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2 weeks ago | 
pointemagazine.com | Amy Brandt
Last week, 1,900 young dancers representing 46 countries descended on the David A. Straz Jr. Center for the Performing Arts for Youth America Grand Prix’s 2025 Final Round in Tampa, Florida. While that number may seem huge, it’s nothing compared to the 15,000 students who participated in the organization’s regional semifinals around the world over the last year. The reason?
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1 month ago | 
pointemagazine.com | Amy Brandt
Sae Eun Park made Paris Opéra Ballet historyin 2021 when she became the company’s first Asian-born dancer to be promoted to étoile. But her path to the company wasn’t a direct route—she encountered disappointments and self-discoveries along the way. Below, Park shares her toughest roles and challenges, and her advice for the next generation of dancers. In reaching étoile, how much would you say was talent, and how much was sweat? Thirty percent talent, 50 percent work, and 20 percent timing.
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1 month ago | 
pointemagazine.com | Amy Brandt
We are one month away from the premiere of Amazon Prime’s new series “Étoile,” and if you’re like us, you are counting down the days. The series, created by “Bunheads” and “Gilmore Girls” duo Amy Sherman-Palladino and Daniel Palladino, follows two ballet companies—one in New York City and one in Paris—as they swap their top stars in an attempt to salvage their struggling organizations.
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2 months ago | 
pointemagazine.com | Amy Brandt
August Bournonville’s 1836 ballet La Sylphide, set in Scotland, has long been dear to Ethan Stiefel’s heart. The former American Ballet Theatre principal and Center Stage star danced the lead role of James several times, and for many years trained with legendary Danish teacher Stanley Williams in the Bournonville tradition. Stiefel is also of Scottish descent; he can trace his ancestry on his mother’s side to the Scottish HighlandClan Munro and is a proud member of the New York Caledonian Club.
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2 months ago | 
pointemagazine.com | Amy Brandt
For Christina Johnson, piqué arabesque is the step that most epitomizes ballet. “What other one encapsulates it, when you think of a photo of a ballerina? Arabesque! It says it all,” says Johnson, a former principal dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem and Complexions who now coaches and teaches master classes all over the world. “Piqué arabesque is this beautiful, magical step that can take somebody’s breath away,” she continues.
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Feb 7, 2025 | 
pointemagazine.com | Amy Brandt
Amanda Smith is known for her go-for-broke performances. Formerly a leading dancer with Dance Theatre of Harlem, she has since joined Alonzo King’s LINES Ballet to further stretch her limits. Below, Smith shares her approach to her roles, why she wanted to get a college degree before starting her career, what she visualizes for her future, and more. You were with Dance Theatre of Harlem for seven years before joining LINES Ballet this season. What led to the change, and what drew you to LINES?
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Jan 17, 2025 | 
pointemagazine.com | Amy Brandt
In recent years, Seoul’s K-Arts has emerged as a top training institution for ballet. Composed of the Korea National University of Arts and the affiliated Korea National Institute for the Gifted in Arts for elementary and high school students, its graduates populate not only the country’s own Korean National Ballet and Universal Ballet but top ranks in major companies around the world.
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Jan 14, 2025 | 
pointemagazine.com | Amy Brandt
I will never forget how I felt as a teenager in the weeks leading up to summer intensive auditions. Would the class be hard? Would the teachers be nice? How would I measure up to the other dancers? What if I didn’t get in? Most dancers battle nerves before summer program auditions, which is totally understandable—you’re entering an environment where you’re about to be evaluated by people you hope to be trained by.
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Dec 6, 2024 | 
pointemagazine.com | Amy Brandt
Washington Ballet audiences are enjoying a familiar face this Nutcracker season: Brooklyn Mack. The star dancer, who spent nine years at the company before embarking on a full-time guest-artist career in 2018, has returned for select performances as the Cavalier through December 8. For Mack, it marks not only a return to his former stomping grounds, but a rejuvenation of his performance career after three years as interim artistic director of Columbia Classical Ballet in South Carolina.
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Nov 27, 2024 | 
pointemagazine.com | Amy Brandt
It’s every dancer’s nightmare: You’re backstage, frantically wiggling out of one costume and throwing on the next. Your fingers are shaking so much that you can’t tuck your pointe shoe ribbons properly, or find the right row of hooks and eyes on your bodice. And where the heck did your bobby pins go? The music builds and builds as you scramble and your castmates motion for you to hurry, your entrance coming in 5, 6, 7…Ahhh, quick changes.
