A spooky-season look at ballet’s ghosts, pirates and mischief-makers While ballet’s canon is replete with queens, princesses, fairies, magic dolls, alongside lovable lads and maidens, some of its most fascinating characters are actually the villains. They...
The Ballerinas Who Shaped The Nutcracker’s Heroine Karyna Shatkovskaya has danced enough to know how a stage works. That, she says, is the complication. “For me, the most difficult part of Clara is probably the childlike excitement,” she says....
On opening night, audiences see the finished performance. They see the costumes, the music, the excitement, and the confidence of children sharing the stage with professional dancers. What they don’t see is the six-year-old who has forgotten the choreography...
We think of The Nutcracker as a joyful holiday ritual: a ballet of snowflakes, toy soldiers, Christmas trees, and doves of peace. A celebration of childhood wonder that returns each December with almost religious regularity. But listen carefully, and you’ll hear...
The Trickster in the Wings: Harlequin from Commedia dell’Arte to the Ballet Stage You know the costume—those diamond-patterned patches, the mask, the nimble silhouette. You may have seen him dart across a ballet stage. But the figure you’re looking at is...
There is a persistent myth around ballet: that it belongs only to children, pre-professional teenagers, and elite dancers who began training before they could properly tie their shoes. By adulthood, many people assume the window has closed. If you didn’t start...
