Haley Schwan is a soloist with the Boston Ballet. [1]
Haley Schwan grew up in Dearborn, Michigan where she studied gymnastics, jazz, tap, ballet, and contemporary jazz. [2] She moved away from home at the age of 12 [3] to train at the Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington, D.C.. At 16 years old, she move to St. Petersburg, Russia to train at the Vaganova Ballet Academy. [4] [3]
After completing her studies at the Vaganova Ballet Academy in 2010, Schwan joined the corps de ballet at Staatsballet Berlin (Berlin State Ballet), where she remained for five seasons. [3] During her time with Stattballet Berlin, she danced solos created for her in Marco Goecke's And the Sky on that Cloudy Day and Itzik Galili's Open Square. [1]
In 2015, Schwan moved to New York City as a freelance dancer and choreographer. During this time, she worked with Emery LeCrone and Twyla Tharp. [1] [2] She also acted in S. Dylan Zwickel's immersive theater production Here We Dance and choreographed Iggy Azalea and Rita Ora's performance of "Black Widow" for the MTV VMAs. [1] [2]
Schwan joined the Boston Ballet in 2017 and was promoted to second soloist in 2020 [5] and soloist in 2022. [1] She has also choreographed for the company for BB@home: ChoreograpHER. [2] [5] [6]
Agrippina Yakovlevna Vaganova was a Soviet and Russian ballet teacher who developed the Vaganova method – the technique which derived from the teaching methods of the old Imperial Ballet School under the Premier Maître de Ballet Marius Petipa throughout the mid to late 19th century, though mostly throughout the 1880s and 1890s. It was Vaganova who perfected and cultivated this form of teaching the art of classical ballet into a workable syllabus. Her Fundamentals of the Classical Dance (1934) remains a standard textbook for the instruction of ballet technique. Her technique is one of the most popular techniques today.
Polina Alexandrovna Semionova is a Russian ballet dancer and model for Uniqlo who was a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre in New York and with the Berlin State Ballet. She is a professor at the Berlin State Ballet School.
Fanny Pak is a ten-member contemporary, hip-hop and jazz-trained dance crew from Los Angeles, California that gained popularity after appearing on the second season of MTV's America's Best Dance Crew (ABDC). Often while performing, the crew wears bright clothes and bold patterns reminiscent of the 1980s as well as fanny packs, which is where their crew name originated. In addition, all of the members were born in the 1980s. The crew returned to ABDC on the seventh season, placing fifth in the competition.
Gabrielle Lamb is a dancer, choreographer, and company director. In 2020, she was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship.
Melissa Hough is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the Norwegian National Ballet. She was previously a principal dancer with the Boston Ballet and a first soloist with the Houston Ballet.
Evgenia Viktorovna Obraztsova is a Russian ballerina. She is a prima ballerina with the Bolshoi Ballet in Moscow, and with the Mariinsky Ballet.
Whitney Jensen is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the Norwegian National Ballet in Oslo, and was previously a principal with the Boston Ballet.
Iana Salenko is a Ukrainian-German ballet dancer. She is a principal dancer at the Berlin State Ballet.
Alina Alekseevna Somova is a Russian ballet dancer and principal dancer with the Mariinsky Ballet of Saint Petersburg.
Dusty Button is an American ballet dancer. She was born in Myrtle Beach, South Carolina. At age sixteen, she moved to New York to train at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at the American Ballet Theatre. After that, she was invited to the ABT II company where she performed major roles. In 2006, she was awarded the Bronze Finalist Medal at the Youth America Grand Prix. She later joined the Royal Ballet School, in 2008 where she also performed professional roles at the Royal Opera House. She joined the Boston Ballet corps de ballet in 2012, was promoted to soloist in 2013 and principal in 2014.
Renata Mukhametovna Shakirova is a ballet dancer, currently a principal with the Mariinsky Ballet.
Maria Vladimirovna Khoreva is a Russian ballet dancer and first soloist of the Mariinsky Ballet since 2018.
Chyrstyn Mariah Fentroy is an American ballet dancer. She currently dances as a principal with the Boston Ballet and is a former principal dancer at Dance Theatre of Harlem. When Fentroy joined Boston Ballet in 2017, she was the first African-American female dancer to join the company in a decade.
Alicia Graf Mack is an American dancer and teacher. She danced with Dance Theatre of Harlem and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and taught at Washington University in St. Louis, Webster University, and University of Houston. As the youngest and first Black Dean and Director of the Dance Division at Juilliard School, a position she attained in 2018, she has been credited with "remaking Juilliard Dance."
Aran Bell is an American ballet dancer. He was featured in the 2011 documentary First Position, and became a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre at age 21.
Patricia Delgado is an American ballet dancer, répétiteur and teacher. She joined the Miami City Ballet in 2000, was promoted to principal dancer in 2007 and left in 2017. Since then, she performs as a freelance dancer, stages works by Justin Peck and teaches ballet at The Juilliard School part-time. She served as an associate producer in the 2020 Broadway revival of West Side Story and as associate choreographer of the 2021 film adaptation of the musical.
Unity Sickles Phelan is an American ballet dancer. She joined the New York City Ballet in 2013 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2021. Outside of the company, she had also danced in films John Wick: Chapter 3 – Parabellum and I'm Thinking of Ending Things.
Derek Dunn is a principal dancer with the Boston Ballet.
Sarah-Gabrielle Ryan is a Mexican-American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with Pacific Northwest Ballet in Seattle.
Ashley Ellis is an American ballet dancer. She joined the American Ballet Theatre in 2002. She danced at Corella Ballet from 2007 to 2010 and then Sarasota Ballet for a year. In 2011, she joined the Boston Ballet, and was promoted to principal dancer in 2013. Ellis retired from performing in 2021.