Ballet Uncovered ~ Balancing Pointe Podcast

Laura Mead grew up in Austin, Texas and Berkeley, California. She received her BFA from Juilliard, where she performed the works of Paul Taylor, Mark Morris, Ron K. Brown and Eliot Feld, among others. Upon graduation, she joined American Repertory Ballet. She traveled North America with the tour of Twyla Tharp's Movin' Out. Laura originated the principal role of Betsy in Ms. Tharp's Broadway musical Come Fly Away, for which she received an Astaire Award nomination. Jessica Lang Dance (JLD) is a New York City-based dance company dedicated to creating and performing the work of Jessica Lang. JLD enriches and inspires global audiences by immersing them in the beauty of movement and music

Precious Adams began her training in Ballet in Michigan at the Academy of Russian Ballet.  When Precious was just 11 and 12 years old, she moved to Toronto, Canada where she trained at the National Ballet School.  From there she moved to Monte Carlo and trained at the Princess Grace Academy in Monaco.  This was not her last stop as Precious wound up moving to Moscow, Russia to train at the elite Bolshoi Ballet school where she also specialized in the Russian Language.  While at the Bolshio, Precious entered and won two awards at the prestigious Prix de Lausanne in Switzerland.  Today, Precious is a professional ballerina with the English National Ballet.  

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Today my guest is Megan Fairchild, a Principal dancer with the New York City Ballet (NYCB) and now a lead on Broadway.  Megan recently embarked upon a journey in dance that is WAY outside her typical day-to-day comfort zone.  Megan has temporarily traded the illustrious stage at the David Koch Theater where she dances as a principal ballerina with the NYCB and has moved to Broadway -  42nd street to be exact and is not only dancing, but singing and acting as a lead one of this season's hottest shows - the revival of Jerome Robbins "On the Town"!  

Today, I am honored to share with you an exclusive "behind the scenes" look at the audition process, the rehearsal process and all that goes into the opening of a Broadway musical.

http://balancing-pointe.com/ 

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Ellen Bar attended the School of American Ballet for eight years before she was asked to join the New York City Ballet as a corps member in 1998 and promoted to Soloist in 2006. 

In 2005, Ellen danced in the stage revival of Jerome Robbins’ NY Export: Opus Jazz, during which she and fellow soloist Sean Suozzi developed the idea to re-imagine the ballet for film, shot on location in present-day New York City.   

Together, they developed and produced the feature-length 35mm film adaptation NY EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ and the accompanying documentary A BALLET IN SNEAKERS, which premiered at South by Southwest 2010, where it won an Audience Award, and aired on PBS’ Great Performances.   

In 2011, Ellen retired from dancing and is now the Director of Media Projects for New York City Ballet, where she develops, produces and directs film and video content for the company.  

Most recently Ellen produced her first feature length documentary, BALLET 422, directed by Jody Lee Lipes (and now her husband) and featuring NYC Ballet. BALLET 422 premiered in competition at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and has been acquired by Magnolia Pictures. 

Ellen Bar attended the School of American Ballet for eight years before she was asked to join the New York City Ballet as a corps member in 1998 and promoted to Soloist in 2006. 

In 2005, Ellen danced in the stage revival of Jerome Robbins’ NY Export: Opus Jazz, during which she and fellow soloist Sean Suozzi developed the idea to re-imagine the ballet for film, shot on location in present-day New York City.  

Together, they developed and produced the feature-length 35mm film adaptation NY EXPORT: OPUS JAZZ and the accompanying documentary A BALLET IN SNEAKERS, which premiered at South by Southwest 2010, where it won an Audience Award, and aired on PBS’ Great Performances.  

In 2011, Ellen retired from dancing and is now the Director of Media Projects for New York City Ballet, where she develops, produces and directs film and video content for the company.  

Most recently Ellen produced her first feature length documentary, BALLET 422, directed by Jody Lee Lipes (and now her husband) and featuring NYC Ballet. BALLET 422 premiered in competition at the 2014 Tribeca Film Festival and has been acquired by Magnolia Pictures. 

Born in Fairfield, Connecticut, James Whiteside began his training at age nine at the D’Valda & Sirico Dance and Music Centre, where guest faculty included Charles Kelley, Franco De Vita and Raymond Lukens. He continued his training at the Virginia School of the Arts for one year under the direction of Petrus Bosman and David Keener. In 2002, Whiteside joined Boston Ballet II, where he continued to train under the tutelage of its director Raymond Lukens, now director of ABT’s National Training Curriculum. Whiteside joined the corps de ballet of Boston Ballet in 2003 and became a second soloist in 2006. He was promoted to first soloist in 2008 and to principal dancer with Boston Ballet in 2009.

Whiteside joined American Ballet Theatre as a Soloist in September 2012 and was named a Principal Dancer in October 2013.

http://www.jameswhiteside.org/

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Kathryn Morgan began studying ballet at age three at Mobile Ballet in her hometown of Mobile, Alabama. She attended the summer program at the School of American Ballet in 2004 and enrolled as a full time student that fall. Kathryn joined New York City Ballet as an apprentice in June of 2006 and became a member of the corps de ballet of the Company in February of 2007.  In October 2009, Kathryn was promoted to soloist.

In August of 2012 Kathryn left NYCB due to a long-term struggle with hypothyroidism (an under-functioning thyroid). The condition is difficult for anyone to deal with, but it’s especially devastating for dancers—it robs you of energy and causes weight gain. 

Since then, along with focusing on getting her medical condition stabilized, Kathryn has been actively dancing with the Mobile Ballet.  Kathryn has also used her background in ballet to create a You Tube channel providing make up tips for the stage as well as other advice for aspiring dancers.  Kathryn is now healthy, strong and ready to re-enter the dance world.

http://ifthepointeshoefits.com/

https://twitter.com/KMorganBallet

https://www.youtube.com/user/Tutugirlkem

Nao Kusuzaki was born in Ehime, Japan and grew up in Japan, Washington D.C., and Boston. In Japan, Ms. Kusuzaki trained at the Yatsuzuka Ballet. In the United States she trained with Mary Day and Patricia Berrend at the Washington School of Ballet and with Tatiana Legat, Laura Young, and Sydney Leonard at the Boston Ballet School. Ms. Kusuzaki has danced professionally with Boston Ballet for five seasons. In 2004 Nao joined Houston Ballet as a member of the Corps de Ballet.  In 2008 she was promoted to Soloist.

Sarah Daley(South Elgin, IL) began her training at the Faubourg School of Ballet in Illinois under the direction of Watmora Casey and Tatyana Mazur. She is a 2009 graduate of the Ailey/Fordham B.F.A. Program in Dance. Ms. Daley has trained at institutions such as The Kirov Academy, National Ballet School of Canada, The San Francisco Conservatory of Dance, and intensives such as Ballet Camp Illinois and Ballet Adriatico in Italy. She is a recipient of a Youth America Grand Prix Award and an ARTS Foundation Award. She was a member of Ailey II and joined the Company in 2011.

Today I continue my interivew with Tiler and Robbie.  In this episode they share more about dancing with the New York City Ballet, offer advice to aspiring dancers and share a bit about their upcoming wedding.