A Ballet Swap-eroo

Big ballet news today! American Ballet Theatre just announced a transatlantic “dancer exchange.”

OK, yes, when I first heard that, I started hyperventilating a little. Were any of my darling ABT people going to be, uh, “traded” to some European team?

But fear not: This exchange is for a few guest performances only, giving audiences on both sides of the Atlantic a taste of world-class dancers they may have never seen before.

Here’s how it’s going to go down:

This June, Royal Ballet principal dancer Steven McRae will perform as Lankendem in ABT’s Le Corsaire, and this July, Royal Danish Ballet principal Alban Lendorf (he’s AMAZING, guys) will dance Prince Désiré in ABT’s Sleeping Beauty. That’s round one.

Then for round two, in December, ABT will send principal Cory Stearns to the Royal Ballet and soloist Isabella Boylston (one of our favorites!) to the Royal Danish Ballet, to dance in their respective Nutcrackers.

Whew.

Anyway, sounds pretty nifty, right? And if you’re not familiar with any of these great dancers, check out our slideshow below!

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