American Dancer Joins The Bolshoi Ballet

Last October something unheard of in the history of ballet happened: An American Joins The Bolshoi Ballet.

David Hallberg, a native of South Dakota and principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre talks about his latest decision to join the Bolshoi Ballet.

Hallberg has had an unusual career as a dancer. He started training in ballet at an age considered “old” in the ballet world – at 13. His first 4 years were spent making up for lost time. For his senior year he made a career move that had friends and family scratching their heads – he joined the Paris Opera School.

Upon graduation he was recruited by the prestigious ABT (American Ballet Theatre) company in New York and has been with them for the past 10 years.

American dancer joins the Bolshoi Ballet

This past October he took a leap across the Atlantic again, but this time as a member of the Bolshoi Ballet.

In this interview, Stephen Colbert  of The Colbert Report presents David as “The first american to join Russia’s Bolshoi Ballet,”  adding: “I’ll make sure he stays ‘on pointe’” as he jetés on stage.

Later Stephen teases David for “giving away American ballet secrets”.

Watch this funny video-interview of this amazing american dancer.

 

Go to the source: video. Read NY Times article here.

I hope you enjoyed this video interview with Stephen Colbert, I know I did. I like Colbert’s dry humor and David’s “elegant” responses.

For Hallberg to join the Bolshoi Ballet  took  a lot courage. Once more, many of his colleagues and family wondered if he was making the right choice. So far, it has proven to be an amazing experience as you saw in the video above.

An American dancer joins the Bolshoi Ballet, as David Hallberg did, would you say it  was a good career move for him? What would you have done in his shoes?

Tell us what you think. We love hearing from you as do our readers!

Please “Share” this video (click button below) with friends and help share David Hallberg’s inspiring story. Thanks!

You can see more of David Hallberg here.