This past June, Aesha Ash took her place as the School of American Ballet’s Associate Chair of Faculty. After a lifetime of training at the school, dancing with the company, and educating up-and-coming students, she is bringing her expertise to this new role—taking care of dancers holistically. Ash’s dance training began at five years old […]
Ana Nery Fragoso’s guiding philosophy is collaboration. Whether she’s teaching elementary school children, leading professional-development workshops for educators, or mentoring future teachers as director of the Arnhold Graduate Dance Education Program at Hunter College in New York City “building community and cooperation is a constant in my pedagogy,” she says. Fragoso’s passion for education was […]
In late 2020, New York City Ballet principal Megan Fairchild came to the jarring realization that she was going to waste precious years of her career waiting out a pandemic. So, she got started on a few other life goals she had in the meantime: adding to her family tree. “I didn’t want to get […]
Who knew that a virtual awards ceremony could bring our community together in such a powerful way? Last night, we celebrated the annual Dance Teacher Awards, held virtually for the first time. Though it was different from what we’re used to, this new setting inspired us to get creative in celebrating our six extraordinary honorees. […]
Aesha Ash is obsessed with movement. After training at the School of American Ballet and dancing with New York City Ballet, she traveled the world with Béjart Ballet Lausanne, Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet and Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company. Ash spent that time watching, absorbing and growing. Continuing to be curious about what can be expressed and […]
Missed the 2020 Dance Teacher Awards? Watch them on-demand here. Most of us know Wendy Whelan for fearlessly approaching difficult tasks, whether creating a role in a new ballet, undergoing hip surgery (on camera, no less), embarking on a self-produced touring project or taking on a brand-new leadership role at New York City Ballet, where […]
How many of us have hovered breathlessly over our iPads, watching grainy YouTube footage of Gelsey Kirkland and Mikhail Baryshnikov in Theme and Variations? Or Suzanne Farrell in Mozartiana? (Hundreds of thousands of us, to be exact.) Well, get ready: Yesterday, Lincoln Center announced its brand new Dance Week, a series of seven online broadcasts […]
Create a Watch Party! Here are four free offerings from New York City’s most celebrated arts organizations to share with your students and their families. New York City Ballet Excerpt of Christopher Wheeldon’s This Bitter Earth performed by Sara Mearns and Adrian Danchig-Waring. “Words cannot fully capture the beauty or essence of this moving pas […]
Celebrated New York City Ballet principal Sara Mearns has recently been exploring collaborative possibilities with dance artists outside ballet. Just this year she was guest artist with Lori Belilove & The Isadora Duncan Company, and performed on Broadway in her husband Joshua Bergasse’s choreography for I Married an Angel. This summer she appeared in a […]
In a large practice studio inside Lincoln Center’s Koch Theater, Suzanne Farrell watches quietly as New York City Ballet principals Sara Mearns and Russell Janzen work through a series of supported poses. As Janzen kneels to face her, Mearns brushes through to croisé arabesque, extending her leg high behind her. “I wouldn’t penché there,” says […]