The chat around the Rosin Box this week is all about dance in pop culture, with hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz joined by Corps de Ballet Members Naomi Corti and Grace Scheffel. From Center Stage and web series like city.ballet and Strictly Ballet—featuring, among others, NYCB's own Mimi Staker and Alec Knight—to memoirs by legends like Margot Fonteyn, the dancers share the media that inspired their earliest interest in the art form, as well as all the pop moments they've enjoyed (and critiqued) since joining the company, like the "ballet core" fashion trend and the thing the movies most often get wrong (hint: it's all about the bun). (48:11) 

Edited by Gus Reed

Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by Pink Martini Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records

We're back at the Rosin Box for another candid conversation with hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz. This week, they're joined by Corps de Ballet Member and budding choreographer Laine Habony to talk about NYCB's First Steps program. This singular initiative gives current company dancers the opportunity to create new works on their peers, providing a professional cast and environment for first-time or early-career dancemakers. As Laine shares, this eye-opening experience provided both an education in what it takes to move to the front of the room and the validation that accompanies seeing the steps she'd envisioned come to life. (43:04) 

Edited by Gus Reed

Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by Pink Martini Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records

Host and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is back with another intimate New Combinations conversation, joined this week by Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky. They discuss the origins—both within history and in Ratmansky's own career—of the Petipa ballet Paquita, excerpts of which provide the foundations for his newest ballet for the company. Ratmansky explains his use of Balanchine's Minkus Pas de Trois in revisiting this "feast of classical dancing," and the ways in which his work brings extensive research into conversation with the vocabulary of today's dancers. (30:45)

Edited by Emilie Silvestri

Music: "Sisyphus" by Andrew Wegman Bird Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. as agent for Muffet Music Co.

Hear the Dance host Silas Farley is joined by Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan and former Soloists Repertory Director Jean-Pierre Frohlich and Repetiteur Diana White for a conversation about Jerome Robbins' The Cage. From its "empowering" choreography to the manners in which the relationship between the Mother and the Novice mimic that of senior and newer members of the company, they describe the unique qualities of this ballet beloved by dancers and audiences alike. (59:01

Written by Silas Farley  Edited by Emilie Silvestri

Music: Concerto in D for String Orchestra, "Basler" (1946) by Igor Stravinsky Performed by New York City Ballet Orchestra

Reading List: 1. Somewhere: The Life of Jerome Robbins by Amanda Vaill 2. Jerome Robbins, by Himself: Selections from His Letters, Journals, Drawings, Photographs, and an Unfinished Memoir by Jerome Robbins, Edited by Amanda Vaill 3. Jerome Robbins: A Life in Dance by Wendy Lesser 4. Stravinsky: A Creative Spring: Russia and France, 1882-1934 by Stephen Walsh 5. Stravinsky: The Second Exile, France and America, 1934-1971 by Stephen Walsh 6. The Stravinsky Festival of the New York City Ballet by Nancy Goldner

In this episode of New Combinations, host and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is joined by Resident Choreographer Justin Peck in the lead-up to the world premiere of his latest work for the company, Mystic Familiar. Peck shares the thematic underpinnings of this "younger brother" to his 2017 ballet The Times Are Racing, which brings together many of the same artists as that earlier work. They discuss the ways in which Mystic Familiar celebrates the dancers' communal energy in an anthem-like The Four Temperaments for the 21st Century. (35:23) 

Edited by Emilie Silvestri

Music: "Sisyphus" by Andrew Wegman Bird Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. as agent for Muffet Music Co

City Ballet The Podcast returns with a new Hear the Dance episode exploring George Balanchine's Concerto Barocco. Host Silas Farley is joined by three former NYCB dancers whose engagement with this foundational ballet continues today: SAB Senior Faculty Chair Suki Schorer, Balanchine Repetiteur Victoria Simon, and SAB Faculty Member Meagan Mann. Together they trace the highlights and unique demands of Barocco's four distinct movements, describing how the apparent simplicity of the ballet demands plenty of hard work and helps build community amongst the dancers. (1:00:28)

Written by Silas Farley  Edited by Emilie Silvestri

Music: Concerto in D minor for Two Violins, B.W.V. 1043 by Johann Sebastian Bach Performed by the New York City Ballet Orchestra Kurt Nikkanen and Arturo Delmoni, Violin Soloists Aria with Variations in G, BWV 988 (1742), "The Goldberg Variations" by Johann Sebastian Bach Performed by Susan Walters, Pianist

Reading List:  1. Repertory in Review: 40 Years of the New York City Ballet by Nancy Reynolds, with an Introduction by Lincoln Kirstein 2. Thirty Years: Lincoln Kirstein’s The New York City Ballet by Lincoln Kirstein 3. Balanchine and Kirstein’s American Enterprise by James Steichen 4. Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique by Suki Schorer and Russell Lee 5. Balanchine Pointework by Suki Schorer 6. Balanchine Then and Now Edited by Ann Hogan 7. Balanchine’s Ballerinas: Conversations with the Muses by Robert Tracy with Sharon DeLano 8. Balanchine the Teacher: Fundamentals That Shaped the First Generation of New York City Ballet Dancers by Barbara Walczak and Una Kai 9. Balanchine Variations by Nancy Goldner 10. Bach: Music in the Castle of Heaven by John Eliot Gardiner

Claire and Aarón are joined at The Rosin Box this week by Sandra Jennings, a former NYCB dancer who is now a repetiteur for the George Balanchine Trust, for a conversation about staging ballets on current performers. As Sandra shares, she travels the world to coach companies of various ballet backgrounds in Mr. B's works, acting as a bridge between the choreographer's vision and the artists of today; as she explains, these ballets are "living, breathing works of art" that are brought to life by the individual dancers. (59:26) 

Edited by Emilie Silvestri

Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by Pink Martini Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records

This week, hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz take the podcast from The Rosin Box to the barre for a conversation about company class, joined by Corps de Ballet Member Christina Clark and former NYCB dancer and current class teacher Amanda Edge. They talk all things real estate, fashion, and Destiny's Child vs. Ludwig Minkus, highlighting the importance of this daily ritual for building a sense of community as well as personal growth. (53:40) 

Edited by Emilie Silvestri

Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by Pink Martini Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records

The Rosin Box returns! Hosts Claire Kretzschmar and Soloist Aarón Sanz are back with another candid conversation, joined this time by Principal Dancer Unity Phelan and Corps de Ballet Member Naomi Corti. They break down some of the most common myths about ballet and Company culture, from whether performers are like the characters in Black Swan to the pros and cons of dating other dancers, and what the perfect "ballerina pedicure" entails. (49:12)

Edited by Emilie Silvestri

Music: "Je ne t’aime plus" by Pink Martini Courtesy of Pink Martini & Heinz Records

Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan is back for a New Combinations conversation with Caili Quan, one of three women choreographers whose ballets make up this year's Fall Fashion Gala program. They discuss Quan's path from studying dance while growing up on Guam to moving to New York City and performing with BalletX for eight seasons, and her transition to full-time choreography. Quan shares the ways her culture, family, and sense of home emerge within the work and contribute to the "warmth, grace, and generosity of spirit" Whelan felt when watching Quan in the studio. 

Music: "Sisyphus" by Andrew Wegman Bird Wixen Music Publishing, Inc. as agent for Muffet Music Co