At Darci Kistler’s Dance Studio, our mission is to endow every student with a love for the rigorous, disciplined, and yet joyful art of ballet. Students will develop a keen and technical grasp of the five basic positions of the body, arms, and feet, so that ballerinas may grow into dancers who thrive on pointe, and male dancers thrive as both partners and dancers in their own right. Taking lessons learned from the likes of George Balanchine, Stanley Williams, and Alexandra Danilova, Ms. Kistler provides masterful training while fostering the strengths of each individual dancer. As Lincoln Kirstein once said, “Dancers are craftsmen.” Therefore, it is our mission to foster the unique abilities of each dancer by building a foundation from which they can explore their individual creativity. While our mission is to give students who strive to achieve a career in ballet all of the tools needed to succeed, we are equally passionate about spreading a love for ballet to those who simply want the toning benefits that barre and basic training can provide. Ballet is about pushing the body to its greatest point, but it is also about finding a love and joy for movement. This is what we strive to provide at Darci Kistler’s Dance Studio.
Cultivating Excellence in Ballet
In 1979, Darci Kistler was accepted into the School of American Ballet. Only one year later, Ms. Kistler was accepted into New York City Ballet at just 15 years old. At just 17, Ms. Kistler was promoted to principal, making her the youngest principal dancer in New York City Ballet history. Ms. Kistler was not only the last ballerina hired by George Balanchine, Ms. Kistler danced a repertoire of over 100 principal roles during her career at New York City Ballet. While she is most famous for her roles in Balanchine ballets such as The Nutcracker, Jewels (Diamonds), Agon, Apollo, and Prodigal Son, she is equally famous for her original roles in ballets by Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, and Ulysses Dove. Over the course of her career, Ms. Kistler was the original in over 40 ballets, including Martins’ Sleeping Beauty, Dove’s famous Red Angels and Robbins’ Andantino.
Beyond her career on the stage, Ms. Kistler was a critical part of the School of American Ballet’s success. Officially joining the faculty in 1994, Ms. Kistler helped cultivate and train many more principal dancers who would grace the stages of professional companies all across the country.
about Darci Kistler
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