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Ballet Careers

Meet "The Pecking Order," Justin Peck's Young Team of Répétiteurs

NYCB ballet master Craig Hall with Peck onstage. Photo by Erin Baiano, Courtesy NYCB.

How does Justin Peck do it all? The Tony-award-winning resident choreographer at New York City Ballet is still performing as a company soloist. Yet he somehow manages to have his work performed by companies all over the world.

Like most busy choreographers, he has répétiteurs who stage his work. When Peck started choreographing for NYCB, Albert Evans was the ballet master at his side, but he passed away unexpectedly in 2015. The sudden, tragic loss, combined with his rapid success, meant Peck had to quickly find a group of trustworthy stagers. He turned to dancers he'd worked with, all in their late 20s or early 30s, who had no experience staging ballets.

The opportunities Peck had to offer changed their career trajectories, and gave them a chance to be part of the legacy he's building. "I feel like, how did this happen to me?" says Patricia Delgado who stages Peck's work, and who is also his fiancé. "I grew up idolizing Balanchine and Robbins, but I knew when I passed it on, I'd have to say I learned it from so-and-so. I feel lucky now to be able to pass on work born in my generation."

We caught up with four of Peck's busiest "right hands."

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News

Kyle Abraham and Emma Portner Are Choreographing for NYCB

Kyle Abraham's "Untitled America" for Ailey. Photo by Paul Kolnik.

Ever since New York City Ballet's interim leadership team took over from Peter Martins, we've been curious whether they'd get a chance to try their hand at programming. (It was unclear how much Martins had done before he retired.)

As it turns out, Martins left room for Justin Peck, Rebecca Krohn, Craig Hall and Jonathan Stafford to select two of the company's six commissions for the 2018-19 season. Their choices—Kyle Abraham and Emma Portner—are surprising, and thrilling.

Neither choreographer has made work on a large ballet company before, though Abraham created a duet with Wendy Whelan for her "Restless Creature" series, among his other commissions for companies like Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and work for his own company. And though Portner has been a favorite in commercial circles for a few years now, the concert commissions have just recently started rolling in: This fall she'll be collaborating with Lil Buck and Dev Hynesfor a full-length work for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, and working with Anne Plamondon on a Fall for Dance North piece.

Keep reading at dancemagazine.com.

News

New York City Ballet Announces Interim Leadership Team

From left: Justin Peck, Rebecca Krohn, Jonathan Stafford and Craig Hall. Photo by Erin Baiano, Courtesy New York City Ballet.

The New York City Ballet Board of Directors announced on Saturday the interim team that has been appointed to run the artistic side of the company during ballet master in chief Peter Martins' leave of absence. Martins requested a temporary leave from both NYCB and the School of American Ballet last Thursday while the company undergoes an internal investigation into the sexual harassment accusations aimed at him.

The four-person group is made up of members of the company's current artistic staff, led by ballet master and former principal dancer Jonathan Stafford. Joining Stafford are NYCB resident choreographer and soloist Justin Peck and ballet masters Craig Hall and Rebecca Krohn, both former dancers with the company. While the members of this group haven't had much leadership experience, their close familiarity with the company (Krohn left the stage for her new role just two months ago) should help to ease the dancers' transition.

The team will be responsible for the day-to-day artistic needs of the company including scheduling, casting and conducting rehearsals. While there's no word yet on the length of their tenure, we'll continue to keep you updated as the story surrounding Martins unfolds.

Ballet Training

Dancio: The Startup That Lets You Take Class From Julie Kent... in Your Living Room

Video still by Nel Shelby Productions, Courtesy Dancio.

"What if you could learn from the world's best dance teachers in your living room?" This is the question that Dancio poses on their website. Dancio is a new startup that offers full length videos of ballet classes taught by master teachers. As founder Caitlin Trainor puts it, "these superstar teachers can be available to students everywhere for the cost of a cup of coffee."

For Trainor, a choreographer and the artistic director of Trainor Dance, the idea for Dancio came from a sense of frustration relatable to many dancers; feeling like they need to warm up properly before rehearsals, but not always having the time, energy or funds to get to dance class. One day while searching the internet for a quick online class, Trainor was shocked to not be able to find anything that, as she puts it, "hit the mark in terms of relevance and quality. I thought to myself, how does this not exist?" she says. "We have the Daily Burn for Fitness, YogaGlo for yogis, Netflix for entertainment and nothing for dancers! But then I thought, I can make this!" And thus, Dancio (the name is a combination of dance and video), was born.


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News

Daniel Ulbricht and Friends Rally to Fight Cancer

Violinist Karl Nikkanen with Daniel Ulbricht in Johan Kobborg's Les Lutin. Photo by Christopher Duggan, Courtesy DAC.

Six years ago, New York City Ballet principal Daniel Ulbricht and Erin Fogarty, director of programming at Manhattan Youth Ballet, teamed up to create Dance Against Cancer. The annual benefit for the American Cancer Society brings together ballet, modern and Broadway dancers, with every performer donating their own time. Pointe spoke with Ulbricht before this year's event, Apr. 25 at the AXA Equitable Theater in New York City.

How do the dancers get involved?
This year we have 18 pieces--5 are premieres--and there are still dancers who want to perform. As their own family or friends or mentors suffer, I think they feel compelled to ask, "What can I do?" And we have many artists, like Tiler Peck, Robbie Fairchild, Craig Hall and Gillian Murphy, who have been so gracious to work with us year after year. In one night, you can see dancers from companies like Ailey, Parsons Dance, Noche Flamenca, ABT and City Ballet. It's incredible.
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Superman's Super Show

Senior editor Jenny Stahl recently called New York City Ballet principal Daniel Ulbricht "Superman," and I can't think of a better way to describe the phenomenally talented dancer and teacher, who seems to be everywhere at once these days. (We recently posted a poll asking who your favorite dancer-teacher was, and Ulbricht cleaned up.)

Now Ulbricht can add humanitarian to his already impressive resume: He and Erin Fogarty are producing "Dance Against Cancer," a benefit for The American Cancer Society, which will take place at Manhattan Movement and Arts Center this Monday, April 25. And you'd be hard-pressed to dream up a better program. Wendy Whelan and Craig Hall performing the gorgeous pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon's "After the Rain"? Check. A ballet by golden-boy choreographer Benjamin Millepied? Check. Crazy-awesome contemporary troupe Keigwin + Company? Check. "So You Think You Can Dance" phenomenon Alex Wong? Check. A slew of other NYCB principals, including Janie Taylor, Tyler Angle, Robert Fairchild, Sterling Hyltin, Amar Ramasar, Maria Kowroski and, yes, Ulbricht himself? Check, check, check.

For tickets and more information, click here. Then visit cancer.org to learn about the invaluable work done by The American Cancer Society.

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