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14 unusual facts about New York City Ballet


Alexondra Lee

Lee studied ballet at the age of four and began dancing with the New York City Ballet at the age of seven with whom she performed in The Nutcracker Suite.

Audrey Penn

Penn, in the 1970s, was a ballerina dancer dancing for the New York City Ballet, Danny Diamond Dance Theatre, Stuttgart Ballet, and the National Ballet.

Barbie in the Nutcracker

The film includes a substantial amount of motion capture, including dances performed by members of the New York City Ballet and choreography by Peter Martins.

Eakins Press

In the three decades before his death, Eakins Press published 56 books that were described by The New York Times as being "notable for their meticulous, elegant design", including works of photography, poetry, sculpture and the New York City Ballet.

Mary Warburg

In 1939, she married Edward Mortimer Morris Warburg, a founder of the Jewish Museum; the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA); and the American Ballet, the precursor of the New York City Ballet.

New York City Ballet

Philip Johnson and John Burgee's stage setting of translucent tubing was designed by to be hung and lit in different architectural configurations throughout the entire festival.

For its 40th anniversary, Martins held an American Music Festival, having commissioned dances from choreographers Laura Dean, Eliot Feld, William Forsythe, Lar Lubovitch and Paul Taylor.

The performers included Maria Calegari, Kyra Nichols, Heather Watts, Leonid Kozlov, Afshin Mofid, Patricia McBride, Helgi Tomasson, Karin von Aroldingen, Lourdes Lopez, Bart Cook, and Joseph Duell.

Orin O'Brien

Before joining the New York Philharmonic, O'Brien performed with the New York City Ballet, the Metropolitan Opera, and the American Symphony Orchestra (under Leopold Stokowski, under whom she played the double bass solo as principal bass in the U.S. premiere of Alberto Ginastera's Variaciones Concertantes, in 1962.

Per Kirkeby

2007 Designs set and costumes for Romeo and Juliet, New York City Ballet; first major exhibition in China at Shanghai Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai; “Per Kirkeby”, Arts Club of Chicago

Samuel DiPiazza

He serves on the Executive Committee of the National Corporate Theater Fund and as a board member with the New York City Ballet.

Saratoga Spa State Park

The Saratoga Performing Arts Center, located on the State Park grounds, has been the summer home of the Philadelphia Orchestra and New York City Ballet since 1966.

Wadsworth Atheneum

Shortly after his immigration, Balanchine founded the School of American Ballet, which led to the formation of the New York City Ballet.

William Dollar

He was a leading dancer with the American Ballet, Ballet Caravan and the American Ballet Caravan companies that preceded and led to the establishment of the New York City Ballet in 1948.


Andrew Kirtzman

Kirtzman was married on March 9, 2005 in Toronto to Kyle Froman, a prominent dance and fashion photographer and former member of the New York City Ballet corps de ballet.

Carolyn George

She started her professional dance career in 1952 in Broadway musicals and joined New York City Ballet (NYCB) on its European tour that year in George Balanchine's Swan Lake.

Complexions Contemporary Ballet

Dwight Rhoden has created over 90 ballets for Complexions, as well as numerous other companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Arizona Ballet, the Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Company, the Dance Theater of Harlem, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, the Joffrey Ballet and New York City Ballet.

Harriman-Jewell Series

New York City Ballet’s Patricia McBride and Edward Villella danced in the Series’ first performance in December 1965, and violinist Itzhak Perlman played a recital in 1971.

Marina Eglevsky

Marina performed professionally in New York City Ballet's production of The Nutcracker, with the Eglevsky Ballet Company and as a guest in various companies and engagements.

Miami City Ballet

It was created in 1985 by former New York City Ballet principal dancer Edward Villella and flourishes today as one of America's most respected regional ballet companies.

NAO Dance Technique

Elchak is a passionate mother, dancer, choreographer, and educator, trained with teachers from the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance, Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, the Mark Morris Dance Group, the American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet, The International Ballet of Cuba, the Denishawn School, and Isadora Duncan Dance.

New York Percussion Trio

In addition to their work with the trio, Goldberg and Gould served for many years as members of the New York City Ballet Orchestra and the orchestras of the Martha Graham Dance Company and Joffrey Ballet; Gould retired from his post with the New York City Ballet Orchestra in 2005 and Goldberg remains with the orchestra as timpanist and orchestra manager.

Nicholas Magallanes

Along with Jerome Robbins, Francisco Moncion and Maria Tallchief, Magallanes was among the core group of dancers with which George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein formed the New York City Ballet (formerly Ballet Society) in 1948.

Nina Ananiashvili

She, along with Andris Liepa, was the first Soviet dancer to appear as a guest performer with the New York City Ballet in 1988 (she had danced in "Raymonda Variations", "Apollo" and "Symphony in C" there).

Patuxent Youth Ballet

Before beginning a studio of her own, Ms. Mesa had been teaching at various studios throughout the Howard County district holding a B.A. in Dance from the University of Maryland along with having training with the New York City Ballet through a Ford Foundation Scholarship.

Richmond Ballet

In October 2013, during the company's 30th season, the ballet premiered the contemporary work “Phoenix Rising”, choreographed by Philip Neal, a former student of the Richmond Ballet school and dancer for 23 years with the New York City Ballet.

Ruth Sobotka

After studying at the School of American Ballet, Sobotka became a member of George Balanchine's Ballet Society (1946–1948) and its successor the New York City Ballet from 1949 to 1961.

Sallie Wilson

Sallie Wilson (1932–2008) was a noted ballerina who appeared with New York City Ballet where she danced opposite Martha Graham in the premiere of Graham and George Balanchine's collaboration at NYCB, Episodes in May, 1959, and subsequently with American Ballet Theatre, where she was associated with several ballets created by Antony Tudor.

Walpurgisnacht Ballet

Walpurgisnacht Ballet is a ballet made by New York City Ballet's co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine for a 1975 production of Gounod's 1859 Faust at the Théâtre National de l'Opéra including the additional ballet music from 1869.

Why am I not where you are

The costumes were designed by Marc Happel and the set by Santiago Calatrava as part of the company's Architecture of Dance Festival.