Pointe

It’s hard to believe, but Pointe launched 25 years ago this month! The Spring 2000 issue, led by founding editor in chief Virginia Johnson, marked the arrival of a new magazine devoted exclusively to ballet. The cover featured young Boston Ballet principal April Ball, and the inside pages were packed with performance news, interviews, career and training advice, company profiles, product reviews, and much more. To celebrate our Silver Anniversary, we’ll be revisiting some of the stories and topics that were relevant back then to see what’s changed, what’s stayed the same, and where ballet’s headed in 2025. Stay tuned, and please join us as we continue to salute ballet at its best. https://lnkd.in/gQ22vdyP #Pointe #PointeMagazine #BalletAtItsBest #SilverAnniversary Descriptions: 1) The “Pointe” 25th anniversary logo. “POINTE” in block letters at the top, with “Ballet At Its Best” beneath. In the middle, a large “25th” in a stylized font, filled with pink sparkles. At the bottom: “ANNIVERSARY” 2) A cover of “Pointe” magazine from Spring 2000 shows ballerina April Ball in profile doing a large sissone with her back leg in attitude. She makes a fist with her right hand and lifts her bent right arm, and stretches her left arm back behind her as she looks at the camera. She wears a blue dress and pointe shoes. The pink “Pointe” logo is in the upper left side of the page, while various cover lines border the right and left side.

“It’s no secret that ballet is extremely challenging mentally,” writes Madeleine Purcell. “When I was dancing, both as a student and professional, I had a difficult time managing my headspace. I was constantly worried about what others were thinking about me, from peers and teachers to directors and stagers. The tiniest look or expression could have me assuming the worst about myself and my dancing.” “These thoughts were due to the anxiety I was experiencing. Seeking out cognitive behavioral therapy (CBT) and dialectical behavioral therapy (DBT) helped. CBT helps to identify and reframe thought patterns that cause troubling feelings and actions. DBT, a form of CBT, focuses on mindfulness, skills training, and dialectal thinking (allowing for more than one possibility to coexist within a thought or situation).” Automatic negative thought patterns can be common, especially for dancers who feel they have little control over casting decisions, hiring, or even their dancing. If your mindset needs a tune-up, here are five cognitive distortions to be aware of: https://lnkd.in/e68heWkY 💕 📸: Getty Images 📝: Madeleine Purcell Corbett #cognitivedistortions #ballet #balletmentalhealth Description: A ballerina is shown from the chest up sitting on floor in studio to rest. She wears a white tutu and looks down at the floor, possibly sad. Text: 5 Cognitive Distortions Potentially Getting In the Way of Your Dancing

You may still be pulling on snow boots where you live, but we’re already dreaming of summer. ☀️ And what better way to deep-dive into your ballet training than by going to a dance intensive specifically for adult students. Here are over three dozen (!) held in the U.S. and internationally, so put in for your PTO now. Summer is less than 100 days away: https://lnkd.in/ePZvZD-b 📸 : Zavesco Photography, courtesy Orlando Ballet 📝: Lindsay Martell #adultballet #adultballetsummerintensive #summerintensive Description: In a large, high-ceilinged dance studio with floor-to-ceiling windows, a group of adult ballet students stand behind their teacher as they all pose in tendu croisé devant. The teacher wears a black leotard, black workout pants, and dance sneakers, while her students wear various practice outfits and ballet slippers. Text: Adult 2025 Summer Intensives Are Around the Corner. Are You Ready?

Seeking another job while fulfilling your obligations to your current company—and without potentially jeopardizing your place there if another offer doesn’t materialize—can be stressful to navigate discreetly. So, what are the best practices for auditioning on the sly? Find out here: https://lnkd.in/ev7itSbw (Audio article available.) 🩰 📸: Getty Images 📝: Gavin Larsen #auditions #balletauditions #ballet Descriptions: 1) A young ballerina in a white tutu and crown stands backstage near the wings and looks down at her smartphone. Text: Auditioning on the Sly: Job-Hunting Around Your Company Schedule

When Texas Ballet Theater dancer Sophie Williams founded the nonprofit ballet company Pointeworks, her goal was to bring dancers from various companies together during their layoffs. She also wanted to place the creativity of women at the forefront. “I never danced work by a female choreographer for the first eight years of my career,” she says. “I’ve watched so many of my colleagues try to transition from dancer to choreographer and have seen the obstacles that the women faced versus the men. If Pointeworks can be the platform to [give female choreographers] the experience to put their work out there, I wanted to do that for them.” Now Pointeworks is touring to New York City’s Ailey Citigroup Theater March 21–22 for its second season. Six of the program’s seven pieces are choreographed by women. Four are world premieres. Two have original music by female composers, and all of the costumes are designed by a total of three women. Learn more at https://lnkd.in/daQr4CZA 🩰 📸: Photos by Anna Sneed, courtesy Pointeworks. 📝: Catie Robinson #pointeworks #choreography #ballet #womenshistorymonth Descriptions: 1) Sophie Williams guides her light pink tulle skirt through the air in a large arc as she turns, looking upward to the right. Text: Pointeworks Spotlights Women in Ballet, Onstage and Off

Few young ballet dancers get to share the stage with international stars like Daniil Simkin and Iana Salenko That opportunity is even less likely for students who don’t live in dance hubs like New York City or San Francisco. But for a lucky group of 15- to 19-year-old dancers from Arizona, a brand-new gala has given them that chance. Head to https://lnkd.in/e4HgB46m to learn about the first-ever Arizona Grand Gala of Stars, happening n Saturday, March 22, at Orpheum Theatre - Phoenix. 🌟 📸: Paola Hartley (right) rehearsing Vicente Nebrada’s “Doble Corchea” for the Arizona Grand Gala of Stars. Photo by Courtney Vogel, courtesy Hartley Dance Project. 📸: From top: Iana Salenko; photo by Dean Barucija, courtesy HDP. Daniil Simkin; photo by NYC Dance Project, courtesy HDP. 📝: Kyra Laubacher #ArizonaGrandGalaofStars #ballet #balletgala Robbin Elowe Descriptions: 1) In a ballet studio, four dancers pose in tendu derriere on a bent front leg, their arms extended out to the sides as they lift their chests up and arch back. A ballet coach watches and speaks to them, gesturing with her arms. Text: Students and Pros Share the Stage at the Arizona Grand Gala of Stars 2) Two photos on top and bottom. On the top, Iana Salenko poses mid-air with her legs extended in a demi second position, one hand on her hip and the other holding a pancake tutu behind her back. On the bottom, Daniil Simkin wears ballet tights with suspenders and curves his body sideways to reach toward his back foot, lifted in a low attitude derriere. Text: “I literally can’t put it into words. Just to be able to know that these stars will be watching me from the wings…It’s super-warming in my heart.” —Arizona Grand Gala of Stars dancer Avery Khoundara

As we continue to celebrate our 25th anniversary, let’s take a look back at “Relevétions,” Virginia Johnson’s essay from #Pointe’s first issue, published in Spring 2000. Johnson was our founding editor in chief. 💕 “For me, pointe was the defining feature of ballet. Yes, there are other aspects—the music, the sense of order, but the act of rising to one’s toes and dancing at that rarefied extreme seemed to me to be what ballet was about,” the essay begins. Keep reading: https://lnkd.in/eA8NfJqY 🩰 📸: Virginia Johnson in “A Streetcar Named Desire.” Photo by Toby McAfee, courtesy Dance Theatre of Harlem. 📝: Virginia Johnson #PointeMagazine #VirginiaJohnson #pointeshoes Descriptions: 1) In this black-and-white photo, ballerina Virginia Johnson wears a long flowing dress, and is shown in profile doing a piqué attitude on pointe on her left leg. Her arms are stretched out to the side, and she holds a long, flowing scarf in her left hand. She looks up, her hair flowing long behind her.

Some ballet dancers fear weight lifting, bodyweight squats, and high protein, as they assume they will only lead to over-defined muscles and a bulkier frame. Angelina Broad, a Ballet Memphis company dancer and a certified personal trainer, has learned that, for her, nothing could be further from the truth. Head to https://lnkd.in/ennsR7aA to check out Broad’s ballet-inspired strength routine, nutrition go-tos and more. 💪 📸: Angelina Broad. Photos by Wyatt Pendleton, courtesy Ballet Memphis. 📝: Emma Love Suddarth #angelinabroad #balletmemphis #balletworkout #strengthtraining Descriptions: 1) Angelina Broad faces the mirror as she holds a free weight in both hands, arms bent at the hips for a bicep curl. She wears a green two-piece gym set and wears her hair in a ponytail. Text: Working Out With Ballet Memphis’ Angelina Broad

What’s Katherine Ochoa’s pre-show routine? Favorite music? Preferred barre spot? 🤔 Get to know the Cincinnati Ballet first soloist with her #quickfirequestions round.🔥 https://lnkd.in/evmp4g67 📸: Our March/April digital cover star, Katherine Ochoa. Photo by Joe Lyman, courtesy Cincinnati Ballet. 📸: Photo by Hiromi Platt, courtesy Cincinnati Ballet. 📝: April Deocariza #KatherineOchoa #CincinattiBallet #ballet #quickfire Descriptions: 1) Katherine Ochoa, wearing a dark cut-off tank top and shorts, crouches down in profile, pushing over her pointe shoes. Her hair is long and she lifts her arms slightly at the elbows.

In September 2017, Gianna Reisen stepped into the limelight as the youngest choreographer New York City Ballet had ever commissioned. She was 18 years old. Her work, “Composer’s Holiday,” opened the door to later projects with Carolina Ballet, Inc., L.A. Dance Project, the School of American Ballet, and again with NYCB. Reisen’s entire repertoire, until now, has consisted of contemporary or neoclassical pieces. For her fourth time working with Carolina Ballet, the now-26-year-old is tackling uncharted territory in her choreography: a story ballet. Running March 13–30 at the Fletcher Opera Theater, Reisen’s hour-long “Alice in Wonderland” will make its world premiere alongside Jerome Robbins’ “Fanfare.” We spoke with Reisen to learn more. Read the interview at https://lnkd.in/eR_gNJGq 🍄 📸: Gianna Reisen rehearsing her new “Alice in Wonderland” at Carolina Ballet. Photos by Joshua Dwight, courtesy Carolina Ballet. 📝: Kyra Laubacher #giannareisen #carolinaballet #aliceinwonderland Descriptions: 1) Gianna Reisen, wearing loose-fitting clothing, contracts her upper body as she curves over her front leg, lifted in a parallel passé. She bends her supporting leg and crosses her arms with flexed wrists and curved fingers, looking at the mirror. A dancer watches her from behind. Text: Gianna Reisen on Her First Narrative Work, an “Alice in Wonderland” for Carolina Ballet 2) Reisen sits cross-legged on a wooden chair with her back to the mirror in a large ballet studio, focusing. 3) Top: Reisen and two dancers lunge in toward a chair in the middle of a ballet studio, their arms extended with drooping wrists. Bottom: Two ballet dancers in leotards and long rehearsal skirts dance in a large studio. They piqué arabesque on pointe, one arm extended front as the other crosses over to drape across the elbow.