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NYCB Vol. 16 No. 5 - Donizetti Variations
Jacques d'Amboise and Melissa Hayden. Photo by Fred Fehl, 1960. "In Holland, a country I love with most of my heart, you don't have to...

Lauryn Johnson
Sep 19, 2025


NYCB Vol. 16 No. 4 - Ballade
The following is a chapter from Merrill Ashley's autobiography Dancing for Balanchine . In this chapter she recalls the making of the...

Lauryn Johnson
Sep 18, 2025


NYCB Vol. 16 No. 3 - Square Dance
Nicholas Magallanes and Patricia Wilde. Photo by Martha Swope, 1957. "Last night at the City Center the New York City Ballet presented its first new work, and the hitherto sluggish young season came to life with a bang. The work in question was George Balanchine's "Square Dance" and it is a gem. "The set is just a bare hall such as usually houses square dancing, and on a dais sits a band of fiddlers in shirt-sleeves. Below them is caller (a famous one he is, named Elisha C. K

Lauryn Johnson
Sep 17, 2025


NYCB Vol. 16 No. 2 - Swan Lake
Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow. Photo by Martha Swope, 1960s. "Though the New York City Ballet's season at the City Center closes...

Lauryn Johnson
Sep 16, 2025


NYCB Vol. 16. No. 1 - Gjon Mili and His Stroboscopic Images
NYCB's 2025-26 advertising campaign by Thibaut Grevet seems to have been inspired by Gjon Mili's stroboscopic images from the 20th...

Lauryn Johnson
Sep 15, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 17 - Midsummer Night's Dream
On Balanchine’s Act II pas de Deux in Midsummer Nights Dream: “But brief as it was, the change from many dancers to just two gave a...

Lauryn Johnson
Jun 30, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 16 - La Valse
“La Valse may have been the quintessential role of LeClercq, not only for its angular sophistication and doomed half-innocence, which she...

Lauryn Johnson
May 22, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 15 - La Valse
Patricia McBride and Nicholas Magallanes in La Valse. Photo by Fred Fehl, 1963. In 1919, Diaghilev requested that Maurice Ravel compose...

Lauryn Johnson
May 18, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15. No. 14 - Sontatine
Balanchine’s Sonatine premiered on the gala night of the Ravel Festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of the French composer’s birth....

Lauryn Johnson
May 17, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 13 - Tzigane
Suzanne: “When I first got back [to NYCB after 5 years in Europe] I did a ballet for Jerry Robbins, and another one for Jacques, both...

Lauryn Johnson
May 14, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 12 - Vienna Waltzes Costumes
Stephanie Saland. Photo by Paul Kolnik “In 1977, at the age of ninety, Karinska gave a magnificent farewell performance with her...

Lauryn Johnson
May 13, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 11 - Vienna Waltzes
“'I have a bit of Vienna in my bloodstream,’ Mr. Balanchine said in an interview during a lighting rehearsal some days ago. ‘I’m from the...

Lauryn Johnson
May 12, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 10 - Vienna Waltzes
"George Balanchine’s Vienna Waltzes was given for the first time this season, in one of its very best performances, Tuesday night by the...

Lauryn Johnson
May 11, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 9 - Divertimento #15
Men (L-R): Nicolas Magallanes, Jonathan Watts, ? Women(L-R): ?, Diana Adams, Melissa Hayden, Jillana, ? On Balanchine’s Divertimento No....

Lauryn Johnson
May 9, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 8 - Glass Pieces
Robert Lyon. Photo by Costas, Arlene Croce: "In his latest work for New York City Ballet, Jerome Robbins uses a Glass score; he even uses...

Lauryn Johnson
May 7, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 7 - Suite of Dances
Photo by Paul Kolnik Robbins: “Misha Baryshnikov asked me for a new work for himself and I said very tentatively—well, I can try, but I...

Lauryn Johnson
May 6, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 6 - Apollo
Jacques d'Amboise with Suzanne Farrell, Gloria Govrin and Patricia Neary in Balanchine's Apollo, 1965. “It was becoming a more and more...

Lauryn Johnson
May 4, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 5 - Scotch Symphony
André Eglevsky and Maria Tallchief. Photo by Radford Bascome, 1954 “The chief novelty of the occasion was the first performance by Diana...

Lauryn Johnson
Apr 30, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 4 - Ballo della Regina
"Light, airy, surprising, George Balanchine's new Ballo della Regina is not a great ballet. It is merely terrific. There is such a...

Lauryn Johnson
Apr 27, 2025


NYCB Vol. 15 No. 3 - Glass Pieces
Bart Cook and Maria Calegari. Photo by Martha Swope, 1983 "Bart Cook and Maria Calegari were stunning as always as he central couple,...

Lauryn Johnson
Apr 24, 2025
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