Dance
Featured
The Nutcracker may feel like an eternal Christmas fixture, but its history is full of doubt, crisis, and unexpected brilliance. TWoA traces the ballet’s journey from Tchaikovsky’s reluctance and Ivanov’s quiet ingenuity to Balanchine’s dazzling New York revival, revealing the hidden stories behind the world’s most beloved holiday ballet.
Agrippina Vaganova, the woman behind the world-famous ballet method, almost faced arrest under Stalin’s regime. Read how she survived a political crackdown that targeted many artists of her time.
It was in the artistic milieu of Greenwich Village that Modern Dance icon Martha Graham met Isamu Noguchi (1904-1988), the Japanese-American sculptor who would become her longtime collaborator. Read on to find out more.
Television keeps trying to bottle the world of ballet, and most attempts slip through the frame. In this article, TWoA looks at Étoile and why a series filled with extraordinary dancers still couldn’t capture movement, risk, or the pulse that keeps artists glued to old rehearsal clips. Read on for a clear look at what televised dance needs—and why so few shows manage it.
Balancing a dance career with an academic degree sounds impossible until you hear Anastasia Cheplyansky explain how she did both. In this article, TWoA looks at her path from Atlanta Ballet to Dutch National Ballet, and how studying psychology reshaped her approach to training, pressure, and performance.
As the school year begins, reading lists shift from summer novels to the books that shape a creative life. In this article, TWoA highlights three essential titles—Allegra Kent’s memoir, Twyla Tharp’s creative guide, and The Swans of Harlem—each revealing what it really takes to build a career in dance and the arts.
Rudolf Nureyev’s tenure at the Paris Opera Ballet didn’t just add new ballets to the repertoire—it transformed the company’s technique, taste, and identity. Read more to see how his directorship reshaped French classicism, expanded the repertory, and forged a generation of dancers who still define the company today.
For many years, Zenaida Yanowsky was one of The Royal Ballet’s most singular principals—rigorous, magnetic, impossible to forget. Now a coach shaping dancers across major companies, she speaks with TWoA about precision, presence, and the quiet authority behind great performance. Read on.
August Bournonville’s choreography gave Denmark a ballet identity of its own: rounded arms, delicately musical footwork, and allegro that seems to float rather than land. Learn how this nineteenth-century master shaped a national style that remains unmistakable on stages today.
How did a delicate pink slipper become ballet’s most powerful symbol? From flying machines and broken-in satin to Maria Taglioni’s game-changing rise en pointe, TWoA traces the wild, glamorous, and sometimes dangerous evolution of the pointe shoe. Discover the hidden history behind ballet’s signature shoe—and why its design still shapes the way dancers defy gravity today.
She wasn’t just the Jazz Age’s brightest star—she was a spy, a trailblazer, and a force for civil rights. In this electrifying TWoA profile, step behind the curtain with Josephine Baker, the dancer who rewrote the rules of fame, weaponized performance against racism, and risked everything in the French Resistance. A gripping story of art, power, and unapologetic brilliance.
Paris Opera Ballet’s Chun-Wing Lam is probably the only dancer in the world to combine a successful dance career with running his own wealth management firm. TWoA talked to Chun about moving from Hong Kong to Paris when he was fourteen, about the unique promotion system at the Paris Opera Ballet, and about the artistic and mental benefits of having two careers at the same time.
When spring arrives, most composers paint blossoms and sunshine—Stravinsky delivered terror. This TWoA deep-dive unravels why The Rite of Spring still sends audiences into a primal panic: pagan sacrifice, Nijinsky’s convulsive choreography, revolutionary harmonies, and a riot that changed music forever. A visceral journey into the masterpiece that blurs rebirth, brutality, and the uncanny pulse of nature itself.
Jean-Christophe Maillot turns ballet into an X-ray of human longing, crafting choreography where emotion leads movement and characters unfold with startling psychological depth—making his work feel less performed than lived.
Renowned for his energetic footwork and playful musicality, Justin Peck has built a remarkably prolific career as New York City Ballet’s Resident Choreographer. Two decades after beginning his choreographic journey as a student at the School of American Ballet, he has created more than 50 ballets and become one of the defining voices of American dance today.
Fifteen-year-old Chloe Helimets, a third-generation ballet dancer and two-time YAGP Youth Grand Prix winner, is one of just eighteen Americans selected for the Prix de Lausanne 2025. In this interview, she speaks about growing up in a ballet family, preparing for the world’s most prestigious competition, and learning to balance artistry, pressure, and passion.
Fedor Dostoevsky’s dark psychological novel Crime and Punishment is a masterpiece of world literature. Last autumn, you could find it in the dance bags of many dancers at American Ballet Theatre: choreographer Helen Pickett and co-director James Bonas were turning the book into a ballet for American Ballet Theatre. The company will perform the production at the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts ins Washington on 12-16 February 2025. TWoA talked to ABT dancer Joseph Markey, who created the part of Luzhin, and who will have his debut as Raskolnikov in Washington.
Looking for the perfect winter movie night? From Wim Wenders’ luminous Pina to the grit of Russian ballet in Ballerina, these four films reveal the beauty, power, and pain of dancers’ lives on and off the stage.
How does a 19-year-old dancer navigate the leap from international competition to professional life? Prize-winning ballerina Paloma Livellara Vidart reflects on her journey from Buenos Aires to Monaco and New York, her award-winning performance at the Prix de Lausanne 2024, and her first weeks dancing with American Ballet Theatre Studio Company, sharing thoughtful insights on growth, self-belief, and finding joy in the early stages of a professional career.
What does it mean to honour a choreographer whose work reshaped American dance and cultural history? Edges of Ailey explores the expansive legacy of Alvin Ailey through a landmark exhibition at New York’s Whitney Museum of American Art, bringing together archival materials, live performance, and contemporary voices to reflect on dance, Black life, and the enduring power of Ailey’s vision.
What if dance could reveal what words cannot? This article revisits the “dream ballet” as a defining feature of 1950s Hollywood musicals, exploring how films like An American in Paris, Singin’ in the Rain, and Oklahoma! used choreography to enter their characters’ inner worlds—transforming love, doubt, and desire into movement, and cementing dance as a powerful storytelling language of the Golden Age movie musical.
Who was the ballerina behind one of classical ballet’s most feared technical feats? This article revisits the life and legacy of Pierina Legnani, the first dancer to perform 32 consecutive fouettés, tracing how her virtuosity reshaped Swan Lake, transformed ballet training in Russia, and earned her the rare title of prima ballerina assoluta.
The dance world is mourning the sudden death of Michaela DePrince at the age of 29. Born in Sierra Leone during a brutal civil war and orphaned by the age of three, DePrince went on to become an internationally acclaimed ballerina, a powerful advocate for Black representation in ballet, and a voice for children affected by conflict and violence. This tribute honours her extraordinary life, resilience, and lasting legacy.
Are you planning to compete at a ballet competition this school year? Choosing the right variation can make all the difference. What principles should guide your decision? TWoA speaks with Inna Bayer, artistic director of Bayer Ballet Academy, and her student Crystal Huang—prize winner at the Prix de Lausanne 2024, Youth America Grand Prix 2024, YoungArts 2024, and Grand Prix winner at the South Africa International Ballet Competition—about strategy, growth, and showcasing your strengths on stage.
Crystal Huang, 15, is having a remarkable year. Until just two years ago, she was training primarily in commercial dance—but in 2024 she emerged as a prize winner at the Prix de Lausanne, one of the world’s most prestigious international ballet competitions. She also claimed top awards at Youth America Grand Prix 2024, YoungArts (Dance/Ballet), and the Grand Prix at the South Africa International Ballet Competition. TWoA spoke with Crystal about her unconventional journey and the lessons she’s learned about succeeding at competitions—onstage and beyond.
In ballet, the present recalls the past. Knowledge is passed down and repertoire is preserved through memory. Combine the past and the present in a game I’d like to call “New York City Ballet - Dancer Doppelgangers”!
A butterfly. A petal unfolding. A dazzling prism. A snowflake. American dancer and choreographer Loïe Fuller (1862-1928) was able to evoke each of those images during her swirling, spiraling Serpentine Dance. Meet Taylor Swift’s Muse.
In the lavish world of the Ancien Régime (France before the 1789 Revolution), dance was considered to be just as important as music, literature and the visual arts. This was, in part, down to one man’s tastes. Beyond his role as the divinely ordained ruler of France—an “absolute” monarch—Louis XIV (1638-1713) was also a prolific dancer.
Across continents and centuries, dance becomes a shared language of hope as communities greet the winter solstice. TWoA traces the radiant lineage from Iranian Yalda nights and Nordic Lucia processions to Peru’s revived Incan Inti Raymi, revealing how movement carries light through the year’s darkest threshold.