On April 30, 2023, New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Harrison Ball will give his final performance with the company dancing in George Balanchine‘s Haieff Divertimento.
After his retirement from the City Ballet stage, Ball plans to be involved in other artistic projects as he recently demonstrated with his recent commission by New Jersey Ballet (whose Artistic Director is former colleague Maria Kowroski). His choreographic debut titled Purcell Suite was created for twelve dancers and set to Henry Purcell’s Dido and Aeneas.
Ball was born in Houston, Texas, and began his dance training at the age of four at The Charleston Ballet Theatre in South Carolina. He began studying at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, during the 2007 summer course and enrolled as a full-time student the following fall. In 2011, Ball became an apprentice with NYCB, and in 2012 he joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet. He was promoted to soloist in 2017 and to Principal Dancer in 2022.
Ball has performed featured roles in a range of works by:
- George Balanchine,
- Jerome Robbins,
- Mauro Bigonzetti,
- August Bournonville,
- William Forsythe,
- Peter Martins,
- Justin Peck,
- Alexei Ratmansky,
- Jamar Roberts,
- Troy Schumacher, and
- Christopher Wheeldon.
He has also originated roles in works by Kyle Abraham, Sidra Bell, Kim Brandstrup, Pontus Lidberg, Martins, Peck, Ratmansky, Gianna Reisen, and Wheeldon, among others.
Featured Photo of Indiana Woodward and Harrison Ballet in George Balanchine’s Haieff Divertimento. Photo credit: Erin Baiano.
