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Dancer Profile: Daniil Simkin

June 23, 2015 by Rachel Hellwig

Daniil Simkin. Photograph by Rosalie O’Connor. Used with Permission from American Ballet Theatre and Rosalie O’Connor.

“What scares me, actually, is being too calm and not having enough nervousness to be on stage” – Daniil Simkin

Born in Russia, raised in Germany, Daniil Simkin comes from a ballet family. His mother and father were professional dancers and his older brother, Anton Alexandrov, is a member of The Hamburg Ballet.

Simkin fell in love with performing at a young age when he joined his father onstage in small parts. His dance serious training, however, did not begin until age 10 when mother started teaching him ballet in private lessons. Her regime featured two hour classes per day, six days a week. Her syllabus drew upon Russian, French, and Cuban training techniques.

Simkin continued his academic studies at a regular school and never attended a formal ballet school. He told The New York Times, “I didn’t grow up with the clichés about ballet school, the competitiveness or aggressiveness, because I was the only one. I never saw it as a mission to be a ballet dancer or make it my life.”

Simkin started competing at age 12 and went on to win prizes at on the international circuit. A tech enthusiast ahead of his time, he began sharing videos of his competition solos online before it was common for dancers to do so. As a result, he became an internet sensation in the dance world. Despite his success, he wasn’t certain he wanted to become a dancer until he won grand prix at the International Ballet Competition in 2005 at age 16.

In 2006, he joined the Vienna State Opera Ballet as a demi-soloist. In 2008, he left to become a soloist at American Ballet Theatre, one of his dream companies. Company life presented certain challenges for Simkin. Since he was privately-trained, he initially lacked partnering experience. In addition, learning many different roles at once was a stark change from his mother’s more singularly-focused lessons. Yet, Simkin adapted to the new work environment and has no regrets about his upbringing. In 2012, he was promoted to principal dancer at ABT.

One of Simkin’s goals is to use the internet and social media to try to remove the mystique surrounding ballet dancers. He says, “I am not a “special breed” of a human or some super-natural, royal person. I am a simple person, who is a dancer.”

Fun Facts:

He keeps cookies in the dance bag for a sugar-high.

His favorite choreographers are Jiri Kylian, Alexei Ratmansky. and Mats Ek.

If he could be a superhero, he said he would be “HappyMan”, a character possessing the ability to make people instantly happy.

Follow Simkin On:

His Website: http://www.daniilsimkin.com/
YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/user/daniils
Twitter: https://twitter.com/daniil
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/daniilsimkin

Simkin Dancing in 2001 at Age 13 Alongside his Father:

Simkin dancing at the Helsinki International Ballet Competition in 2005:

Montage of Simkin Dancing as a Child and Today:

Simkin in the City (Humor, 2013):

Articles:

Daniil Simkin, Standing Out, Reaching Out

New York Times Article on Simkin

Guest Artist Spotlight: Daniil Simkin

Simkin’s Interview With Rogue Ballerina
MEN IN TIGHTS: Daniil Simkin!

Simkin’s Interview with Madame B NYC Blog

An Interview with Daniil Simkin

Simkin’s Interview with The Ballet Bag, Plus a List of What’s in His Ballet Bag

An interview with Daniil Simkin

Simkin’s Interview with Gramilano

Saving Grace: A Perspective on the Legacy of Maggie Black

May 25, 2015 by 4dancers

by Risa Gary Kaplowitz

Maggie Black, one of the foremost ballet teachers of a generation of dancers, died on May 11, 2015. Her death initiated a flood of Facebook posts and even a Remembering Maggie Black Facebook page, where former students can write their memories about Maggie and her infamous quotes. I was happy to relive those years, as even now, three decades after having danced in Maggie’s class, it is often that I dream of dancing in her studio–or have nightmares of not being able to find it.

I first went to Maggie’s classes in 1981 at age 20 during what became the first of many summer lay-off periods. I was just starting to get principal roles at Dayton Ballet, and Christine O’Neal, formerly of American Ballet Theatre, Broadway’s A Chorus Line, and Dayton Ballet’s reigning principal dancer at the time, had recommended that I spend the summer taking Maggie’s classes. They were held in a loft in the Flatiron district of Manhattan, which was at that time a rather decrepit part of the city filled with warehouses and, from my vantage point at the barre peering into the neighboring building, sweatshops. I found a sublet nearby in the Chelsea Hotel and took Maggie’s 2.5-hour class every day for close to a month before she must have realized that I was committed to her and so finally descended on me with my first personal correction. [Read more…]

Dancer Profile: Isabella Boylston

April 13, 2015 by Rachel Hellwig

Isabella Boylston. Photograph by Rosalie O'Connor. Used with Permission from American Ballet Theatre and Rosalie O'Connor. — Isabella Boylston. Photograph by Rosalie O’Connor. Used with Permission from American Ballet Theatre and Rosalie O’Connor.

“That’s the goal: To really have your expression manifest itself in your movement” –Isabella Boylston

Isabella Boylston began dancing at three and fell in love with ballet at eleven. At that age, her lessons featured live piano music and the opportunity to improvise with silk scarves at the end of class– both out-of-the-ordinary experiences for most ballet classes. Boylston went on to train at Colorado Ballet and the Harid Conservatory in Florida. In 2001, she won the gold medal at the Youth America Grand Prix.

At age 17, she attended the American Ballet Theatre’s summer intensive and was asked to join ABT’s studio company. However, her parents wanted her to complete her education first. Boylston said, “We got into a big fight because I wanted to come to New York and they wanted me to finish high school. Eventually we compromised and I got to come halfway through my senior year and I finished high school through correspondence.”

She found the transition from school to company a little jarring a first. In the studio company, she had to learn choreography much faster than she did in school. When she moved up to ABT’s main company, her struggle was to fit into the corps rather than stand out as an individual dancer. But, she rose to the occasion and was promoted to soloist in 2011 and principal dancer in 2014.

Boylston has danced many famous roles from the classical repertoire including Odette/Odile, but her favorite character is Giselle. She explains, “I really relate to Giselle. She’s impulsive and I feel like she’s more like my younger self than me now. I’ve experienced betrayal and it can be quite devastating, but it didn’t kill me. I think in the first act she’s really really lively and vital, experiencing life to the maximum. She opens herself up completely and that makes it all the more tragic when everything comes crashing down.” Boylston believes in ballet’s power to convey complex emotions and its relevancy. She says, “Ballet is such a unique art form. You can say things through dance that you could never express in words, and ballet has the ability to touch people on a deep, abstract level. In some ways, ballet is more valuable now than ever.”

Fun Facts: [Read more…]

Dance Blog Spotlight: 2PointeSocial

November 15, 2012 by Ashley David

Today I’m excited to introduce Amanda McAlpine, author of ballet and social media blog, 2PointeSocial..

Amanda McAlpine

1. Can you tell readers a bit about your background in dance?

I am originally from New Hampshire, and received the majority of my training from my mentor and artistic director, Doreen Cafarella at Northern Ballet Theatre Dance Centre (formerly Granite State Ballet School). I really credit Ms. Cafarella for pushing me to the next level and encouraging me to participate in Youth America Grand Prix and the ABT summer intensive. While I was training with the school, I also had the honor of dancing Apprentice roles with the professional company in the early 2000s. Upon graduation from high school, I continued to dance at Emerson College in Boston. I came from a ballet-focused background, so I was able to gain more experience in other styles of dance including modern and musical theater (and I even got to sing!) One of the most fun performances in college was performing the Lonely Town pas de deux in the spring musical, “On the Town.”

After gaining a couple of years of professional marketing experience, I moved out to Chicago to explore the dance scene here. There’s a ton of performances to see all the time and it’s a wonderfully supportive dance community. I also began working at The Joffrey Ballet last September shortly after I moved here, so I still take classes at the Joffrey Academy from time to time and try to keep dance in my life as much as possible…which is part of the reason I began my blog. 🙂

2. When did you begin your blog—and why did you start it? [Read more…]

10 Questions With…Michael Levine

September 17, 2012 by Ashley David

Meet Michael Levine…dancer, teacher, app creator…yes, I said app creator…read on to find out more…

Michael Levine

1. How did you become involved in dance?

My mother. Isn’t that what we all say? My Mother was a recreational ballet dancer and attended performances while living in San Francisco. When I was younger and jumping around from activity to activity, she put me in “ballet”. I took to it and progressed fairly quickly beyond the level that my small town could support. I was lucky to have two parents that were willing to drive me further afield to get better training.

I ultimately left school early to attend the San Francisco Ballet School as a full time scholarship student. I was never a dancer because of the pretty parts: tutus and tights, etc. I loved the physical, the theatrical, and the transformative. Interests that expressed themselves throughout my career.

2. Where did your career take you?

Artistically or Physically?

Artistically it took me far beyond what I dreamt possible for me. The roles that I have portrayed and the ballets that I have gotten to be a part of still amaze me. Part of what I loved about being at Joffrey during the time that I was there was the mix of contemporary and historic ballets that we were doing at the time. When I look back at the roles that really strike a cord with me they are all theatrical in nature. For example: Romeo from Cranko’s Romeo & Juliet; Death from Kurt Joos’s The Green Table; and the Lover from Tudor’s Lilac Garden. Romeo and Death because I saw both of those ballets as a kid and loved them, but I never thought I’d do them, much less the leads. The Lover because it was the first time that I was moved beyond myself in the role I was portraying.

Physically my career took me all over the world. I was lucky while I was in both Joffrey and ABT that both companies were traveling a fair amount. I always found it fascinating how people in different countries would react to performances. In the end I was fortunate to travel to the Mediterranean several times: Greece, Turkey, Israel, Jordan and Egypt. I was on multiple tours to Europe, Asia, Middle and South America. I was fortunate to work with my wife for most of my career and we took advantage of the travel. After one tour to Australia we stayed on in New Zealand for 10 extra days (we considered that our honeymoon even though it was years before we got married). It was a fabulous way to see the world and I feel very blessed to have all those memories.

3. What are you doing now? [Read more…]

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