Alexandra Ansanelli
Encyclopedia
Alexandra Ansanelli was a principal dancer
with the New York City Ballet
and at The Royal Ballet, London. She trained at City Ballet's affiliated School of American Ballet
before joining NYCB and in 2003 was named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch".
in 1996, joining the corps de ballet a month later. She left that organization in 2005 and joined the Royal Ballet in 2006. Ansanelli retired in July 2009, after a tour of Cuba, saying "I feel good about what I've done in the field of dance. I'm just ready to grow in a new way, intellectually and emotionally." She is currently studying at Columbia University
.
's Vespro
, Christopher Wheeldon
's Carousel (A Dance)
and in Makin' Whoopee!
, the second act of Susan Stroman
's Double Feature
. At the Royal Ballet she performed Aurora and the Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, Symphony in C
, Ondine
, Red Queen in Checkmate, Terpsichore in Apollo
, Gamzatti in La Bayadère
and Aurora in Ninette De Valois’s Coppélia
.
Principal dancer
A principal dancer is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company....
with the New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
and at The Royal Ballet, London. She trained at City Ballet's affiliated School of American Ballet
School of American Ballet
The School of American Ballet is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the...
before joining NYCB and in 2003 was named one of Dance Magazine's "25 to Watch".
Biography
Alexandra was born in 1980 in New York and joined the School of American Ballet in 1991. Invited to become an apprentice with the New York City BalletNew York City Ballet
New York City Ballet is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Leon Barzin was the company's first music director. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company...
in 1996, joining the corps de ballet a month later. She left that organization in 2005 and joined the Royal Ballet in 2006. Ansanelli retired in July 2009, after a tour of Cuba, saying "I feel good about what I've done in the field of dance. I'm just ready to grow in a new way, intellectually and emotionally." She is currently studying at Columbia University
Columbia University
Columbia University in the City of New York is a private, Ivy League university in Manhattan, New York City. Columbia is the oldest institution of higher learning in the state of New York, the fifth oldest in the United States, and one of the country's nine Colonial Colleges founded before the...
.
Repertory
At the New York City Ballet she originated rôles in Mauro BigonzettiMauro Bigonzetti
Mauro Bigonzetti is an internationally acclaimed choreographer of contemporary ballet. Born in Rome in 1960, Bigonzetti trained at the ballet school of Teatro dell'Opera di Roma and entered their company in 1979. In 1983 he joined the Reggio Emilia company Aterballetto, renowned for its...
's Vespro
Vespro
Vespro is a ballet by Mauro Bigonzetti to eponymous music of Bruno Moretti, commissioned by New York City Ballet. The première took place Saturday, May 8th, 2002, as part of Diamond Project V at the New York State Theater, Lincoln Center...
, Christopher Wheeldon
Christopher Wheeldon
Christopher Wheeldon is an international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Born in Somerset, England, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dancer at the age of 8. He attended the Royal Ballet School between the ages of 11 and 18...
's Carousel (A Dance)
Carousel (ballet)
Carousel is a ballet made by New York City Ballet resident choreographer Christopher Wheeldon to the music of "Carousel Waltz" and "If I Loved You" by Richard Rodgers, arranged and orchestrated by William David Brohn. The music used in the ballet is from Rodgers and Hammerstein's classic musical...
and in Makin' Whoopee!
Makin' Whoopee!
"Makin' Whoopee!" is a jazz/blues song, first popularized by Eddie Cantor in the 1928 musical Whoopee!. Walter Donaldson wrote the music and Gus Kahn the lyrics for the song as well as for the entire musical.The title is a euphemism for sexual intimacy,...
, the second act of Susan Stroman
Susan Stroman
Susan Stroman is an American theatre director, choreographer, film director, and performer. She has won the Tony Award for both her choreography and direction, notably for the stage musical The Producers.-Early years:...
's Double Feature
Double Feature (ballet)
Double Feature was made by Susan Stroman on New York City Ballet to music of Irving Berlin and Walter Donaldson and a libretto by Ms. Stroman and Glen Kelly with orchestrations by Doug Besterman and arrangement by Mr. Kelly; the libretto for "Makin' Whoopee!" is based on the play Seven Chances,...
. At the Royal Ballet she performed Aurora and the Lilac Fairy in Sleeping Beauty, Symphony in C
Symphony in C (ballet)
Symphony in C, originally titled Le Palais de Cristal, is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and balletmaster George Balanchine to Bizet's Symphony in C , which he wrote at the age of 17 while studying with Charles Gounod at the Paris Conservatory...
, Ondine
Ondine (ballet)
Ondine, ou La naïade is a ballet with choreography by Jules Perrot and music by Cesare Pugni, with a libretto inspired by the novel Undine by Friedrich de la Motte Fouqué. Pugni dedicated his score to the Duchess of Cambridge, Princess Augusta, a long-time balletomane and patron of the arts in...
, Red Queen in Checkmate, Terpsichore in Apollo
Apollo (ballet)
Apollo is a ballet in two tableaux composed between 1927 and 1928 by Igor Stravinsky. It was choreographed by balletmaster George Balanchine in 1928, the composer contributing the libretto...
, Gamzatti in La Bayadère
La Bayadère
La Bayadère is a ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by French choreographer Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus. La Bayadère was first performed by the Imperial Ballet at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, on...
and Aurora in Ninette De Valois’s Coppélia
Coppélia
Coppélia is a sentimental comic ballet with original choreography by Arthur Saint-Léon to a ballet libretto by Saint-Léon and Charles Nuitter and music by Léo Delibes. It was based upon two macabre stories by E. T. A. Hoffmann, Der Sandmann , and Die Puppe...
.
Interviews
- Ballet Magazine, David Bain with report by Liz Bouttell, October 2007; original interview August 2006
Reviews
- The Spectator, Giannandrea Poesio, December 5, 2007
- NY Times, Roslyn SulcasRoslyn SulcasRoslyn Sulcas is a dance critic for the New York Times. She grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and studied English literature in college, receiving a post-graduate degree from York University in England. While finishing her thesis she lived in Paris, where she began writing for the British Dance...
, December 17, 2006 - The Stage, John Percival, February 7, 2006
- NY Times, John RockwellJohn RockwellJohn Rockwell is a music critic, editor, and dance critic. He studied at Phillips Academy, Harvard, the University of Munich, and the University of California, Berkeley, earning a Ph.D. in German culture....
, November 24, 2005
- NY Times, Anna KisselgoffAnna KisselgoffAnna Kisselgoff is a dance critic and cultural news reporter for the New York Times. She began at the Times as a dance critic and cultural news reporter in 1968, and became its Chief Dance Critic in 1977, a role she held until 2005...
, January 26, 2004] - NY Times, Anna KisselgoffAnna KisselgoffAnna Kisselgoff is a dance critic and cultural news reporter for the New York Times. She began at the Times as a dance critic and cultural news reporter in 1968, and became its Chief Dance Critic in 1977, a role she held until 2005...
, February 25, 2003 - The Daily Telegraph, September 26, 2002
- NY Times, Anna KisselgoffAnna KisselgoffAnna Kisselgoff is a dance critic and cultural news reporter for the New York Times. She began at the Times as a dance critic and cultural news reporter in 1968, and became its Chief Dance Critic in 1977, a role she held until 2005...
, May 10, 2002
Articles
- NY Times, Roslyn SulcasRoslyn SulcasRoslyn Sulcas is a dance critic for the New York Times. She grew up in Cape Town, South Africa, and studied English literature in college, receiving a post-graduate degree from York University in England. While finishing her thesis she lived in Paris, where she began writing for the British Dance...
, July 30, 2005
- NY Times, Liesl Schillinger, March 14, 2004