As a ballet dancer born in 1979, Gillian Murphy, of Wimbledon, England, has been dancing professionally since 1996. Murphy, who currently is a principal dancer with Royal New Zealand Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, took her first class in ballet when she was three years old. It was during this time that her father was…
As an American artist in the ballet world, Ethan Stiefel was born in Pennsylvania in 1973. Ironically, Stiefel’s last name is German for “boot,” and instead of boots, he his most notorious for ballet shoes on his feet. At 8 years old, Stiefel started to train at Monona Academy of Dance in Madison, Wisconsin. He…
Gisele Bethea is a young ballerina at the American Ballet Theatre in New York. As an American ballet dancer, Bethea is originally from Mesa, Arizona born in 1999. While Bethea is known as a professional ballet with the American Ballet Theatre, her initial training was at a local competitive dance studio called Danceworks by Dannis….
Melissa Hamilton is the epitome of a ballet dancer who appeared to have shattered dreams. As a late starter as a ballet dancer, it did not seem that she would ever have a career as a professional ballerina. Instead, with the odds stacked against her, it surged her to work that much harder to prove…
As a young American ballet dancer, Kathryn Elizabeth Morgan, is a former soloist with the New York City Ballet. Born August 17, 1989 in North Carolina, Morgan calls Mobile, Alabama home. This is despite having a father who was a dentist in the Air Force and moving around a lot. However, Morgan’s family eventually ended…
Born in December 1933 as Nelly Armande Guillerm, Violette Verdy was a French ballerina with an extensive professional career. Not only was she a dancer, but she also was a writer, teacher, and choreographer. She worked as the director of the Paris Opera Ballet dance company in France as well as the Boston Ballet dance…
In 1987, an American ballet star was born. Growing up in Princeton, New Jersey, Sarah Hay is not only a professional ballerina but also an actress. Fortunately, arts ran in the family as her brother is an opera singer, her grandfather was a member of the New York Philharmonic, and her grandmother was a New…
World famous ballerina Keenan Kampa began her dancing career at an early age in the Washington D.C. region. She began her ballet training under director Julia Cziller Redick at the Reston Conservatory Ballet which was founded in 1972 and is considered to be a premiere dance school in the D.C. area, located in Reston, Virginia….
At the age of 7 years old, Canadian Alex Wong began dance training in tap and jazz genres. By the age of 10, he began studying ballet at the Goh Ballet Academy in Vancouver, Canada. It was through the courage of beginning to study dance at an early age that the promise of an aspiring…
