This week we are joined by Isabella Boylston, American Ballet Theater Principal Dancer.  Isabella was born in Sun Valley Idaho and started dancing at the age of 3.  In 1994 she began training at a small studio, and by the age of 12 was commuting to Denver every day to study at the Academy of Colorado Ballet.  After winning gold at the Youth America Grand Prix finals in New York City in 2001, she moved to Florida to study at the Harid Conservatory.  After attending a summer course at American Ballet Theater, she joined the studio company in 2005, and joined the main company a year later.  She was then promoted to Principal Dancer in 2014.  She has danced many lead roles with the company, most noteably Giselle, Odette/Odile, Kitri in “Don Quixote,” and the lead in George Balanchine’s “Theme and Variations.”  Recently she appeared as a guest star with the Royal Danish Ballet, and the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg, Russia.  Today we chat with Bella ahead of the opening of ABT’s Fall Season at the Koch Theater in New York City starting this Wednesday and going through October 29th.  We talk today about the path that  brought her to ABT, what her first big opportunities in the company were like, about her time as Artistic Director of this summer’s Ballet Sun Valley festival, and get a preview of what she is dancing this week in New York.  Get tickets now: abt.org.

This episode is sponsored by Body Wrappers: http://bodywrappers.com.

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