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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


NYCB Vol. 11 No. 11- Rubies
"Miss Watts danced this exuberant quirky choreography with a special slink. […] She has captured the pinup-girl tone of the choreography....

Lauryn Johnson
May 3, 2024


NYCB Vol. 9 No. 42 - Nutcracker
(42/50) If my math is correct, this would be Darci Kistler's Sugar Plum debut at age 16! With Ib Andersen. Photos by Fred Fehl, 1980....

Lauryn Johnson
Dec 26, 2023


NYCB Vol. 3 No. 45 - A Midsummer Night's Dream
(8/12) The Oberon variation has been described by dancers as one of the fastest and most difficult male variations that Balanchine...

Lauryn Johnson
May 27, 2022


NYCB Vol. 3 No. 33 - Piano Pieces
Piano Pieces was choreographed by Jerome Robbins for the Tchaikovsky Festival in 1981. Prior to that, Robbins had never presented...

Lauryn Johnson
May 17, 2022


NYCB Vol. 3 No. 31 - Apollo
(6/6) “I think Apollo is the best role for a male dancer that has ever been choreographed, and I think it has more in it than any dancer...

Lauryn Johnson
May 14, 2022


NYCB Vol. 3 No. 15 - Afternoon of a Faun
(4/4) Today is for the men of Afternoon of a Faun. Eddie Villella shared in his autobiography: “I learned that I had actually been...

Lauryn Johnson
Apr 30, 2022


NYCB Vol. 2 No. 7 - Mozartiana
As Mozartiana is onstage again tonight, I wanted to share some pictures of the men from the original and 2nd casts. Victor Castelli, the...

Lauryn Johnson
Feb 4, 2022


NYCB Vol. 2 No. 2 - Mozartiana
On stage tonight: Mozartiana which premiered in 1981. From the NYTimes: Miss Farrell grinned. ''Everyone asks me to put 'Mozartiana' into...

Lauryn Johnson
Jan 28, 2022


NYCB Vol. 1 No. 20 - Nutcracker
Nutcracker number 20 of the season, featuring Heather Watts as Dewdrop and the Sugar Plum Fairy. (left) Martha Swope, 1983. Dewdrop....

Lauryn Johnson
Dec 12, 2021
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