Tag: jko

Letting Go of the Barre: How to Keep from Falling Apart in Center

She just retired as a principal with Pacific Northwest Ballet, but as a teenager, Maria Chapman struggled to gain control of her flexibility. “I looked pretty good at the barre,” she says, “but I was relying on it way too much, and focusing exclusively on what my legs and feet were doing.” Without the barre’s […]

A Trip Around the World with Ballet Star Dusty Button

If you’re one of Dusty Button’s 146,000 (and counting) Instagram followers, you know this ballerina doesn’t fit any molds. Because while she holds down a job as a Boston Ballet principal dancer and takes the stage in ultimate classical roles like Odette/Odile (which she performed this past April), she’s just as comfortable in a fast-paced […]

Michaela DePrince

Michaela DePrince (Rosalie O’Connor) Ballerinas aren’t often described as powerful. Strong? Maybe. Dynamic? Sure. But when you watch 17-year-old Michaela DePrince, a student at The Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre, powerful is the first word that comes to mind. While her technique is elegant and fluid—particularly her expressive, eloquent port de bras—underneath […]