Get to Know The Washington Ballet's Nardia Boodoo
Watch Nardia Boodoo discuss her (classic) dance crushes and secret talents. Read about more up-and-coming black ballerinas here.
Tag: ballet dancer
Fashionably Late: Advice for Ballet's Late Starters
Stefanie Roper didn’t take her first ballet class until she was 20. Despite her obvious facility, she encountered plenty of naysayers. “I remember one teacher telling me, ‘Honey, you’re just too old,’ ” she says. And she did have to overcome obstacles as she entered the ballet bubble. “People talked about how good my feet […]
Rebel on Pointe: Ballet Looks that Are Anything But Pink
Bring serious edge to your next barre in cool-girl classwear. Modeled by Morgan Quinn Photography by Kenneth Edwards Bloch Inc. leotard and tights Just for Kix leotard AinslieWear leotard Grishko unitard So Dança leotard, Discount Dance Supply leggings A version of this story appeared in the March 2018 issue of Dance Spirit with the title […]
Dear Katie: I Can't Turn!
In our “Dear Katie” series, former NYCB soloist Kathryn Morgan answers your pressing dance questions. Have something you want to ask Katie? Email dearkatie@dancespirit.com for a chance to be featured! Dear Katie, I can’t turn, and it’s awful. No matter how many tips and tricks I try, I can barely pull off double pirouettes. What’s […]
Dear Katie: If I Don't Have the "Traditional" Ballet Body, Do I Have a Future in Professional Ballet?
In our “Dear Katie” series, former NYCB soloist Kathryn Morgan answers your pressing dance questions. Have something you want to ask Katie? Email dearkatie@dancespirit.com for a chance to be featured! Dear Katie, I want to dance in a ballet company, but I’m insecure about my body. I’m not skinny, and I don’t think I ever […]
The Misty Effect: Nardia Boodoo, Company Dancer, The Washington Ballet
“I had a unique path to dance,” says Nardia Boodoo, a luminous, elegant dancer with The Washington Ballet. She briefly studied ballet as a child, but didn’t start serious training until she was 14 years old, attending Baltimore School for the Arts. “I didn’t know what a pirouette was,” she says. “I would wake up […]
The Misty Effect: Jasmine Perry, Los Angeles Ballet
Most of us first met Jasmine Perry back in 2014, during her turn on Teen Vogue‘s web series “Strictly Ballet.” At that point, Perry was a coltish teenager finishing up her last year at the School of American Ballet. Since then, she’s taken a job with Los Angeles Ballet and matured into a dancer of […]
The Misty Effect: Alexandra Terry, Former Second Company Member, Ballet West
Alexandra Terry didn’t always dream about pointe shoes and tutus. Though she took dance class as a child, it was competitive gymnastics that originally captured her interest. (She credits the powerful strength that undergirds her ballet technique to years of repetitive routines on beams and mats.) At 13, Terry started commuting an hour and a […]