Ballet Uncovered ~ Balancing Pointe Podcast

Matthew Neenan began his dance training at the Boston Ballet School. He later attended the LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and the School of American Ballet in New York. From 1994-2007, Matthew danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet and 2007, Matthew was named Choreographer in Residenceat the Pennsylvania Ballet.

Matthew’s choreography has been featured and performed by the Pennsylvania Ballet, BalletX, The Washington Ballet, Colorado Ballet, Ballet West, Ballet Memphis, Milwaukee Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Tulsa Ballet, Ballet Met, Oklahoma City Ballet, Juilliard Dance, New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute, Sacramento Ballet, Nevada Ballet Theatre, Indiana University, Opera Philadelphia, and LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts (NYC), among others. In 2005, Matthew co-founded BalletX with fellow dancer Christine Cox. BalletX had its world premiere at the Philadelphia Live Arts Festival in September 2005 and is now the resident dance company at the prestigious Wilma Theatre. BalletX has toured and performed Neenan’s choreography in New York City at The Joyce Theater, The Skirball Center, Symphony Space and Central Park Summerstage, Vail International Dance Festival, Jacob’s Pillow, The Cerritos Center, Laguna Dance Festival, Spring to Dance Festival in St.Louis, and internationally in Cali, Colombia and Seoul, Korea. In 2010, Matthew became a trustee member for DanceUSA. His ballet The Last Glass was praised in the New York Times as the “The Top 10” of 2013.

Matthew Neenan's website

BalletX Website

New York Times Article mentioned in introduction

Balancing Pointe's website

This week Megan takes over as the host of the show and interviews New York City Principal Dancer Sara Mearns.  Perhaps a first ever experience.

Megan and Sara are not only dancers but very great friends, so this episode feels like you are sitting with them in their home or over coffee.  

Megan asks great questions that really help give an authentic peak into the life of a professional dancer. Sara shares her favorite roles, as well as how deeply recently deceased Albert Evans' death has affected her on a daily basis. The interview is authentic and dives in deep into Sara Mearn's journey in ballet.

Sara's vibrant energy keeps things light hearted and fun.

Today's question come from:

- Natalie who is 12 years old and lives in Hong Kong.  Her favorite dancers are Sara Mearns and Megan Fairchild so she was hoping Sara could come on to the show.

Do you have a question about Ballet?  

You can be a part of the show by sending us your questions ~ it is EASY. Simply go to BalancingPointe.com and click on the "Leave Your Question Here" tab on the side of the page.  From there follow the directions and you are all set.

If you like the show, please take a moment to stop by ITunes and leave us a rating and review.  And be sure to stop by:

Balancing Pointe Website - SUBMIT your questions here!

Megan Fairchild's website

NYCB Website with Megan's Bio

NYCB Website with Sara's bio

Balancing Pointe Facebook Page

Twitter - Balancing Pointe

Twitter - Megan Fairchild

Cassie Mayo is the Founder and Head Coach of OST. She has trained for the past 12 years under Boston Ballet & Alvin Ailey Professional and 30 year Studio Owner Karen Brown. She has been dancing since she was 6 years old, and helping out with classes since she was 8 years old. She taught her first class in 2010 and has been teaching for 5 years, coaching for 3 years, and running OST for the second year in a row. Cassie was training with the hopes of a pre-professional career until she was diagnosed with RSD/CRPS. She has been battling that for the past 5 years in 80% of her body. She has overcome all the odds, but because of all the injuries and treatments, she was not able to continue with her career. This past year was quite a year. Thankfully she started coaching and is using her knowledge and continuing to grow in the field of Dance Medicine and Exercise Science. She also runs RSD/CRPS 4 a Cure, which she founded in 2012. Cassie is a public speaker and goes around to schools and churches sharing her story, and raising awareness for this commonly unknown disease. 

Off Season Training

Audition for Off Season Training

RSD/CRPS 4 a Cure

Cassie's Vlog

Balancing Pointe website

Balancing Pointe website

Balancing Pointe Facebook

Twitter - Balancing Pointe

This week Megan answers two of our listener's questions.  ASK MEGAN is a weekly show hosted by New York City Ballet's Principal Dancer Megan Fairchild.  On each episode of this show Megan will be answering YOUR questions each and every Monday.  Each episode will feature an actual question submitted from someone like you!

Today's questions come from:

- Bethany who asks Megan about how she can use her Broadway experience to bring a fresh perspective to ballet;

- Florrie who asks Megan how she maintains a healthy balance in life in her busy life as a Broadway star.

Megan provides very thoughtful and personal answers to these questions.

Do you have a question about Ballet?  

You can be a part of the show by sending us your questions ~ it is EASY. Simply go to BalancingPointe.com and click on the "Leave Your Question Here" tab on the side of the page.  From there follow the directions and you are all set.

If you like the show, please take a moment to stop by ITunes and leave us a rating and review.  And be sure to stop by:

Balancing Pointe Website - SUBMIT your questions here!

Megan Fairchild's website

NYCB Website with Megan's Bio

Balancing Pointe Facebook Page

Twitter - Balancing Pointe

Twitter - Megan Fairchild

Today's guest is Lara O'Brien Muñoz  who is a Principal dancer with Carolina Ballet in Raleigh, North Carolina.  Laura began her journey in Ballet in Chicago training with the School of Ballet Chicago. At aget 17 she spent two years studying at the School of American Ballet in NYC as well as being chosen as a Dance American National Cultural Exchange scholarship student and was chosen to train at the Royal Danish Ballet for two months.  In 2001 Lara joined Carolina Ballet as a member of the Corps de Ballet.  In 2011 Lara was promoted to Principal.  Lara has now joined the ranks of Entrepreneurs as she recentl opened her own Ballet studio "Tutu Dance Raleigh" which focuses on teaching children age-appropriate motor skills and the fundamental principles of ballet while exposing them to the world of classical music and enchanting stories of famous ballets.

Balancing Pointe website

Balancing Pointe Facebook

Twitter - Balancing Pointe

Carolina Ballet - Lara Bio

Tutu School

Tutu School - Facebook

Twitter - Lara O'Brien

Carolina Ballet - Facebook

Lara O'Brien - Facebook

Laurie McSherry-Gray is a half-soloist with The Royal Ballet of Flanders.  Laurie trained at The Royal Ballet School in London and then joined the Royal New Zealand Ballet, after which he spent some time with Angel Corella’s company, Corella Ballet, in Spain, where his repertoire included both traditional ballets and modern classics.  My previous guest Joshua McSherry-Gray is Laurie’s identical twin brother who has traveled much of the same journey into professional ballet. Both Josuha and Laurie are extremely close and bring a unique perspective on what it takes to make it the world of professional ballet.

Joshua McSheery-Gray grew up in Hull, England a small town near the Yorkshire Coast.  After finding his love of ballet and dance, Joshua and his identical twin brother made their way to London where they trained at the Central School of Ballet and the Royal Ballet Upper School.  Upon their graduation , both Joshua and his brother Laurie accepted their first professional position with the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Once in New Zealand, Joshua realized that his true dream was to dance with one of the major companies in his home country.  He made his way back to London where he auditioned and was accepted into the prestigious English National Ballet.  Joshua has been dancing with ENB since 2009 and absolutely loves his "job".

Balancing Pointe website

English National Ballet - Joshua McSherry-Gray

Balancing Pointe Facebook

Jenelle Figgins began her training at the historic Jones-Haywood School of Ballet and Duke Ellington School of the Arts. While training, she received scholarships to attend Dance Theatre of Harlem’s Kennedy Center Residency and Summer Intensive.  Ms. Figgins went on to attend SUNY Purchase New York on partial scholarship and in 2011 received her B.F.A. with honors in dance. Following her graduation she accepted a full scholarship to attend Springboard Danse Montreal.  In 2013 Jenelle began dancing with the Dance Theatre of Harlem.  

Reid Bartelme is truly one of the most diversely talented and comprehensively successful guests I have yet to interview.  Reid grew up in SoHo surrounded by music and the arts.  When he was nine years old Reid moved to New Jersey to study voice at The American Boychoir School in NJ whicch is one of only two boychoir  boarding schools in the U.S.  In high school Reid was accepted to the prestigious Interlochen Arts Academy where he continued his vocal training.  When he was 16 years old Reid discovered his interest and talent in dance after taking a general dance class with Jack Ferver.  Reid wound up double majoring in Dance and Music at Interlochen.  After this, Reid attended SUNY Purchase for college to continue his pursuit of dance.  Reid also continued his vocal training on the weekends with a private teacher in NYC.  Shortly into his time at Purchase College, Reid realized he wanted to pursue a career in dance rather than just dabble in it on the side.  Because of this he left college to pursue this path.  From there Reid wound up being accepted as a trainee with one of the top Ballet Companies in the country; Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) located in Seattle.  Reid trained and often performed with the company for two years before receiving a Corps de Ballet contract with BalletMet in Columbus Ohio.  After three years at BalletMet, Reid moved to Calgary to dance with the Alberta Ballet for another three years.  At this time in his life, Reid realized he really wanted to get back to NYC so he auditioned and danced with the Shen Wei Company for two years.  While a member of the the company Reid auditioned and was given the opportunity to dance for Lar Lubovitch.  Reid danced with Lar Lubovitch for three years.  Incredibly during this time Reid once again changed directions and embarked upon a new journey into design.  As Reid explains, he was not feeling the same passion for dance as he had in the past, so after doing the exercises in Julia Cameron’s instructional book “The Artists Way” Reid’s new journey took him into the world of Fashion and Design.  But just as Reid had done throughout his life, he did not embark into this new career path in a halfhearted manner; instead he applied and was accepted into the acclaimed Fashion Institute of Technology in NYC. As Reid shares in his interview, he had always created amazing Halloween costumes so he used these as the bulk of his portfolio when applying to the school.  Since then Reid has quickly climbed through the ranks of top designers for Ballet Companies and Choreographers worldwide.  Reid and his design partner, Harriet have been commissioned for such prestigious companies as New York City Ballet, Miami Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet to name a few.  He has worked with choreographer Emery LeCrone, Justin Peck and Christopher Weeldon among many others.  Reid’s influence in Dance has taken a turn into a different direction and is influencing dancers in a way he may never have thought possible.

Today's interview comes LIVE from School of American Balley with Kaitlyn Gilliland.

Kaitlyn's journey in Ballet began before birth.  She was born into a most prestigious legacy of ballerinas.  Her grandmother is renowned choreographer and founder of Minnesota Dance Theater and  and "Loyce Houlton's Nutcracker Fantasy" which just celebrated its 50th anniversary and is Minnesota's longest running Nutcracker.  Kaitlyn's mother, Lise Houlton danced with American Ballet Theater and Stuttgart Ballet and took over the leadership of MDT in 1995.   Kaitlyn began her training at the Minnesota Dance Theatre before moving to New York at age 16 to train with the School of American Ballet. She attended full-time for one year and in 2004 received the school’s Mae L. Wien Award for outstanding promise. From 2006 to 2011, Ms. Gilliland danced with the New York City Ballet, performing corps, soloist, and principal roles. Due to an injury, Kaitlyn retired from NYCB in 2011 and pursuing an equally grueling goal as a pre-med student at Columbia University.  Today, she is a graduating senior with a degree in psychology.  Along her academic journey, Katilyn re-discovered her passion for dance when she was coaxed into the studio by then budding choreographer Emery LeCrone (also a previous Balancing Pointe guest).  After this Kaitlyn began working with the  Columbia Ballet Collaborative.  Since that moment, Kaitlyn's renewed dance career is skyrocketing.