Eleven performances in eight days.

Tweeted from the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, 21st March, 2012:

Tweeted from the Yerba Buena Centre for the Arts, San Francisco, on 15th March 2012:

A reader, Ben F., condemned my position on funding for the arts. He claims that America, outside of San Francisco, L.A. and New York, is at heart “a deeply conservative country and uncomfortable with provocative art.” As a foreigner I’m far more »

Fouettés rond de jambe en tournant, en dehors.* *Series of turns propelled by a whipping action of the working leg, turning away from the supporting leg. See Gail Grant, Technical Manual and Dictionary of Classical Ballet, p. 57, for step-by-step more »

Dance companies worldwide – but above all in the U.S. – have taken a hard hit since the last recession. Large or small, no company has escaped the economic hammering. Some, like Ballet Florida, have collapsed under a mountain of more »

Tweeted from the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, on 15th February, 2012:

Tweeted from the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, on 2nd February, 2012:

After watching a video clip that I had posted earlier of the elegant Aurélie Dupont and Manuel Legris, a dance student – who admits to a fear of partnering work – wrote to ask if I would post more examples more »

The yogis have emerged from their meditations to lodge passionate protests. The fitness buffs who’ve turned yoga into a competitive sport and a $6 billion industry in America are dividing into two camps: whistle-blowers and defenders of the faith. If more »

A heartfelt thanks to my dedicated students at City Dance and Metronome and to my readers in Amherst, Austin, Baltimore, Beijing, Boston, Bujumbura, Buenos Aires, Capetown, Cebu, Chicago, Chifeng, Dallas, Dobbs Ferry, Dubrovnik, Edinburgh, Halifax, Hong Kong, Houston, Jakarta, Lewiston, more »

Cleaning out her closet, Ballet to the People unearthed these exquisite vintage tutus from the 1960’s, 70’s and 80’s. Their tags reveal that they were made by Grace Costumes and Barbara Matera, leading costumers for ballet, theatre, opera and film more »

To see how real people integrate ballet into their daily lives? When you need a French ballet term demystified? To get off-the-beaten-track suggestions for your ballet class playlist? When you want to know which is the scariest scene in all more »

Another Christmas brings us “one more Nutcracker closer to death,” grumbled English dance critic Richard Buckle. Although it is a German story infused with Russian Christmas traditions, nowhere is The Nutcracker more eagerly recreated than in America. Jennifer Dunning writes more »

Having just hiked four days through cold and rain, covering 49 kilometres of the Inca Trail from Cuzco through the Andean cloud forest to Machu Picchu, Leah celebrates her arrival at this sacred Inca site by stepping into an iconic more »

In ballet class the final movement is always an elegant, choreographed bow or curtsy acknowledging the maestro, or accompanist. Today, fewer and fewer classes offer live piano accompaniment, with teachers relying more on the iPod to provide the necessary musical more »

Scot Ansgeulaiche of the Walking Theatre Company strikes a pose reminiscent of the opening section of Alvin Ailey’s ballet Revelations against the backdrop of the ruins of Urquhart Castle in the Scottish Highlands, the scene of centuries of bloody carnage more »

Observing ABT dancers in company class on Wednesday, what struck me the most was not the 180-degree turn-out (ubiquitous), nor the extensions (extravagant), nor the pirouettes (I lost count), nor the men’s hands grazing the ceiling light fixtures every time more »

Some of our favorite things to do on the Embarcadero in San Francisco: 1. Gate-crash the Cowgirl Creamery Experience at the Ferry Building 2. Engage in a lively debate with the protestors who want the bronze statue of Gandhi on more »

It’s called petit allegro – the swift and agile footwork that enables ballerinas to dodge falling debris during a hurricane. Ignoring Mayor Bloomberg’s order to stay indoors and watch SYTYCD reruns this weekend, Becky, visiting from England, decides not to more »

A ballet dancer is constantly renegotiating her relationship with gravity; we rise on pointe as an expression of our desire to fly. Joie Brown’s beautiful watercolor triptych illustrates two important aspects of a dancer’s technique: Well-developed arches of the feet, more »

Will there be ballet at Burning Man this year?  Ballet to the People interviewed some veterans who passed on these survival tips for dancers: Dancing in that low humidity can be lethal: hydrate well. Coconut water is the fashionable hydrating more »

What is the right way to mark the end of an outdoor feast on the edge of the Big River, waves lapping at your feet, a repast that kicks off with mojitos and oysters freshly trucked in from New Brunswick, more »

Anthony takes a break from rehearsing an Indonesian adaptation of ‘Swan Lake’ on the Big River to demonstrate an open 4th position croisé. Think of the open 4th position of the feet as where you get to when you start more »

A supported arabesque is a rare sight in this idyllic spot – herons, loons, largemouth bass and mahogany Lyman outboards are the more usual fare – but wherever dancers find inspiration in nature, Ballet to the People is there to more »

Tokyo Metro commuters were temporarily stymied the other day by an unexpected set of turnstiles that sprung up at the entrance to the Omotesando station… no, wait, those aren’t turnstiles… those are ABT dancers stretching their gorgeous long legs! Blaine more »

8 reasons why ballet is the perfect cross-training for cyclists: Ballet strengthens the core without having to do those boring crunches. It stretches the hip flexors, which tend to get tight in the forward-leaning position. It improves posture, correcting that more »

When not fine-tuning her braking technique down those devilishly steep bike trails in Marin, Sarah can be found tossing off triple pirouettes in the ballet studio. Here she demonstrates one of the more difficult ballet poses – attitude croisée devant more »

  A streetwise ballerina like Vicki puts urban architecture to good use, supporting her cambré derrière (backward arch) on a stanchion. Doing a supported stretch like this is a good reminder that when we stand up and do the cambré more »

Christine takes a break from playing Texas Hold ‘Em and sunning herself poolside to demonstrate the écarté, one of the eight body positions in ballet. The body faces one of the downstage corners and the leg is extended à la more »

Allegra and Paloma demonstrate a classic ballet stretch on Victoria Peak in Hong Kong, after walking the 3.5 km around Lugard Road. In this position we work on rotating the lifted leg in the hip socket, engaging our maximum turnout. more »

Don’t deny you have had this daydream in which you imagine yourself dashing up to the stage at the Kodak Theatre in your perilously high Christian Louboutins, nervously clutching a little slip of paper. Even without the cheat sheet, we more »

Stunning artwork from one of our multi-talented ballet students: in this triptych, Desire, Death and Destruction are 3 sisters – Desire can’t go anywhere without Death and Destruction following her. Executed in watercolors and inks. Joie is a 26 year more »

You may be capable of imparting great wisdom in 140 characters or less, but can you blow an audience away in 60 seconds? Ballet to the People is generally not a fan of dance competitions, but this one is different…

  Don’t miss the ballet event of the decade: the West Coast premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s The Bright Stream at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles later this week (July 14-17). Ratmansky, artistic heir to both Petipa and Balanchine, former Artistic more »

Inspirational tidbit from this hilarious 1925 handbook: “Don’t say your dancing days are done. Your dancing days are never done until you are confined to a bath chair for exercise. If you can walk to the office in the morning more »

A crisp, blustery summer afternoon on Rodeo Beach, whose soaring bluffs and craggy coastline complement the majestic melancholy of Julian Lloyd Webber’s interpretation of Bach’s Air on a G String. Yes, it was a challenge not to fall over as more »

We start with plié at the barre not just because it underpins all movement in ballet, but because it happens to be one of the most efficient ways to warm up the entire body. It is not a movement isolated more »