For 75 years, the School of American Ballet has trained the top echelon of the nation’s ballet dancers. Founded by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein soon after the great choreographer arrived in this country, the School served as his laboratory, enabling him to mold dancers with the alert musicality, speed and precision that is so crucial to his choreography. SAB alumni include nearly every member of New York City Ballet, the company with which it is officially affiliated, but also leading dancers in major companies worldwide. SAB provides the bevy of youngsters who perform with such aplomb in NYCB’s The Nutcracker and other ballets in its repertory (you can catch them in June as the bugs in Balanchine’s magical A Midsummer Night’s Dream). But its influence also reaches to Broadway; Chita Rivera has often credited the discipline she learned there as the source of her remarkably longevity and the versatile John Selya, the high-flying star of Movin’ Out, once stood at the barre at SAB.
Usually, the demanding process through which such dancers are trained remains at a mysterious remove, behind closed studio doors. But two upcoming events will allow a privileged glimpse into that insular world.
On Feb. 14 at 6, former NYCB principal dancer Jock Soto will teach a partnering class onstage at Symphony Space. Soto set the standard for elegant, effortless partnering during his 24-year performing career and now passes his expertise along to students at SAB—where he himself once studied, making his mark as a teenaged sensation at the annual Workshop performances. During this 75-minute program, “The Art of the Pas de Deux,” Soto will guide advanced students through classical duets. Admission is free.
The following week, the Guggenheim Museum’s invaluable Works and Process series offers an evening that is a must-see for ballet fans. Suki Schorer, one of SAB’s leading teachers, known for instilling the intricacies and subtleties of Balanchine technique in generations of dancers, will conduct a rich, fascinating program with SAB students and alumni. The students will do classroom exercises demonstrating the differences between the classical Russian technique, in which Balanchine was trained, and the innovative directions in which he took that technique in shaping a bold new American ballet style.
This program (Feb. 22 & 23 at 7:30) will include students of various ages and levels, and promises to be enlightening and revelatory. Schorer, a Balanchine authority and author of an important book on his technique, will lead students through the exercises that are integral to her classes, and will also coach them as they demonstrate solo variations and partnering from Balanchine’s choreography. To illustrate where all this diligent and dedicated work leads, two of NYCB’s most appealing and talented young dancers (and recent SAB alumni), Tiler Peck and Andrew Veyette, will perform Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux.
Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway (at W. 95 St.) No tickets or reservations required.
Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Ave. (at E. 89 St.). Tickets $30 general/$25 museum members/$10 students. (212) 423-3587 or www.worksandprocess.org
