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Out of the wings: School of American Ballet graduates remember their first moments in the sun.

Article Excerpt
In the spring of 1916 in St. Petersburg, the young Georgi Balanchivadze performed the pas de trois from Paquita with Alexandra Danilova and Lydia Ivanova at the Maryinsky Theater in his school's annual end-of-year performance. Almost fifty years later, George Balanchine's own academy presented the first of what has become an artistic rite of spring: the School of American Ballet's annual workshop performances.

This year marks the 40th anniversary of the SAB Workshop, which has seen several generations of students take their first tentative steps into a professional dancing life. Talking to dancers about their workshop experiences confirmed the sense we often have as spectators of this event: For these young performers, it's a chance to exalt in the sheer joy of dancing, and offer us that exaltation at the highest possible level of their craft.

Darci Kistler Opposite, with Cornel Crabtree, Swan Lake (Act II), 1980

Principal dancer, New York City Ballet

I hadn't performed much before my first workshop, and it was wonderful to just get out and dance. When Mr. Balanchine chose me to do Swan Lake, I thought, "Wow, this is where I want to be!" When you're young and working so hard, it's difficult to tell if you are getting better. The workshops allow you to see your own progress. At the workshops I felt that things had gelled, had come together.

Peter Boal Principal dancer,...

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