Ballet Connoisseurship

SAB’s Ballet Connoisseurship is an educational offering for adults providing seasoned ballet goers, patrons, students, scholars, and newcomers alike with knowledge and perspectives that will enhance their appreciation of ballet. Ballet Connoisseurship was launched in January 2019 as part of the “SAB Open” division and features seminars exploring ballet history, technique, and choreographic masters.

2024 Spring Season

This spring, in honor of SAB’s 90th Anniversary, Ballet Connoisseurship courses will focus on foundational aspects of the School: the Balanchine aesthetic, its co-founding by George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein, Balanchine’s iconic work made on SAB students, Serenade, and the history of SAB’s annual Workshop Performances. Speakers include Faye Arthurs, Silas Farley, Katrina Killian, Suki Schorer, Kay Mazzo, Linda Murray, and Lauren Lovette.

Tickets are no longer available for the spring season. Please check this page for updates about upcoming sessions.

SAB Workshop: Past, Present, and Future

Alexandra Danilova conducting a dress rehearsal for the very first Workshop Performance in 1965; V. Sladon

Wednesday, April 17
7:00-8:30pm
Vogelstein Conference Room at SAB

Back in 1965, SAB faculty member and former star ballerina Alexandra Danilova along with George Balanchine established the very first SAB Workshop Performances. In the first several years, Workshop featured arrangements of classical ballets after Marius Petipa and Bournonville works. In 1972, students began performing Balanchine repertoire in Workshop. Later, Jerome Robbins’ ballets and other classical masterworks were incorporated. In recent years, the Workshop program has featured more contemporary ballets, including commissions of new choreography. Former New York City Ballet dancer and SAB alumna Faye Arthurs will lead a conversation about SAB’s Workshop with former SAB Chairman of Faculty and long-time NYCB principal dancer Kay Mazzo and former NYCB principal dancer and current resident choreographer for the Paul Taylor Company Lauren Lovette. They’ll cover some of SAB’s earliest Workshop Performances through the 2024 Workshop, for which Lovette has been commissioned to create a new ballet. Conversation will also cover Christopher Wheeldon’s Scénes de Ballet, in which Faye Arthurs originated the lead female role.

Quintessentially SAB: The Balanchine Aesthetic and Serenade

Serenade

Wednesday, May 1
7:00-8:30pm
Studio 1 at SAB
featuring demonstrations by SAB students

Suki Schorer, senior faculty member, and Katrina Killian, senior faculty member and Repertory Director for New York City Ballet’s Education Department, will present a comprehensive look at the training at SAB, from very young students through advanced levels. This course will also take a look at the choreography in George Balanchine’s Serenade, a work he famously created for SAB students in 1934.

Lincoln Kirstein and SAB

Wednesday, May 15
7:00-8:30pm
Vogelstein Conference Room at SAB

Lincoln Kirstein co-founded the School of American Ballet with George Balanchine in 1934. In this seminar, Silas Farley, former New York City Ballet dancer, dance scholar, and current Armstrong Artist in Residence in Ballet in The Meadows School of the Arts at Southern Methodist University, along with Linda Murray, Curator of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the NY Public Library for the Performing Arts, will give us a look into Lincoln Kirstein’s life, arts patronage, favorite artists, and path to partnering with George Balanchine to start a new, enduring American ballet tradition.

2024 Spring Session Speakers

Faye Arthurs

SAB Workshop: Past, Present, and Future

Faye Arthurs

SAB Workshop: Past, Present, and Future

Faye Arthurs was born in Arlington, Virginia. She began her ballet training at the age of 11 with Carolyn Clark at the New Jersey School of Ballet. At the age of 13 she began studying with Jean Gedeon at the Pittsburgh Youth Ballet School. Ms. Arthurs entered the School of American Ballet in the fall of 1997. While a student at SAB, Ms. Arthurs originated a featured role in Christopher Wheeldon’s Scènes de Ballet, which premiered during New York City Ballet’s 1999 spring season. In June 1999, she became an apprentice with New York City Ballet, and in January 2000, she became a member of the corps de ballet. She graduated summa cum laude from Fordham University in 2013.

Silas Farley

Lincoln Kirstein and SAB

Silas Farley

Lincoln Kirstein and SAB

Silas Farley began his training when he was 7 years old in his hometown of Charlotte, North Carolina with Sal and Barbara Messina at King David Christian Conservatory. Mr. Farley trained at the School of American Ballet (SAB) from 2008-2012. He danced with New York City Ballet from 2012-2020. There he performed principal roles in the works of George Balanchine and Christopher Wheeldon and originated roles in ballets by Wheeldon, Lauren Lovette, and Justin Peck. From 2021-2023, Mr. Farley served as Dean of the Trudl Zipper Dance Institute at The Colburn School in Los Angeles, CA. Mr. Farley is a former Alumnus Trustee of Professional Children’s School and serves on the Board of The George Balanchine Foundation. 

Katrina Killian

Quintessentially SAB: The Balanchine Aesthetic and Serenade

Katrina Killian

Quintessentially SAB: The Balanchine Aesthetic and Serenade

Following early ballet study in Pennsylvania with Marcia Dale Weary, Katrina Killian began her SAB training with the 1977 Summer Course and was subsequently enrolled in SAB’s Winter Term from 1979 to 1981. Ms. Killian became a member of the New York City Ballet in 1981 and was promoted to Soloist in 1989. Her repertory included several principal roles in works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Peter Martins. In 1997, she joined the School of American Ballet as a guest teacher upon retirement from New York City Ballet. She was appointed to the faculty in 1998. Ms. Killian currently also serves as Repertory Director for the New York City Ballet’s Education Department, staging productions featuring SAB’s Intermediate and Advanced students for NYCB’s Ballet Bridges programs, which reach over 2,000 public school children each year.

Lauren Lovette

SAB Workshop: Past, Present, and Future

Lauren Lovette

SAB Workshop: Past, Present, and Future

Lauren Lovette was born in Thousand Oaks, California, and began studying ballet at the age of 11 at the Cary Ballet Conservatory in Cary, North Carolina. She enrolled at SAB as a full time student in 2006. In October 2009, Ms. Lovette became an apprentice with NYCB and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in September 2010. Ms. Lovette received the Clive Barnes Award for dance in December 2012 and was the 2012-2013 recipient of the Janice Levin Award. Promoted to soloist in February 2013 and to principal dancer in June 2015, she stepped down from her position at the company in 2021 in order to embark on a career devoted to dance and choreography in more equal measure. In 2022, Lovette received the distinct and historic honor of being named the very first choreographer in residence at the renowned Paul Taylor Dance Company.

Kay Mazzo

SAB Workshop: Past, Present, and Future

Kay Mazzo

SAB Workshop: Past, Present, and Future

Kay Mazzo auditioned for SAB’s Summer Course when she was 12 and attended the program for three consecutive years before moving to New York and enrolling as a full-time student in SAB’s advanced division in 1959. Following performances with Jerome Robbins’ Ballets U.S.A., Ms. Mazzo became a member of the New York City Ballet in 1961 and was promoted to soloist in 1965 and principal dancer in 1968. George Balanchine created principal roles for her in Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 (1970), Stravinsky Violin Concerto (1972), Duo Concertant (1972), Scherzo à la Russe (1972), Union Jack (1976), Vienna Waltzes (1977), and Robert Schumann’s “Davidsbündlertänze” (1980), among others. She originated principal roles in the Jerome Robbins masterworks Dances at a Gathering (1969) and In the Night (1970). Upon her retirement from New York City Ballet in 1981, Mr. Balanchine asked Ms. Mazzo to begin teaching at the School of American Ballet, the official academy of New York City Ballet. She joined SAB’s permanent faculty in 1983, serving as a coordinator of curriculum between 1993 and 1997. She succeeded Stanley Williams as Co-Chairman of Faculty in October 1997, and in 2018 was named Chairman of Faculty. Ms. Mazzo retired from her role as Chairman of Faculty in June 2022 and continues to teach advanced classes.

Ms. Mazzo has been a Trustee of The George Balanchine Trust since 1987. She served as President of the Jury of the 2014 Prix de Lausanne international ballet competition.

Linda Murray

Lincoln Kirstein and SAB

Linda Murray

Lincoln Kirstein and SAB

Linda Murray is the fifth curator in the history of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division and manages all aspects of its collections and public service. She has previously worked with the dance collections at the Library of Congress and ran a multi-disciplinary arts organization in Washington, DC for seven years. Areas of specific interest include 20th century ballet and gender in performance, but Linda is also available for general consultations at the Library for the Performing Arts. A native of Dublin, Ireland, she has an undergraduate degree in French and Russian from Trinity College Dublin and holds postgraduate degrees in performance and library science from University College Cork and Clarion University respectively.

Suki Schorer

Quintessentially SAB: The Balanchine Aesthetic and Serenade

Suki Schorer

Quintessentially SAB: The Balanchine Aesthetic and Serenade

Suki Schorer began her professional career with the San Francisco Ballet and joined the New York City Ballet in 1959, becoming a principal dancer in 1968. Her repertory included principal roles in Apollo, Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Symphony in C, Stars and Stripes, Tarantella and Jewels among others. Balanchine choreographed solo roles on her in Don Quixote, Raymonda Variations, Harlequinade, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream. In 1972, Ms. Schorer became a permanent member of the SAB faculty, teaching intermediate and advanced students. That same year at Balanchine’s request, she reorganized the NYCB lecture-demonstration program for public schools, which she oversaw until 1995.

Ballet Connoisseurship On Demand

Throughout Covid, Ballet Connoisseurship sessions were held virtually via Zoom and recorded live. We returned to in-person sessions this past spring, which were streamed live and recorded. We are pleased to offer access to our library of 26 previously-recorded Ballet Connoisseurship sessions through Vimeo On Demand. This collection includes sessions from units exploring George Balanchine’s black and white ballets, Jerome Robbins’ unique choreography style, comedy in ballet, contemporary choreographers, and more.

View the full line up on our Ballet Connoisseurship On Demand page.