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 was involved in classical dance as well as gymnastics. He began studying ballet under the influence of Jo Jean Retrum since it was rare for males to be in ballet. Under the instruction of Paul Sutherland and Ted Kivitt, Stifel attended the Milwaukee Ballet School for two years. He then went on to the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and then moved to New York upon receiving a scholarship to attend the School of American Ballet.
Ethan Stiefel is notorious for his work on the stage but also behind the scenes. He is an actor, choreographer, coach, instructor and dancer. In 1989, Stiefel began as a professional dancer at 16 years old with the New York City Ballet in the corps de ballet. He took a short leave to study with the Zurich Ballet in 1992 and then returned to New York as a soloist shortly after. He quickly was promoted to the principal dancer rank by the year of 1995. In 1997, Stiefel joined the American Ballet Theatre as principal dancer after ending his tenure at the New York City Ballet. In July of 2012, Stiefel gave his last performance with the American Ballet Theatre and retired from his professional dancing career.
Stiefel’s work is internationally recognized and in his professional career, he served as the Dean of the School of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and then moved on in 2011 to be the artistic director at the Royal New Zealand Ballet until 2014.
He is a company instructor at the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company and the American Ballet Theatre. He has also been a coach and guest instructor for numerous dance institutions including The School of American Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, The National Ballet of Canada, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Berlin State Ballet School, the Norwegian National Ballet, the Royal Ballet School, John Cranko Schule, Opera National Bucharest, the Royal Ballet School, American Ballet Theatre II, and the Australian Ballet School.
Stiefel has also made numerous guest appearances as a dancer at the Mariinsky Ballet, New York City Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, New National Theatre in Tokyo, Kings of the Dance, Australian Ballet and several other. This is in addition to dancing in numerous tours throughout Europe, Russia, Japan, and America.
Stiefel has been involved in numerous in full-length ballets. He played Siegfried in “Swan Lake,” Romeo in “Romeo and Juliet,” Florimund in “The Sleeping Beauty,” Obero in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” Prince in “Cinderella,” Colas in “La Fille Mal Gardee,” Albrecht in “Giselle,” Lescaut in “Manon,” Lenski in “Onegin,” and several others. He has also danced in shorter performances by Bob Fosse, Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Christopher Wheeldon, Paul Taylor, and numerous others.
In 2009, Ethan Stiefel created a different spin of staging for “The Nutcracker” exclusively for the University of North Carolina School of the Arts. Most recently Stiefel has been working on a world premiere that is a collaborative effort with dancers from both the Royal Ballet School and the American Ballet Theatre Studio Company. The uniqueness of this production is that it the dancers from both establishments will perform and rehearse with each other. The ballet, “See the Youth Advance!” was performed at London’s Royal Opera House.
Also, Stiefel has teamed up with Johan Kobborg to create the production of “Giselle” which was danced by the Royal New Zealand Ballet which travels throughout the country. In 2013, “Giselle” was adapted into a feature film, and with direction by Toa Fraser, it was selecting for screening at the Toronto International Film Festival, the New Zealand International Film Festival, and the Vancouver International Film Festival. The ballet was also restaged and performed at the Opera National Bucharest.
In other more recent projects, Steifel was slated to play Cooper Nielsen in “Center Stage 3” which is a made-for-TV/DVD feature film. He previously had played the same role in “Center Stage,” a feature film, and then again in “Center Stage 2- Turn it Up.” Stiefel also created a new piece of choreography entitled “Knightlife” which was set to the music of Beethoven’s “Ritterballet.” The ballet was danced by the American Ballet Theatre’s Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School in New York.
Stiefel also choreographed a piece for a STARZ network television series entitled “Flesh and Bone,” which received two nominations for Golden Globe awards. Other video and television accomplishments that Stiefel has been credited for participation in are “Le Corsaire,” “Die Fledermaus, “The Dream,” “Gossip Girl,” and the documentary, “Born to be Wild.”
He is also credited for choreographing a special performance featuring Misty Copeland, and comedian Jimmy Kimmel along with Guillermo, along with 15 dancers from the American Ballet Theatre to be performed in 2015 at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. Copeland is the first female African American principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre and gave Guillermo and Kimmel a private lesson using Stiefel’s choreography to prepare for the performance which was also shown in a clip on the “Jimmy Kimmel Live” late night television show.
Among other outstanding credentials, Stiefel was invited to serve on the Paris Opera Ballet’s jury for the annual promotion exam in 2014. He also was on the jury for Prix de Lausanne in 2015. In 1989, he received a silver medal at the Prix de Lausanne and then in 1991, he received a Princess Grace Foundation-USA grant. In 1998, Stiefel was nominated for the Benois de la Danse award which recognized upcoming superstars in ballet In 1999, he was presented the Statue Award of the Princess Grace Foundation, the highest honor of the foundation, by His Royal Highness Crown Prince Albert of Monaco. In December, 2008, Stiefel received the Dance Magazine Award which is also very prestigious recognition.
Stiefel is married to Gillian Murphy, who is a principal dancer at the American Ballet Theatre. To this day, Stiefel is well known as one of the greatest male ballet dancers in the world and his technique is considered to be very advanced.
