the central pas de deux of Jerome Robbins’ homage to New York City, Glass Pieces, the statuesque principals stand out against a row of corps dancers moving across the back of the stage in silhouette. I love everything about this ballet- you can watch the whole thing here- especially the opening notes of the first movement, the use of the corps de ballet, and the color palette of the costumes.

Copland Dance Episodes

Finally, we can’t talk Americana without some Aaron Copland- here is Harrison Coll talking through Justin Peck’s Copland Dance Episodes.

That's it for this week! Stay cool out there!

Subscribe now

Saratoga Performing Arts Center has long been regarded as the summer home of New York City Ballet (whether or not the four-day residency that used to last weeks annually still counts as the “summer”, I will leave to the reader). In fact, the company has been there since before the buildings were finished. George Balanchine fought hard for the perfect floors for dancers in the lead up to the stage’s 1966 opening. The first public performance on that stage- Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, a hilarious interpretation of the Shakespearean classic featuring one of the most beautiful pas de deuxs and of one of the silliest of all time- returns for a four-performance run this July. Debuts include Gilbert Bolden III (fresh off a long-awaited return to the stage after a horrific injury) as Titania’s Cavalier and soloist India Bradley as Helena. Helena is a role that requires both acting chops and a fulfillment of lines to make the most impact in the roles short burst onstage, so it will be exciting to hear how Bradley tackles the role.

For those of us far away or simply not bougie enough to see the company in Saratoga, here is a recording of the full ballet featuring Maria Calegari, and some archival photos by Martha Swope, of the company visiting the future performance space in 1966.

Where to see dance this week:

American Ballet Theatre’s Don Quixote is be revived at the Met Opera House. Full price tickets are expensive, so I would recommend signing up for the $30 for 30 & Under program or the student rush program if possible. Any chance you have to Catherine Hurlin or Chloe Misseldine in those Kitri jumps- take it. Plus, Tuesday, June 30th is Pride Night at ABT!

Share

With a new crop of soloists this winter and spring season, New York City Ballet’s corps de ballet has had a chance to shine. With more classically-leaning ballets full of solos like Sleeping Beauty, Raymonda Variations, and even Paquita, the winter season especially pulled my eye towards Kloe Walker. An alumn of Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet (a school renowned for its graduates technique- leading many, like Walker, David Gabriel, Ashley Bouder, John and Abi Stafford to star-lit careers) her technique is fresh and crystal-clear. Watching her in her Dewdrop debut this January, I realized that if I wanted to know exactly what the choreography was, I could just watch her. Not only was the technique there, but the artistry, to.

In Tiler Peck’s Symphonie Espagnole this spring, Walker bent her upper body, sparkled her smile at the audience, and suspended her movements, all while arabesquing at breathtaking height. Peck has already proven herself to have a good nose for the up-and-coming talent, through both her choreography and curations, so her stamp of approval is really the cherry on top of Walker’s break-out season. And it really does feel like she broke out of nowhere- she joined the company less than two years ago.

One even more recent addition to the corps is Mia Williams. She debuted this winter as Princess Florine in the sleeping beauty, and as the fairy of Eloquence. In this video, she is given a tempo so speedy I laughed- yes this is new york city ballet, and yes, this is the next great allegro dancer of the company, but must the tempo be quite that allegro? Nonetheless, Williams pulls it off with great pizazz, not missing a beat, and so really maybe my qualm is that she’s done dancing so soon. One role Williams will not soon be finished with is Swanhilda in Coppelia- she learned the role and danced excerpts in a “Family Saturdays” performance, which are essentially used a soft landing for young dancers in major roles.

Speaking of major roles, looking ahead to the 26-27 season of programing, my wish list includes Emeralds for Walker, Rubies for Williams, both as Juliet (unlikely, I know, but with 14 performances a girl can dream of casts spanning company ranks) and to finish it off, maybe some Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet or Stravinsky Violin Concerto as well. Either way, I’m very excited to see these ballerinas (and, honestly, countless others, the bottom ranks of the company are overflowing with talent right now) continue to tackle new roles, so keep your eyes out for them and be sure to squeal as loud I do when you see their name under principal casting.

Where to see dance this week:

The NYC Emerging Artists Project is a launch pad for young professional dancers and choreographers, culminating after two weeks in a performance. Tickets sell out fast, but you can support the project and artists here.

That is it for this week’s dispatch! In this new series, I will just be sharing little updates and thoughts on the goings on around me. In WTSDTW, there will be some less known or more affordable options for seeing dance in the NYC metro-area. I’ve been writing less in a whirlwind of summer plans and school finals but am trying to commit to writing weekly for a few months.

Despite her ability to radiate confidence and bravado onstage, Lithuanian ballerina Milda Luckuté is, in fact, a sweet and easy going interviewee. Nervous as I felt, trying something new (reaching out to a complete stranger I look up to a great deal), her words not only made me feel comfortable, but also that she, too, was enjoying the process.

Last fall, Luckuté joined the Vienna State Ballet, and since then, she has gotten a stream of hefty roles to sink her teeth into: the Queen of Babylon in Alexei Ratmansky’s Kallirhoe, Tall Girl in Balanchine’s Rubies, the 2nd movement principal in Justin Peck’s Heatscape, and, most recently, Myrta in Giselle- quite a season, for one’s first months of a new contract, only a couple years after her graduation from the Royal Ballet School. One review of her debut as Myrta pointed out “one of her most valuable gifts. Presentness.” and that is exactly what I took away from my correspondence with Luckuté. From her training across Europe, participation in elite ballet competitions, and her unfolding career in Vienna, she has been present through it all. She told me herself, how she sponges up as much information as possible and works hard, not just to execute steps but perform them.

I hope you enjoy reading the following interview, edited for clarity and concision, half as much as I enjoyed conducting it.

Starting training in Lithuania and continuing internationally, how has your cultural background shaped the way you approach ballet?

My start in ballet was one of those lucky coincidences where everything just falls into place. My first ballet teacher was a famous Lithuanian prima ballerina (Eglė Špokaitė), widely known for her exceptional artistry and expression (both on stage and in life). Having her as my first introduction to ballet set a standard of it being firstly a way of communicating human emotions and stories (or simply states of being if we’re talking about non-narrative ballets), whereas the athletic aspect of it followed, not the other way around as is often the case. I kept that first impression of what ballet should look (and more importantly, feel) like also later, throughout my time refining my precision and style at the National M.K.Ciurlionis School of Arts.

Since I grew up in a family that has a special relationship to music and within a culture that has an intuitive sense for subtleness, that really built a strong foundation in my mind first, before focusing all my energy and attention to dance technique.

Subscribe now

One major factor that had an influence on my art was also the privilege I had of attending ballet competitions, summer schools and courses that kept my eyes open and fed my hunger for new knowledge, experience and connections. Alongside developing an ability to adapt and soak up any information I came across, I met a substantial number of people that either had an influence on my art and journey, became my friends (and even colleagues later on), taught me invaluable lessons or simply reappeared in my life at random times and in random corners of the world.

I was never the most technically strong kid, so moving to London to start my studies at the Royal Ballet School was a challenge. Yet having that foundation of artistic understanding kept me going, because the goal was never to achieve the best technique possible. My aim was to work as hard as I could to achieve the level of control and technique in my body that would allow me to find the most articulate way to express myself, stories and emotions in the future (like learning a language). Alongside the focus on the technical side, the Teachers at the Royal Ballet School also taught me ways of pulling all my artistic ideas and projecting them outwards, so far that it could reach the back rows of the amphitheater. Thus I “grew into my length”, developing an understanding of the power and physical presence needed to fill up the stage and the auditorium without being overly performative.

How has your more classically based training at the Royal Ballet School and elsewhere translated over to the repertoire, including Balanchine and modern choreographers, that you’ve performed professionally?

Since the early days I always saw myself as more of a lyrical and “soft” dancer, in a significant way due to my long body and lack of innate control over it. So although British training seemed unreachable in comparison to my skill set, it was the best thing for me, since I was pushed to develop speed and power that otherwise I wouldn’t have thought possible for a dancer of my physique. I think switching styles from Vaganova to British technique allowed me to develop a wider vocabulary within my body that would later aid me in adapting to new styles of dancing.

Share

My first contract at the Semperoper Ballett was another learning experience that I am grateful for. The dancers of Dresden are known to be exceptional movers. Therefore having an example of artists that were pushing boundaries and playing with the limits of what we expect ballet to be, on top of my technical and artistic foundation gained in London, was an invaluable treasure. The repertoire there was also extremely varied and only now I am able to see how the skills gained from my time in Dresden are bleeding into my further career path in Vienna. As an example, working on the principal girl role in Justin Peck’s “Rodeo” is now aiding me in my journey preparing for the second movement pas de deux in Peck’s “Heatscape”. Working on George Balanchine’s “Serenade” was an introduction to his world that I applied in preparation for “Jewels”. In terms of artistic expression, I experienced some theatrical work (such as a Tanztheatre piece “Wonderful World” by Kinsun Chan and Martin Zimmermann) where I was pushed so far out of my comfort zone that now I don’t feel fear to be a little crazy or “over the top” when it’s required of me.

What are some of your dreams inside and outside of Vienna State Ballet’s current repertoire, and why?

It goes without saying that before joining Vienna State Ballet I researched the repertoire for this season and gave myself permission to dream about certain roles that I could see myself in. Being slightly delusional sometimes is not a bad thing, since now I have already done or am preparing for the exact parts I was brave enough to dream of doing. I feel indescribably lucky to be living my dream in the truest sense of the word. In terms of next season, the repertoire is not announced yet, so I haven’t had the chance to put my manifestations into practice.

Support my work!

Outside of VSB’s repertoire, I simply want to explore and experience as wide of a range of styles, stories and techniques as possible. Some “bucket list” roles include Marguerite Gautier in John Neumeier’s “Lady of the Camellias”, Maurice Béjart’s “Bolero” and Jiří Kylián’s “Petite Mort”.

Tell me about your debut as the “Tall Girl” in George Balanchine’s “Rubies”. What was it like playing with the character, choreography, and score?

“Tall Girl” was one of those roles that I always wanted to do and seeing “Rubies” in the repertoire made my heart jump with hope. Needless to say I was ecstatic when I found out the casting. In terms of my preparation for the role, it is very common to hear dancers speak about the arc of artistic and technical challenges and “growing into the role”, however “Tall Girl” was an experience where I didn’t feel like I was fighting with myself. Obviously there were moments that needed work and attention (such as the infamous penchés at the end of the first movement), yet compared to my usual struggles, this particular journey was quite smooth. After familiarising myself with the required approach to the character, I found myself not having to act that much, I was mostly just being myself.

Talking about the score, there’s really not much to say except “Stravinsky”. His multi-layered, strikingly complex and extraordinarily powerful music can only be described as a work of a genius. Having said that, he is also infamous for being some dancers’ worst nightmare as his music is excruciatingly difficult to count. My musical family roots came as a rescue and after some listening I managed to throw myself into the score intuitively, without obsessing over counts. Overall, the experience was one of those reminders of why I love this art form so much.

In contrast with Rubies, what are some of the roles or characters that you had (or still have) to grow into?

Technically two of my most difficult journeys have been Queen of Dryads in my graduate year at the Royal Ballet School and Snow Queen in Aaron Watkins’ “The Nutcracker” in Dresden. In my graduate year I experienced a sprain on my ankle (fun fact: Tiler Peck was watching our ballet class at that moment), which stopped me from dancing for a few weeks. Shortly after I got back on my feet I jumped straight into preparation for the end-of-year performances, however I have not fully regained the strength in my ankle, which brought about both physical and mental challenges and a lot of self doubt.

Share The Ballet Nerd

Snow Queen was another process that was almost more mental than physical. I have been preparing for the revival for a while, when two weeks before the opening night the majority of the snow scene was changed, adding many technical elements that I did not believe I could tackle.

Turns out I was able to do it, it was just a shame that the doubt was always present with me on stage and pushed me off my leg a few times.

Artistically so far I have been blessed to be put into roles that I had a clear understanding of how I want to approach, so I have not yet had an experience where I had to “break” the character out of myself. However, when it comes to intensity of my portrayal I tend to overdo my expressions, especially when I feel a lot of that intensity in my body. It can happen when choreography requires a lot of physical exertion like in Snow Queen, or when I feel the emotions intensely, like during “Rodeo” when I was simply so happy to be dancing with my best friend. I believe it is a never-ending process of self-research and every situation presents a new set of challenges, yet that is also one of the reasons why my job is so exciting.

Congratulations on your recent debut in Heatscape! Tell me about how the shows and the rehearsal process went.

I am dancing the second movement pas de deux in “Heatscape”, which, if anyone has seen it, is a most beautiful “killer”. The partnering is very tricky and heavy on lifts for the man, meanwhile for the woman it is loaded with quick direction changes, jumps and fast “whipping” turns. Regardless, it is a joy to dance and although it took some time to “get it into the body”, there is a certain sense of abandon in the choreography that felt very special. The shows went well. I found a sense of enjoyment in every one and even the physical exhaustion added to the overall experience of the piece in a very positive and satisfying way. The rehearsal process definitely presented its own challenges, but working with the stagers Michael Breeden and Eric Trope (both of whom I’ve already worked with on “Rodeo”) was nothing but a pleasure. I also finally got to briefly work with Justin Peck himself, which was a true honor that I was hoping for ever since I first got introduced to his art.

What have been some challenges or just differences in Heatscape compared to Rodeo, which you mentioned informing your current process? What carried over and what was unique to this new experience?

As someone who is tall, ever since I started learning pas de deux in school, I wanted to be as easy as possible to partner, so I would practice doing most of the partnering steps by myself. Fast forward to my time in Dresden when I was cast in “Rodeo”, my partner would start saying things like “let me partner you”, which made me realise that by trying to do mostly everything by myself I was taking out the dialogue aspect of the pas de deux. Having said that, the person being partnered cannot become “dead weight” and fully drop into the arms of the one partnering, especially in such tricky choreography, which requires speed and a high technical level. In addition, when we are talking about a piece requiring as much stamina as the second movement pas de deux, you want to help your partner, especially at the end of it when exhaustion kicks in. “Heatscape” was a continuation of my journey towards learning the complex dynamics of giving in to the partner and finding when I have to be on my own feet, but on an even higher level.

What have been some of the ways you’ve built the strength to support your length?

First of all, doing research about many physical aspects that play a role in movement and how length of the body influences the execution of it. I was very fortunate to have had access to a great deal of information, knowledge and resources at the Royal Ballet School about anatomy and which types of training that allow dancers to achieve the best possible performance (I also wrote my graduate year dissertation on tall dancers).

Not shying away from intense strength training was the thing that made me build power in my muscles. There is some stigma and inaccurate information around strength training in ballet, which mostly stems from the art form’s high fixation on aesthetics. Letting go of my own limiting beliefs around it was one of the best things I could have done for both my dancing and my health.

Support my work!

In Dresden I also discovered gyrotonics, which allowed me to find an efficient and connected way of moving my body. With longer-limbed dancers, movement can often appear uncoordinated and disjointed, which I was always trying to overcome. Mind-body training like gyrotonics was truly a gift from the universe.

And most boring of all, lots and lots of mindful repetition.

How have you stayed grounded and focused moving to a new country and a new company going through big changes? What drove you to seek out that exciting new experience?

I first left home when I was 16 years old, which shook my world at the beginning. With some time I built a whole new life in London, which made me realize that sacrificing one thing brings about other things that I wouldn’t have discovered had I not made those sacrifices.

Leaving London and, most recently, leaving Dresden to move to Vienna felt like leaving home all over again. I find a lot of beauty in that, because it shows how special my time in those places was. And how amazing it is to know that I have several homes on this Earth!

I have to be honest, every move that I’ve made has been difficult, but knowing that we live in an age where you can reach your loved ones with one tap on the screen makes me eternally grateful to be living in this era.

In terms of staying grounded, I always have my Mom there for me, even hundreds of kilometres apart. She is one stable thing in my life, so whenever the world starts feeling a bit shaky (both from positive and negative reasons), I can always turn to her to regain equilibrium.

Subscribe now

Share

Support Me!

Read the OG post and more here!

Support Me!

Share

Ballet isn’t dead.

But it is becoming a taxidermy of sorts.

Pretty on the outside, the same at a glance, but lifeless. And Odette is not a stuffed swan, sitting prettily on a shelf.

When the focus goes from the story to the legs being constantly split and the turns being fast and many, audiences will stop coming, if not caring. They can see someone with crazy extensions and quintuple pirouettes on Instagram, and if that’s what ballet is about- well, why not a save a couple hundred dollars on tickets?

Ballet is an art, and art is meant to invoke emotion. It is hard to do that when it’s been reduced to it’s social-media self, especially when social media is probably one of the biggest emotion sucks I know of, as a teenager.

If audiences stop coming to the ballet, it simply because they think it is not worth the money for something they don’t care enough about. Dance people in power criticize the critics of the system, saying “everyone should care about ballet” without making changes throughout the world to allow it to survive, not just in it’s 1890 or 1983 form but into the future. Ballet is still not only an expensive industry ($207 for a single ticket?) but an antiquated industry. It is one where seeing oneself reflected onstage is still rare for people of color, and where women hardly ever rise to places of power (however when they do, they are highlighted by my fellow Substackers here), and where body ideals leave many people, but especially young girls, alienated and even unwell.1 For that price, who can afford tickets?

The fact of the matter is, ballet is not instant gratification. Its years of work for performers, it’s an evening spent in awe-struck silence for audiences. Ballet sits in your brain. You might not register this spiritual experience until afterwards, and you’ll probably never understand it. Ballet isn’t what you see on Instagram. It’s not even what you see in books. Ballet is seen and heard live. It is felt- in the pit in your stomach, in your cheeks when they hurt from laughing, in a horse throat at the end of many curtain calls.

That is why I still think of Sara Mearns in Diamonds three years ago, crying as Russell Janzen kissed her hand for his final performance. Ballet is in Megan Fairchild throwing her head back in Baiser de la Fae, in Kloe Walkers Dewdrop grinning, satisfied, at the end of Nutcracker. Ballet makes my eyes light up and my heart pound.

Ballet makes me feel alive.

Support The Ballet Nerd

Share The Ballet Nerd

My initial reaction to Balanchine’s Prodigal Son: there is a lot of crawling.

Much of the later part of the ballet is the Son lying on the ground in a near-naked state. I felt a little awkward in my seat, and maybe that is the point: to make the audience a little less comfortable, a little more dejected and disappointed in this once-naive hero.

Support my work!

Roman Mejia, in his debut, definitely brought that arrogant brightness to the Son. In his opening solo, we saw how high he could jump, how much he can turn, and how he can use his acting chops, too, when he’s not being a ham. He was young and boyish with his hair loose, bright eyed for his adventure but blind to his fathers’ warnings.

Subscribe now

As the ballet goes on, the Son and two of his friends, having left home, come across a group of drinking companions- Goons. They have dark eyes and a silly walk, but silly in the foreboding way of a clown in a horror movie. The Goons adore drink, good times, and the Siren.

The Siren looms large, not only over the plot of the ballet but over the Balanchine repertoire, and Emily Kikta’s debut established her with a strong hold on the role. Kikta started off a little hesitant, but when the Siren’s long cape came off so did her second thoughts. She was icy to a lethal extent. She could have played the role like her sassy Rubies Tall girl (the costumes are even similar), but she was more stoic, less playfully. She wasn’t afraid to tell, to command, the Son where to hold her, when to not reach her hand, and when to hold her gaze unblinkingly.

Her Siren made me think: why is this powerful figure wasting her time with these stupid goons? She could be ruling the world.

Support my work!

Subscribe now

Share

Marina Harss / Dancing Around

Two Débuts

This afternoon, a double début. There are two male roles in the Balanchine repertory that every man in the company covets: Apollo and the prodigal in Prodigal Son. Both ballets are tales of growth. An education through art in the case of Apollo, and through the school of hard knocks in the case of Prodigal. But where Apollo is a god-in-the-making, the p…

Read more

7 months ago · 3 likes · MARINA HARSS

The theater on Sunday was a buzz before the first ballet. I myself looked excitedly at the orchestra pit- just strings for this ballet- waiting for the first note of Tschaikovsky’s Serenade for Strings to reach my ears and give me chills, straight to the heart. The moment right before that note, the moment of anticipating descending notes and orange grove formation, that moment is humming with energy, vibrating like cello as a bow moves across its strings.

Share

Subscribe now

Support my work!

When it was announced that Megan Fairchild would be out of that performances cast, there were audible sighs at missing what would have been the long time principal’s last Serenade.

Fortunately, though, her replacement as the Russian Girl was Indiana Woodward. Woodward was spry and airy, flowing her arms through “skirtography” without sacrificing her backbone of steel or sharp passes.

However good the principals were, the real star of the ballet is the corps. They jump and run and turn and run and run and run, swirling their tutus and streaking across the stage. They were exacting in the shifting formations, and brought out a new musicality in both the backwards arabesques with switching arms and the “flower petal” section, when Woodward was lying in the center of a semi-circle.

Sara Mearns was the heroine, and she, ever the drama queen, went through all the feels. Confusion upon entering the formation late, joy during the Waltz, longing that dissolved into hopelessness during the elegy. Her famous Sarabesque (Emma Von Enck’s words, not mine) was high and lush as always. She paired nicely with Emilie Gerrity, the Dark Angel. Gerrity’s dark hair gave glamour to the role, but she also brought a vulnerability. She was not just a passive or foreboding presence draped over Davide Riccardo’s back. She had her own drama going on.

And ohmigod her arabesque!

@love.ballet21Indiana is a prima ballerina and Aarón is a soloist of the New York City Ballet. Also in this short clip are Unity Phelan (principal) and Miriam Miller (soloist) of NYCB. #indianawoodward #aaronsanz #serenade #newyorkcityballet #balanchine #ballet #ballerina #primaballerina #balletvideos

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

Support my work!

Subscribe now

Share

Paquita is a ballet in which all is on display; short tutus that shiver when a dancer bourees, bright lights against a plain blue backdrop, classical steps with clear musicality. To be able to do it well, a dancer can’t hide, can’t hold back, but must go beyond the demands to meet the task with something like spitfire.

In Sunday’s performance of the ballet at New York City Ballet, the entire cast, from the corps de ballet to the principals, gave a more than adequate performance, full of attack and flair. It is especially exciting to watch such a fresh crop of corps members dancing their hearts out. Sometimes they were not perfectly arabesque-ing at the same exact angle. But this is not due to lack of skill (the corps more than proved themselves in the formations of Serenade, which was also on the program. I’ll be reviewing that soon), but because each dancer was pushing themselves to have that arabesque as high as possible.

Ashley Hod was clean and crisp in her variation, swiftly slicing through the air in pas de chats.

Support my work!

Emma Von Enck was incredibly spry and fast, smiling through a small spill at the start and staying on the music the entire time, jumping down to match the speed without sacrificing the height of her jumps.

The final variation was performed by Kloe Walker, who, following her debut as Dewdrop this past December is seeing steady stream of new roles; below, as a demi-soloist in Raymonda, and she is set to perform as the Fairy of Tenderness and Ruby in Sleeping Beauty. In her solo on Sunday, she was clean and calm, unafraid to bend every which way or throw her head back in a combré.

The star of the evening was unarguably Mira Nadon as the principal ballerina. Watching her in this ballet is like watching your favorite football player score touchdown after touchdown (I assume it is, at least. I cannot claim to know much about football). In the pas de deux, Nadon, partnered by Chun Wai Chan, was followed, or at least reflected, by the corps moving behind her, but she was not afraid to make her superiority known. She was regal in the pas de deux, from the near 180* penchés to the slightest tilt of the chin.

In the her harp solo, Nadon softened without losing her sparkle. The series at the beginning of consecutive arabesques was almost like a prayer, with her arms and gaze rising gradually to the heavens above. Even her double turns (from fifth!) were floaty and smooth. Chan was very suave in his solo, with clean turns and jumps, everything done with princely charm.

The finale was like a fireworks show, with gold bursts of soloists (how sweet to see Von Enck with her sister) and pure insanity from Nadon in her hops on pointe, moving backwards, with her back leg in a high arabesque before tilting forwards into a high penché. During her entrance into the finale, she flew through her sous de basques before running around, bouree-ing, and having a perfect, fiery moment of stillness before shooting into a knife-like tendu.

Support my work!

Share

George Balanchine revolutionized ballet through his choreography but also in how he trained dancers to perform the work- bigger, faster, higher. He did this by instituting specific technical details: Turning from a long, deep fourth with the back leg straight, holding each finger out distinctively, like the petals of a flower, spotting front rather than where one is traveling, because then you stay open and full and never loose connection to the audience. To allow for all of this, this speed and size and reach while dancing, dancers trained this way keep their weight forward, on the balls of the feet. New York City Ballet is leaning forward in it’s own way right now, preparing for their winter season, right now. But before we look ahead, we must think back to whats already happened, just like how Balanchine needed his storied Russian ballet heritage to build his ballet of the future.

Looking Back- Nutcracker 2025

The great thing about Nutcracker is that it comes back every year. So if you didn’t get to see Dominika Afanasenkov or Kloe Walker in their Dewdrop debuts, or Olivia Mackinnon in her first Sugar Plum, or Olivia Bell’s Marzipan or Ava Sautter’s Coffee, have no fear. Nutcracker 2026 starts in under 11 months!

Shout out to Afanasenkov- you can spot her in Dance Magazine’s 2026 25 to Watch, where she is specifically applauded for her interpretation of Balanchine’s Errante, or below, in her first performance of Dewdrop.

Spotting Front

Beginning Tuesday, when the company returns to the stage for their winter season, accompanied by a cascade of debuts. Emily Kikta (partnered by Roman Mejia in his own debut of the title role) is rehearsing for the Siren in George Balanchine’s Prodigal Son, coached by the former principal Maria Kowroski. The Siren is a role of power and icy cold stares. She must be seductive without having personal attachment. She doesn’t want the Son- she wants to weaken him with her long legs and cool beauty, rob him of all his earthly belongs down to (most of) the clothes off his back, and leave.

Besides Kika and Mejia, the ballet has a few stacked casts this run: the other dancers with performing the Siren this run are principals Miriam Miller and Sara Mearns, alongside Anthony Huxley and Daniel Ulbricht as the Sons, respectively.

Also on the program with Prodigal is artist-in-residence Alexei Ratmansky’s Paquita. Isabella LaFreniere is making her debut in the principal ballerina role January 21, alongside soloist Ryan Tomas (I saw the pair in Nutcracker. They are also tackling the return of August Bournonville’s pas de deux from Flower Festival in Genzano). Opening night has Mira Nadon with Chun Wai Chan as the leads. What can be said about Nadon that hasn’t already? She is divine in everything but Paquita is such a great vehicle for her whiz-bang technique and total abandon. I can’t say I love the costumes (the bodices are clunky and cut off dancer’s lines, but the tutu’s skirts I enjoy) but, below, Nadon makes every step so special, and intentional, I hardly notice.

Beyond reprising Paquita, Nadon has a busy week, including her NYC debut of the Waltz Girl in Balanchine’s Serenade.

Balanchine’s ballet Raymonda Variations is a box-of-chocolates: the choreography and frilly costumes are the chocolate, consistently sweet, holding it all together. The soloists, who dance interspersed with the corps until bursting out with their variations, are the soft or melty or rich fillings that make the ballet shine. Raymonda returns with a healthy dosage of corps ladies debuting in the solos, including Walker, Bell, Sautter, Mia Williams, Grace Scheffel, Allegra Inch, and Rommie Tomasini.

Also returning this season is Le Tombeau de Couperin, a ballet for 8 couples and no principals or soloists. The ballet was part of the company’s 1975 Ravel celebration, completed early on in the hectic process a festival entails. In the whirl of completing many new ballets in a short period of times, Balanchine actually almost forgot the ballet until Rosemary Dunleavy, a ballet mistress, got the cast back together to 1) remember it, and, 2) get it ready for the stage. The cast was enthusiastic- the Baroque-inflicted choreography and sense of community was great fun, with shifting formations and creative breakups of the group.

The two ballets premiering this season are the companies 499th and 500th original productions- that’s an average of 6.41 ballets a year over 78 years!!

Justin Peck’s, titled The Wind-Up and set to Beethoven music (and interesting choice- Balanchine himself avoided the master’s work, regarding it as “impossible” to choreography to) premiers first. Notably, corps member Mia Williams is first cast. Fitting, as the place that I first noticed her in was in this video of her in Peck’s Belles-Lettres.

Notably, new soloist Naomi Corti shares a role with the company’s current master of technical roles with turns and jumps Tiler Peck. Corti is tall and almost Amazonian in her length and power, but her casting (she also shared a role with Emma Von Enck for Peck’s Heatscape) suggests that she is a skilled allegro dancer in her own right. Below, she tears up the stage in Gilbert Bolden III’s new piece at 2025’s Vail Dance Festival.

One more Peck ballet I’m excited for is Everywhere We Go- I am still obsessed with this video of Kikta leaking and kicking her head to Sufjan Stevens.

Ballets to Run to

Antique Epigraphs- either cast looks great. They are jam-packed with talent from across the ranks in the principal roles.

Walpurgisnacht- Mearns returns to the principal ballerina role (created for Suzanne Farrell) which she approaches with attack and fluidity, below, and Miller makes her debut. You can expect her to bring a delicate grace to the virtuoso role that requires everything from adagio skills to, as Mearns says, a jumpy, bravura “men’s solo.” I’m also excited to see Allegra Inch debuting as a demisoloist in the ballet.

Flower Festival in Genzano PDD: besides LaFreniere and Tomas, the couples tackling this ballet are Von Enck (a dancer born for Bournonville if there ever was one) and KJ Takahashi, and Ashley Hod with David Gabriel.

Any and every ballet with the irreplaceable Megan Fairchild! She retires this spring after a legendary career. This season holds her final Raymonda, her final Russian girl in Serenade; get tickets to see her while she’s still here.

Later this season, Sleeping Beauty returns to the stage. So far, Indiana Woodward has confirmed that Von Enck will (finally!!!) be debuting Princess Aurora. Taylor Stanley has also posted a photo of themselves in the Carabosse (the ballet equivalent of Maleficent) costume. I’m dreaming of those two to be cast with Kikta’s Lilac Fairy (the “good” fairy) because then I can splurge and buy tickets (full lengths sell out more) guilt-free.

EDITED: Mira Nadon has hinted at her own debut in Sleeping Beauty as Aurora- she stunned this past summer in the Rose Adagio in Vail.

(End of edits)

Hopefully I will have time to dive into that, and the other ballets the company will be performing this winter. That's all for now- have a wonderful day and stay warm.

I’ve seen a few of Nutcrackers in my day. Beyond watching it annually since 2018 (I will always be proud to say that the first year I went to the Nutcracker was the first year Mira Nadon was in it as an apprentice) I devour the articles, videos, and old Martha Swope photograph archives. Nutcracker has the advantage of being well documented do to it’s popularity.

This year, the long pink tutu that Sugar Plum breezes into Act II with appeared extra sparkly, even from the fourth ring. The source of the light was traced back to Isabella Lafrieniere’s radiant smile. She seemed quite joyful, genuinely happy to be welcoming the Prince and Marie and dancing with Ryan Tomas. She played with musicality, daring the orchestra to keep up with her speed or suspend the notes.

She carried her arms (port de brah means carriage of the arms) with strength and solidity, and a softness around the edges. She was not fluttery but fluid and articulate in the wrists and fingers.

In the past de deux, she played into what many in the audience feel- unabashed happiness- securely supported by Tomas, who’s turns in his brief solo were smooth and well tempoed.

Kloe Walker, in her debut as Dewdrop, was also a happy camper. A well deserved (and excitingly early! more corps debuts please!) debut in the role gives her much more than simply a solid starting off point. She seemed unaware of the fact that she was debuting in a prolific role. She just danced

And dance she did. As viewers of NYCB one can become spoiled by mile-high arabesques, but Walkers (BTW, no relation to Peter Walker, the principal) really got it up there- her legs where never even near 90*. Her turnout and foot articulation were satisfyingly crisp and just fully manifested and present. She had wonderful musicality, especially in the waltzy steps, and a springy jump. She struck the perfect balance between happy abandon and fresh technique, using each to compliment one another rather than choosing between them.

Other standouts that night included the polar opposite solo, Coffee, with sphinxy new soloist Naomi Corti. She brought a rippling flexibility paired with exacting control- over her arms and legs but also over the audience.

Olivia Bell, as the pink-tutued leader of the Marzipan Shepherdesses was, well, pink, nailing all of the double turns and hops en pointe and sharing that she, to, was happy to be there.

What makes a good Sugar Plum Fairy?

Well, she must be queenly. She is the ruler of the land of sweets (Konfituerenburg). She must make her authority known graciously and gracefully. She is not merely a divertissement to be forgotten. She is an icon of the entire holiday season, gracing the branches of Christmas trees, omnipresent in the twinkling of the celesta in stores and restaurants and Hallmark movies.

Funnily enough, in the original book by E.T.A.1 Hoffman, there is no Sugar Plum Fairy, no lilac or mint green or piggy-pink bejeweled queen. Funnily enough, there's no snow scene or dancing, freshly brewed, Spanish Hot Chocolate, either. There is a wig made of solid glass, a ladder to the land of sweets that folds down from a coat sleeve, a bewitched princess by the name of Pirlipat, a story of a Hard Nut, and a monstrous giant aptly named Sweettooth who ravages the Nutcracker Prince’s domain, snatching up frosted roofs here and nibbling chocolate steeples there.

Furthermore, I’ve always felt the inexplicable, random yet deep sense of injustice at the naming of the ballet’s heroine: Hoffman wrote Marie as the eight year old who aids the Nutcracker in killing the Prince, not Clara. Actually, Clara is Mistress Clara, Marie’s doll.

The whole original story is a fever dream but it is a fascinating one.

Now that I’m done with that tangent: Sugar Plum. She must be graceful, delicate, powerful. She has to have this duality, balancing the introductory variation with the final pas de deux.

First, the solo. In Balanchine’s production, this occurs before Marie and the Prince arrive in the Land of Sweets, right after the angels glide and dance across stage. It’s accompanied by that twinkling, plinking celesta music that she kicks- or softly tendus- the second act off. Her variation is her means of introducing herself to the audience as the queen of the kingdom fashionably late to the party- so late she missed the party (scene) of Act I. Benevolent and loving, she serves as an aspiration for both Marie and the little girl sitting in the audience, watching ballet for the first time.

After a whole swirl of divertissements comes the dramatic pas de deux to the swelling music that closes off the entire production. It’s not quite romantic, as in lovey-dovey, but it is as in it is of the Romantic period. When the Sugar Plum Fairy swoons, it’s to match the rises and falls of the music.

The duet can be melancholy. Something about the descending notes (only Tschaikovsky could get away with making the musical climax of a ballet just by going down, note by note!!!) tickles the back of one’s eyes, infusing the colorful, flowering, resplendent Land of Sweets with a reminder that this all came from a darker story, if not in Hoffman’s book than in Tschaikovsky’s own life- his sister died while he was in the final stretch of writing the ballet.

The whole dance is kind of a show-stopper, something that pulls balletomanes into the throng of curious children in the audience, just to see their favorite dancers bang out some quintuple turns and moving arabesques balances (4:30, there’s a disc on the ground) to a banger from 1892.

The whole first part of the pas is a lot of stepping, reaching, surveying the domain. There are some deceptively tricky steps- 1:22 sees the ballerina stepping up into a turn, unsupported, only to be caught and lower to arabesque by only the wrists- and some clear audience pleasers- the shoulder sits, the 7 supported turns into a deep backbend right as the music hits a peak.

The original Sugar Plum was Maria Tallchief, one of Balanchine’s wives. She was a technical powerhouse and all-around virtuoso. Her rep ranged from the principal roles Balanchine’s soft, sylph-like Scotch Symphony to the fierce Firebird, to Eurydice in Orpheus and the brilliant first-movement of Symphony in C. She was the first “star” of New York City Ballet (though Balanchine famously did not want to have stars in his company- he wanted “interchangeable soloists”, a corps of dancers capable of doing any principal role as well) and helped push Nutcracker from obscurity to holiday tradition across America.

The current queen of Sugar Plum, Megan Fairchild (above), inhabits all of the qualities I’ve mentioned. She is musical and motherly, and dances big and bold and fast.

But this is a role conquered by many ballerinas. Miriam Miller, below, is considerably tall than Fairchild and brings an elongated, soft elegance to the role. This is the video that first made me fall in love with her dancing: her port de brah floats above the exacting footwork, right on time with the sparkles of the music.

Well, that’s it for now. Stay tuned for a Nutcracker review (I saw the show yesterday- it was splendid). I hope you have a new year fun of joy and ballet! Happy 2026!

The curtain New York City Ballet’s annual production of the Nutcracker has opened. The tree is growing, the snow is falling, and casting is rolling on out. This past Friday, opening night, was Megan Fairchild’s last night opening the company’s 48-show Nutcracker run. As NYCB’s reigning Sugar Plum Fairy, Fairchild, below, imbues the role with a balance of magic sparkle and queenly regality.

The gift of Sugarplum is that dancers can revisit it year after year, finding new pockets of musicality or moments to connect with the cherbic angels encompassing them. They can take risks and make deliberate choices to showcase or expand their abilities. Fairchild, especially, finds moments to break away from her crispy, bright technicality and elongate or lean off balance (The below video at about 0:14).

Moving down opening night’s cast list, Fairchilds’ princely Cavalier was Joseph Gordon and Dewdrop was Isabella Lafreniere.

Full casting can be found at nycballet.com, but some debuters I’ve got my eye on are Olivia Bell as lead Marzipan and Dominika Afanasenkov as Coffee on December 12th. Bell is both a virtuosic technician (She’s performed Balanchine’s Minkus Pas de Trois at NYCB and Tarantella at Vail) but also has a way of articulating her back in more modern pieces, like that of Gianna Reisen. In Marzipan she’ll have to tap into that capital- “T” Technique, though- the soloist choreography includes 20 consecutive single-leg hops on pointe. Recently-made soloist Afanasenkov is well suited for Coffee (she debuted in Balanchine’s sizzling Errante this spring) with long lines and an entrancing stage presence.

Ones of my NYCB Nutcracker favorites, who is underrated but never understated (except, of course, when subtly is necessitated), is Emma Von Enck as Dew Drop. She quite literally sparkles in Karinska’s costume, with a remarkably fluid dynamic, not just in her upper body but in her legs and back. She is literally dew, floatily moving through air if it’s water, smoothly but with strength. It’s kind of like a string of diamonds- one leg or arm moves, in turn twisting or elongating the whole line.

Also, can we just take a moment to appreciate the reach of Von Enck’s pas de chats? She covers half the stage (which, even compared to other theaters, is HUGE) and jumps several feet of the floor, with a fully extended develope-ing leading leg.

Her Dewdrop caught my eye for the first time in the video below, of her rehearsing (for the second!!! time). How she does the pique-step-over-to-soutenu sequence at the end is so clean and her port de bras is so effortless.

Now, for some sleuthing. Thanks for Jovani Furlans TikTok, we see that Afanasenkov and Ava Sautter are at least in rehearsal for Sugar Plum. One Instagram story from Savannah Durham that I should have screenshotted included India Bradley, in tutu, and Victor Abreu, which Bradley reposted to the Sugar Plum Grand Pas music.

@jovanifurlanbalanchine’s “the nutcracker” pas de deux coda in rehearsal — exhausting but so thirilling #ballet #tchaikovsky #maledancer #balanchine #nycb

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

@jovanifurlanbeing bullied while I stretch #ballet #maledancer #stretch #workout #creatorsearchinsights

Tiktok failed to load.

Enable 3rd party cookies or use another browser

Now, I’m only writing this on December 1st (I’ll likely add an update once week 4 casting comes out), but one thing the artistic team at City Ballet would be foolish to miss out on is giving the New York City audience a treat and finally (finally!!) giving Alexa Maxwell a debut as the Sugar Plum Fairy AND Dewdrop. Her lack of casting so far is just… confusing? and unwarranted.

I won’t dwell on that to much. If Marie can defeat a giant 7-headed mouse with her shoe and then walk into a magical forest with a Nutcracker-turned-prince, we can manifest a couple of well deserved casting slots.

Now, for a throwback!

I just wanted to end on a happy note and I love these old pictures of Mimi Paul as Dewdrop

Happy December :)

Photo credits:

Billy Rose Theatre Division, The New York Public Library. (1964). Mimi Paul as the Dewdrop and Penelope Gates and Susan Keniff, in a New York City Ballet production of “The Nutcracker.” Retrieved from https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/items/eb22e2a0-a091-0131-f170-58d385a7b928

“Theme and Variations” starts with the principals, standing with the corps and demi-soloists, in fifth position. Heels tight to toes, lines straight and even. The first step of the ballet is a battement tendu performed by the ballerina. In Balanchine’s life-long process of reinventing technique, many dancers noted the number of tendus he would give at barre.

“Tendus were done daily and in large numbers, because for Mr. B and his company, the saying was, the more tendus, the better […] The action of the foot correctly moving out from and returning to fifth is one of the most elementary skills and a basic foundation of Balanchine’s more articulate footwork.”

-Suki Schorer, legendary teacher at S.A.B., in her book Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique.

Tendus set up a dancers leg moving forward through the rest of dance class. These ones set up the ballerina moving forward through the rest the ballet- a back to basics moment before the technical decathlon before her, where she must be crisp and bright and lyrical and exact and musical and flowy and sharp and look quite calm and happy throughout it.

Subscribe now

Buy me a coffee!

Tendus are an important recurring motif in this ballet, by the way. The simple clarity of the line reflects the simple clarity of the ballet- powerful, energetic, and fabulous, but not extra.

At one point (around 5:25 into the piece, depending on the tempo), the female corps and demi-soloists have the stage to themselves.

And they take full advantage of it, taking up all of the space in high arabesques and jumps. While always original (that’s why his work is so genius!), this is textbook Balanchine corps work: allowing the masses to do principal-caliber choreography, shifting panels and reinventing endless new ways to break up and rearrange bodies on a stage. Another similarity Theme has to other ballets Balanchine choreographed in the era like “Serenade” and “Concerto Barocco” are his daisy chains- “Theme has a famous one, where the ballerina performs adagio on pointe supported by bourreeing corps girls, proving that, as a ballerina in Balanchine’s work, she doesn’t need a man to be supported, strong, and beautiful - he is just the gold setting for her diamond.

I particularly like the above video, featuring Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov, because the vantage point and the bright red and orange tutus allow for a full enjoyment of the choreography. As someone who is more often in the third or fourth ring than anywhere else at N.Y.C.B., I can attest that there are big benefits of being further away from stage.

Buy me a coffee!

Subscribe now

Another kaleidoscopic moment of the ballet comes at the end, just before the principal couple enters. All of the corps de ballet and demi-soloists form three rows until suddenly they shift slightly, and it’s a pinwheel, until, wait, no, the corps line the sides and the demi-soloists form a line all the way upstage.

This also a moment where we see Balanchine’s famous arithmetic: three rows of eight, or four lines of three couples, shifting to become two columns of four couples and then two lines of four demi-soloist. Throughout the ballet, almost every possible configuration of these dancers is utilized, smoothly and roundly, in a way that’s satisfying to watch but difficult to realize unless you pay close attention. One of my favorite moments is when the whole cast forms a diagonal line, to polonaise in pairs. It reminds me of an iconic moment in Balanchine’s Diamonds, another ballet to Tchaikovsky .

At the start of the finale, when the principal couple rejoins the ranks, we see a prime example of Balanchine’s choreographic experimentation: taking a classic position- here, passe releve- and tilting it off its axis.

One famous story of Theme and Variation’s creation is that of Igor Youskevitch’s solo: he approached Balanchine asking for a more challenging solo. In 5 minutes, the choreographer had created one of the most intimidating male solos in ballet:

The beginning section of the solo is remarkably similar to the third entrance of Dewdrop in Balanchine’s Nutcracker, with a saute with a double rond de jambe into a pique.

https://www.facebook.com/nycballet/videos/tiler-peck-as-dewdrop-in-george-balanchines-the-nutcracker/1123665431510803/

Both pieces of choreography are satisfying to watch (and probably to dance: I’ve only ever tried Dewdrop), in part, because of the simplicity of the steps: just two movements, repeated over and over. But the way they are paired (both, in fact, to Tschaikovsky) brings out the elegance of the music and its relationship to the dancer. Throughout Theme, the music seems to carry the dancer, and the dancer reveals the music in a new light.

Share

Buy me a coffee!

Did you miss Part I? Read here!

Note: New York City Ballet is still working to get a new contract!

Send a Letter to New York City Ballet Leadership:

Here

“Following nearly eight hours of bargaining on October 20, there continues to be a significant gap between the wage proposals presented by AGMA and Management. AGMA Artists are now not working again until November 11 (as we only have 37 guaranteed paid weeks) and still need your support in our fight for a fair contract! If you have already sent a letter to NYCB Leadership: Thank you! Feel free to send more.” -AGMA

“Air is not enough,” Alicia Alonso was a legendary ballerina who was famous for her execution of many of the most technically challenging parts in all of classical ballet. But what she was talking about here was not the hours-long marathons of Giselle or Swan Lake. Alonso was recalling gasping 1for her breath while performing her role as the principal ballerina in Balanchine’s “Theme and Variations”. The ballet, choreographed in 1947 to the fourth and final movement of Tschaikovsky’s “Suite No. 3 for Orchestra”, is both a love-letter and sequel to Russian classicism. It is classical in the way Balanchine meant to when he visited Russia in 1962, and told his hosts that “Russia is the home of Romantic Ballet, America is the home of classical ballet.” America’s classical ballet is on full display in “Theme”, as is the ballerina. She has nothing to hide behind beyond a short tutu, a minimalist set, and swelling Tchaikovsky music. Grand yet simple, Russian yet inarguabley American.

“You can see the delight with which he created some of those early ballets—“Serenade,” or “Ballet Imperial.” These were impossible works trying to match the best of Russian technique with his own genius. This is arrogance of remarkable quality. And the quality is all the more remarkable because it eventually succeeded.”

- John Martin, New York Times Dance Critic 1927-19622

Despite what she might have recalled, the air must have been enough for Alonso. Only in her mid twenties, half-blind, and a principal dancer at Ballet Theatre (Now American Ballet Theatre), Alonso was often on the receiving end of Balanchine’s requests to make steps harder and faster and bigger.

Subscribe now

Buy me a coffee

Alonso was initially trained in her native Cuba and, after her subsequent schooling at Balanchine’s School of American Ballet, worked for Ballet Theatre. Ballet Theatre is to this day applauded for it’s performance of the classics, in comparison to Balanchine’s company, New York City Ballet, known for it’s performance of more abstract works. However, Alonso and her partner Igor Youskevich in fact “fascinated” Balanchine, according to her interviews with the George Balanchine Foundation. While creating the ballet with them, he was taken with the “pastel colors” with which they shaded his work, which is interesting considering that for other ballets (his “Swan Lake”, for instance) where he had to reminded dancers to do the steps, and let the characters come to light through the music and the steps.3

The lineage of “Theme” from 1947 to 2025 is legendary. This fall, longtime N.Y.C.B. principal Megan Fairchild performed the ballet for the last time prior to her retirement in May, and her colleague Indiana Woodward made a long-awaited debut. Between them and Alonso are dancers like Violette Verdy, Merrill Ashley, Gelsey Kirkland and Paloma Herrera (the latter two, funnily enough, are like Alonso in their S.A.B. training and careers as principals at A.B.T.).

After the ballet was made at A.B.T. in 1947, Balanchine brought it to N.Y.C.B. in 1960, starring Verdy and Edward Villella. In 1970, he choreographed the first three movements of Tschaikovsky’s Suite No. 3, and restaged Theme and Variations with Kirkland and Villella leading.

That’s it for now! I’ll be back soon for a more in-depth look at the actual choreography of the ballet. Until then, here’s the iconic Merrill Ashley with Sean Lavery in “Theme and Variations”.

Catch-up

• I was thrilled this past week to here that India Bradley, Dominika Afanasenkov, MT Mackinnon, Victor Abreu, Andres Zuniga and Naomi Corti were promoted to soloists at N.Y.C.B.!! It’s been a long time coming, it’s so well deserved, and it’s so exciting to see what they will do next!

• Apprentices Peyton Gin, Vanessa Mlyniec and Kylie Vernia have been promoted to the corps

• And, on a heavier but equally important note, the dancers of the company refrained from attending N.Y.C.B.’s Fall Fashion Gala this week due to ongoing disagreements between their union and management. Principal Megan Fairchild really explained it best: https://www.instagram.com/mfairchild17/p/DPoRPxfjnbv/?hl=en

Buy me a coffee!

Podcasts

Conversations on Dance

https://www.conversationsondancepod.com/

Featuring interviews with everyone in the industry from legendary Balanchine ballerina Patricia McBride to Jared Harbour and Aidan Gibney, the team that made the documentary 'No Dancing Allowed', Conversations on Dance is an annual resident at the Vail Dance Festival and the winner of the 2024 Clive Barnes Award for Journalism and Media Achievement.

City Ballet the Podcast

https://podcast.nycballet.com/

City Ballet the podcast consists of The Rosin Box with Claire Kretzschmar and Aarón Sanz, a behind-the-scene look at all aspects of NYCB, New Combinations with Wendy Whelan, exploring new works with choreographers and collaborators, Hear the Dance, a deep dive into classic works and the lives of legends, and See the Music with Andrew Litton, who expertly explains the music of ballets and how it connects to steps.

Grace & Form podcast

The Stage Rightside with James Whiteside

Websites

Immortal Icons of Dance

https://www.immortaliconsofdance.com/

“The goal is to curate information and experiences from a vast array of primary sources--institutional archives, books, articles, photos, footage, interviews--and place them in context with each other so that one source can further illuminate another.”

https://www.instagram.com/immortaliconsofdance

Youtube

youtube.com

My old go-to. I’d recommend subscribing to New York City Ballet, Chun Wai Chan, Tights Under, and John Clifford.

NYPL Martha Swope Collection

https://digitalcollections.nypl.org/collections/0146e060-c530-012f-1e6f-58d385a7bc34?filters=%5Bsubcollection%3D39fd9770-7ab2-0130-799a-58d385a7b928%5D

Over 23,000 photos of NYCB alone!

Buy me a coffee

NYCB Website

nycballet.com

The George Balanchine Foundation

https://balanchine.org/

“The George Balanchine Foundation, established in 1983, works to preserve the legacy of George Balanchine and ensure that his monumental contributions to dance serve as inspiration for further development of the art form. We engage in a broad range of activities and programs that includes archival preservation of coaching sessions, focused research, ballet reconstructions, publications, lectures and educational videos.”

Alastair Macaulay

https://www.alastairmacaulay.com/

New York Times Machine

https://timesmachine.nytimes.com/browser

Great for finding old reviews!

Books

• Serenade, Costumes by Karinska, and Winter Season by Toni Bentley

• Balanchine Variations and More Balanchine Variations by Nancy Goldner

• Don’t Think, Dear by Alice Robb

• Turning Pointe by Chloe Angyal

• Holding Onto Air by Suzanne Farrell

• Dancing for Balanchine by Merrill Ashley

• Prodigal Son by Edward Villella

• I was a Dancer by Jacques d'Amboise

• Apollos Angels and Mr. B by Jennifer Homans

• Dancing on My Grace by Gelsey Kirkland

• Once a Dancer by Allegra Kent

  There really are so many books. Read them all!

  As always, thanks for reading! Please subscribe to read more, it’s free! To support my work, buy me a coffee below.

  Buy me a coffee

One of my earliest ballet memories is of waking up Christmas morning to a copy of ETA Hoffman’s fairy tale with 2 tickets to see New York City Ballet’s production tucked inside. I still have the book, which is actually quite eerie compared to the bright seasonal ballet most are familiar with. This particular copy is one of the ones that Maurice Sendak illustrated, a side project that resulted from his collaboration with Pacific Northwest Ballet in their production on the Nutcracker that ran each December for over 30 years until 2014.

Opening Drop

https://www.facebook.com/nycballet/videos/24daysofnutcracker-day-1-overture-angel-scrim/214448826875154/

Party Scene

Battle Scene

Snow Scene

Act II

One Last (Wild) Thing…

For More:

https://www.nypl.org/events/exhibitions/nutcracker

http://ballerinasbynight.blogspot.com/2015/01/backstage-at-stowell-sendaks-nutcracker.html

The Anchoress Archives

From the Archive: The darkness of Maurice Sendak's The Nutcracker and Outside Over There.

I loved writing this post last year and thought I would share it again for the holiday season…

Read more

2 years ago · 7 likes · 4 comments · Katy

Buy me a coffee