“Princeton is my favorite place to teach,” says former New York City Ballet principal dancer Heather Watts, sharing this opinion during a recent two-week residency at Princeton. This is Watts’ fourth visit as a guest artist to Princeton University’s Program in Dance since 2011, including teaching a semester as the Class of 1932 Visiting Lecturer in Dance at Princeton.
Watts is an acclaimed international ballet star. She joined New York City Ballet in 1970 and was promoted by NYCB founder and legendary choreographer George Balanchine (1904-1983) to principal dancer in 1979. As a member of the company for 25 years, she worked closely with both Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, NYCB’s associate artistic director. Balanchine cast Watts in principal roles in many of his original ballets now considered masterpieces including Agon, Concerto Barocco, Apollo, Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, and Serenade, and she was often partnered with Mikhail Baryshnikov. She performed around the world and at the White House, starred in numerous Dance in America television programs, has been a contributing editor at Vanity Fair since 1995, and, in addition to Princeton, has taught at Harvard University, University of California at Santa Barbara, and Hunter College.
Guest artist Heather Watts leads ballet students through barre exercises. Photo by Felicity Audet
From April 3 through 13, Watts taught six classes of the advanced course, “Ballet as an Evolving Form: Technique and Repertory,” taught by Lecturer in Dance Tina Fehlandt. This studio course in contemporary ballet technique allows students to explore neoclassical and contemporary choreography by reading, viewing, learning and creating repertory as they examine the shifts that ballet is making to stay relevant and meaningful in the 21st century.
“Heather teaches with generosity and care and contextualizes the Balanchine repertory and experience in a way that speaks to today’s dance students,” said Fehlandt.
Watts shared her first-hand knowledge of Balanchine’s techniques and repertory through an intensive survey of his work. While Balanchine’s choreography is considered central to American ballet now (he is often designated at the Father of American Ballet), his work was revolutionary in the 1930s through 1980s. Balanchine was creating work up until his death 40 years ago. For today’s Princeton students, his repertory is regarded in an almost mythological way, according to Watts, so she is interested in bringing an understanding of how groundbreaking his work was when it was created and helping young people to see him as a living artist, a flesh-and-blood individual, to help them see the warmth of the work, and break through the “legend” view. Watts also wants students to understand how Balanchine’s work has continued to evolve through the many dancers and companies who have performed his repertory.
“As someone who started ballet at 14 and only trained in Vaganova technique, the thought of being taught by someone who had worked directly with Balanchine was equal parts exciting and nerve-wracking,” said Theresa Lim, a junior in the Department of Computer Science. “It was clear from the moment that we began barre during our first class that Heather Watts was not going to let us settle for the dancing we’ve always done. For the two weeks she was here, she pushed us to move more expansively, to imbue our movement with more personality, and to live more when we danced. What will stick with me the most is her emphasis on pursuing our ‘personal best.’ By this, she did not mean the best of what we had done in the past, but rather the best of what we could do in the future.”
Watts also sought to help the dance students understand that the “American” ballet style they know now was not how ballet looked in the mid-20th century. The more revolutionary technique of Balanchine’s New York City Ballet founded in 1935 (along with the School of American Ballet he established the previous year) was very different from the technique of its rival, the more traditional American Ballet Theatre founded in 1939. “Now we see a more blended international style of ballet that is a melding of these two major companies,” said Watts. “Other companies have caught up to Balanchine,” she laughs.
Another aspect of Balanchine’s work Watts brought to the students was the defining musicality of Balanchine’s work, distinct from, for example, Jerome Robbins’ work, whose choreography “is less rhythmic, more pastel than pencil drawing.” Watts adds, “Musicality was Balanchine’s bread and butter, similar to Mark Morris,” with whose company Fehlandt was a long-time member.
Guest artist Heather Watts provides one-on-one feedback to dance student Kyle Ikuma. Photo by Felicity Audet.
“Heather’s anecdotes about working directly with Balanchine were particularly fascinating, especially since I was trained in the Balanchine style and grew up watching and being inspired by his works,” said Kyle Ikuma, a senior in the Department of Mechanical and Aerospace Engineering. “What impressed me the most was Heather’s ability to recall the exact choreography, port de bras, intention, and musicality of his repertoire. Heather recalled memories of the rehearsal process and performances of iconic ballets like Theme and Variations, Western Symphony, Who Cares? and Serenade, while providing historical contexts and anecdotes that gave me a deeper appreciation and understanding for them. For example, she revealed that Balanchine purposefully choreographed an unorthodox sequence of steps (chaîné turns directly into a grand jeté in Vienna Waltzes) simply because he had envisioned them in the music long before he began choreographing. Working with Heather was an incredible experience and I’m so glad I got to participate in her classes during her time at Princeton!”
Ballet has been a core genre offered in Princeton’s Program in Dance since its founding in 1969 by Ze’eva Cohen, not coincidentally the first year that women were admitted to the University. Since then, ballet courses have been regularly offered, new and repertory ballet choreography are among the performance opportunities available to students, and students keep up with their ballet training through weekly co-curricular classes at the beginner, intermediate and advanced levels. Over the years, guest ballet choreographers or their stagers have taught students the repertory of Christopher Wheeldon, Twyla Tharp, Alexei Ratmansky, William Forsythe, Agnes de Mille, Jessica Lang, Claudia Schrier, Justin Peck, Phil Chan, Caili Quan and Norbert De La Cruz III, among many others. Other genres in the program also include modern and contemporary dance, hip-hop, diasporic African dance, and improvisational forms.
“The students at Princeton are remarkable,” said Watts, “and Tina is a great teacher, up and down throughout the class, and clearly gets to know each student individually. The students are being well-fed by a range of guest artists.” Since there is not a dance major at Princeton and students in class are likely pursuing a certificate in dance, similar to a minor, they all come from different academic majors such as engineering, neuroscience, English, sociology and physics. “Their minds are intriguing,” said Watts. “They are deep thinkers and so a good challenge to a teacher.”
Watts also shared with students how much the ballet world has changed since her years with NYCB. At that time anyone seeking a professional career as a ballet dancer would join a company before they left their teen years, because the prime years for dancers—particularly those doing pointe work—is 18 to 25 years of age. That meant that serious dancers would have to forego or significantly delay a college education. “I missed the experience of attending college,” said Watts, recalling how she saw caught a glimpse of the college experience when NYCB performed at McCarter Theatre on the Princeton campus years ago. While that is sometimes still the path for many ballet dancers, the prime age for dancers has extended five years since the era of Balanchine. Many companies have created programs that allow their dancers to simultaneously pursue a degree through a partnership with a college, such as Columbia University’s School of General Studies for non-traditional students, American Ballet Theatre’s partnership with Long Island University, or Pacific Ballet, which offers courses on-site, with dancers sometimes aided through the federal LEAP (Leveraging Educational Assistance Partnership) financial aid programs administered through states. That is not to say there are not Princeton students who interrupt their ballet careers to attend the University, take Program in Dance classes, perform in dance productions, maintain their training through the weekly co-curricular classes offered, and launch or resume their dance careers with a professional company immediately after graduation.
For some students who take ballet classes or pursue a certificate in dance, a professional career in the field is not in their plans for post-graduation. This year’s class of certificate students includes those graduating with degrees in economics, philosophy, anthropology, mechanical and aerospace engineering, sociology, religion, neuroscience, and African American studies. However, these graduates take the skills they learned in classes like those taught by Watts into whatever career they pursue. “Learning dance helps to teach confidence through helping students understand themselves,” said Watts. “No two dancers move the same, each individual is unique. Dance helps you stay true to yourself when you go through life.” Watts herself changed careers after retiring from dance with a 20-year career as a writer at Vanity Fair before returning to dance as a teacher at Harvard.
What will happen when those artists, like Watts, are no longer around to provide a firsthand account of Balanchine’s work and process? Balanchine’s works, classes and rehearsals have been preserved through film and video. Former Philadelphia Ballet dancer and student of American Ballet Theater Connie Hochman released a documentary film in 2021, Balanchine’s Classroom, which includes interviews with 90 former dancers who had worked with Balanchine, including Watts, along with Jacques d’Amboise, Edward Villella, Gloria Govrin, and Merrill Ashley. So many more dancers stepped forward, that Hochman has created an extensive permanent archive of interviews.
“Some of Balanchine’s ballets will live on longer than others,” predicts Watts. “Some already have. The cultural and historical context of the work changes too. We can all pass on his aesthetics and belief system, but it is not the same without him.”
“I’m inspired by Heather and I hope the students were, too!,” said Fehlandt.
Photo Gallery
Guest artist Heather Watts encourages ballet students on achieving a high grand battement. Photo by Felicity Audet
Dance student Emma Wang receives feedback from guest artist Heather Watts. Photo by Felicity Audet
Guest artist Heather Watts works with dance students Henry Yuan and Camryn Stafford on their jumps. Photo by Felicity Audet
Guest artist Heather Watts provides feedback on student Makenzie Hymes’ arabesque. Photo by Felicity Audet
Guest artist Heather Watts leads ballet students through barre exercises. Photo by Felicity Audet
Guest artist Heather Watts demonstrates the technique Balanchine taught his dancers. Photo by Felicity Audet
Guest artist Heather Watts assesses a jump by student Ethan Arrington. Photo by Felicity Audet
Lecturer in Dance Tina Fehlandt (seen reflected in mirror at far right) joins ballet students in a class by guest artist Heather Watts. Photo by Felicity Audet
Guest artist Heather Watts provides one-on-one feedback to dance student Kyle Ikuma. Photo by Felicity Audet.
