Throwback Thursday

We pull a photo from our archives and share it with a member of the ABT family.  You never know what stories may come from a single snapshot!

Leslie Browne
Former ABT Principal Dancer
Joined ABT as Soloist in 1976
Promoted to Principal Dancer in 1986
Current Faculty Member at the ABT Summer Intensive Program

My very first princess role was Odette in Act II of Swan Lake. I was 15 in this photo and I performed it at my father’s dance studio in Phoenix for his spring concert. I was already living and studying in New York so it was my first performance as a guest artist and was very exciting for me. Swan Lake is probably the first ballet I fell in love with and is still my favorite classical full length ballet to watch. The concept, choreography and music to me are perfection. What I love most about this role was the emotion and the lifts in the pas de deux. I loved being up in the air and feeling like I was flying. I also loved the beautiful arm movements that represented the wings of the swan.

My second role as a princess was during my first few years in ABT. I was cast as princess Tsarina in Firebird. In this photo my prince is John Meehan. I loved being Tsarina because she is innocent and joyful. We did have to throw balls in the air and catch them as they represented apples from the tree and sometimes we would miss so we needed to practice catching the balls a lot. There was a moment in the ballet where the Prince and I had to do a very long, slow walk towards each other from across the stage and then finally we would kiss. Everyone on stage just stayed still and watched and the audience was silent and I have to say it was very hard for me not to giggle during this very dramatic moment. Firebird was different from any ballet I ever performed because it had all these strange monsters and the music was Stravinsky and very different from the classical ballets, but I absolutely loved it because it was so dramatic.

This third photo is as the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty and I am being partnered by my brother Ethan. My first princess role in a full length classical ballet was also in The Sleeping Beauty, as Princess Woodland Glade, and I absolutely loved doing it. There was a little bit of partnering and then I had a solo and then there was a coda so it was a complete little ballet in itself. This particular princess fairy had to do a lot of hops on pointe so I was always very nervous that I was going to fall off my hops but fortunately I always made it through. Then after I finished dancing I couldn’t wait to stand in the wings and watch the Rose Adagio. I feel very fortunate to have all these wonderful memories and these photos to remind me of them.

Writing Prompt

Which princess story would like to see become a ballet?

Funtime Friday

Design Your Own Princess Costume!

One of the most challenging jobs in the theater is that of the costume designer.   When designing costumes for story ballets like Swan Lake or The Sleeping Beauty, the designer has to find a way to reimagine these iconic characters and bring them to life in a new and exciting way.

While the choreography and the dancers are incredibly important to telling the story, the costume is the element that instantly grabs the audiences attention and transports them to an exciting new land or kingdom!

Today you’re going to step into the role of Costume Designer and create your own princess costume. Feel free to use the examples of Princess Odile from Swan Lake by Zack Brown and Princess Aurora from The Sleeping Beauty by Richard Hudson to inspire you in your design.

Odile sketch by Zack Brown.

Aurora sketch by Richard Hudson.