2008 Wien Award Recipients

The School of American Ballet is pleased to announce the following recipients of the 2008 Mae L. Wien Award: MAE L. WIEN FACULTY AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE Sean Lavery MAE L. WIEN AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING PROMISE Megan Johnson Lydia Wellington Samuel Greenberg Michael Tucker

From left: Michael Tucker, Megan Johnson, Samuel Greenberg, Lydia Wellington. Photos by Rosalie O'Connor

SEAN LAVERY is from Harrisburg, Pennsylvania, and studied at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet as a young boy. He soon moved to New York to continue his ballet training with Barbara Fallis and Richard Thomas. After joining the San Francisco Ballet and then the Frankfurt Opera Ballet, he returned to New York and joined New York City Ballet in 1977. He quickly rose to principal rank and danced leading roles in most of George Balanchine’s ballets as well as in works by Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins and others. He began to teach at the Company and the School in the late 1980s, joining SAB’s permanent faculty in 2003. In addition, he assists Peter Martins at NYCB, where he teaches, stages ballets, and helps oversee the preparation of repertory schedules. Mr. Lavery also stages ballets for The George Balanchine Trust.

MEGAN JOHNSON first came to SAB for the 2002 Summer Course and is now in the School’s most advanced class. She studied at the Academy of Dance Arts in Red Bank, New Jersey, as a young girl. Megan is dancing the lead in Concerto Barocco at this year’s Workshop and will perform it again in at the Kennedy Center next weekend. When she graduates from Professional Children’s School in June, she will receive the Jeffrey Lawrence Award for Excellence in All Subjects.

LYDIA WELLINGTON grew up on Manhattan’s Upper West Side and has studied at SAB since she was seven. She performed children's parts in George Balanchine's The Nutcracker.  As an advanced student, Lydia has danced in various choreography workshops both at the School and the New York Choreographic Institute.  Lydia graduated from LaGuardia High School with awards in five subjects.  At this year’s Workshop Performances she dances in Concerto Barocco, 2 & 3 Part Inventions, and Fanfare.

SAMUEL GREENBERG made a memorable stage debut in the 2007 Workshop Performances dancing the Phlegmatic section of Balanchine’s The Four Temperaments. This year he will be seen in Jerome Robbins’s 2 & 3 Part Inventions and Fanfare. Sam first came to SAB in 2005 and is now in the most advanced men’s class, studying with Andrei Kramarevsky, Sean Lavery, Peter Martins, and Jock Soto. As a boy he trained in Tuscon, where his family lives, and at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.

MICHAEL TUCKER was raised in Austin, Texas, where he studied at Ballet Austin. He first auditioned for SAB’s Summer Course when he was 14 and was awarded a full merit scholarship. In addition to his ballet studies, he has completed his academic studies (Professional Children’s School), continued his musical studies (flute) and choreographed for the School’s Student Choreography Workshop and the New York Choreographic Institute. He is dancing in Fanfare and 2 & 3 Part Inventions this year