Broadway Ballet Dancers

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 9:11am

Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, Charlotte d'Amboise, Scott Weiss, Elizabeth Parkinson, Luis Perez are a few ballet dancers who have made a name on Broadway.

Can you think of more?

Posted: 8/23/04 at 9:15am

Natalia Makarova.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 9:17am

Oh my Gosh and she won a Tony didn't she? How could I have forgotten my favorite dancer of all time?

But what about ballet dancers who never went back to ballet but stayed on Broadway?

[rlbgbc]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 9:23am

Chita Rivera. Came to New York on scholarship to SAB.[I stand corrected, Glebb. :)] Tagged along with a friend to an audition for a tour -- Chita got the job, friend didn't. She never looked back.

And then there's Donna McKechnie. She started in ballet.

And then there's Debbie Allen. She started in ballet.

Basically, the majority of Broadway dancers have a strong foundation in ballet, as well they should. A strong ballet technique means longevity, career-wise. Updated On: 8/23/04 at 09:23 AM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 9:33am

Karen Ziemba was with the Ohio Ballet while she was in college.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 9:48am

I always thought Chita went to SAB - School of American Ballet.

Margo Sappington was in Joffrey and had roles created on her by Gerald Arpino before she left to be a Broadway dancer and legendary Broadway choreographer.

Posted: 8/23/04 at 10:01am

Manuel Herrera...

[PalJoey]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 10:28am

Glebb--how could you forget Harold Lang?

I sentence you to go back and re-read the titillating sections on Harold Lang in Arthur Laurents's otherwise unreadable autobiography.

Updated On: 8/23/04 at 10:28 AM

[MargoChanning]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 1:25pm

Julio Bocca (from ABT; starred in "Fosse")
Lara Teeter
Tamara Geva
George de la Pena
Desmond Richardson
Baryshnikov (did "Metamorphosis")
Will Kemp (Bourne's "Swan Lake")
Keith Roberts
Judith Jamison (Ailey; starred in "Sophisticated Ladies")

[judy_in_disguise]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 3:04pm

Don't know if she was a ballet dancer, but Amy Spanger came to Broadway as a dancer first and then sang her way into Kiss Me, Kate.
Didn't Cheno get her start in dance too?

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 3:32pm

No, she started as an opera singer.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 10:33pm

LOL PalJoey, that is a bio I never finished.
You must be a true ballet lover.

Didn't Shirley MacLaine get her big break on Broadway?
I know she was a serious ballet student in Washington D.C.
But most of her fame was in films.
I did see her celebrated show at the Minskoff in the 80s.

[Jon]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 10:36pm

Sandra Brown, who played Louise in the Carousel revival, is a member of American Ballet Theatre.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 10:36pm

Harvey Fierstein. One of the most spectacular ballet dancers of all time.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 10:40pm

Loved that Carousel revival so much. I think Ms. Brown was an ABT member before she played Louise too, no?

Millie, have you been to the eye doctor lately?

I'm really talking about ballet dancers who gave it up to be Broadway stars.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 10:41pm

*I* answered correctly.

[millie_dillmount]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 10:43pm

Actually, I went last year to see if the prescription on my glasses changed.

I was watching Josefina Gabrielle on the DVD of Oklahoma! and I loved her dancing during the ballet scene. I know she isn't a Broadway ballet dancer, but I had to comment on that.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 10:49pm

Is she the one with long dark hair in the Shirley Jones movie of Oklahoma?

Of course you did Rathnait62. You are one smart cookie.

Updated On: 8/23/04 at 10:49 PM

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 8/23/04 at 11:11pm

Not really. I just know my Ziemba info.

[Seany]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 1:41am

Tons of Broadway performers have had ballet training. In fact, most have.

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 7:47am

Yeah, most of them have had ballet training.

[meagan9848]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 7:59am

Cheno did start off as a dancer performing-wise...but I don't think she came to bway as a dancer. If that makes sense...

[Glebb]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 8:02am

I wish I had seen her with NYCB in West Story Suite.

[Rathnait62]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 9:19am

I have never seen any information listing Kristin Chenoweth as having started out as a dancer. Everything I've seen, including her bio, says she was an opera singer. She won a contest with the Met with a full scholarship to a school in PA, and on her way there stopped in NYC for an audition, booked the job, and never left.

[JC14]

Posted: 8/24/04 at 3:22pm

Oh Margo, I love that you listed Lara Teeter as he is a recently departed professor at my school.