Effective following the June 1st matinee performance of A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan that NYCB has promoted 3 dancers from the corps de ballet to soloist rank.
NYCB Has Promoted 3 Dancers
David Gabriel
was born in Glenwood Springs, Colorado, where he began his dance training at Glenwood Dance Academy, which became Aspen Santa Fe Ballet School. At 15, he continued his training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet.
He attended the 2019 summer program at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, and enrolled full-time at SAB for the winter term that year.
There, Gabriel received the Rudolph Nureyev scholarship awarded to talented young dancers.
Gabriel became an apprentice with NYCB in 2021 and joined the corps de ballet in 2022.
Notably, in the company’s 2024 Spring Season, Gabriel debuted leading roles in:
- Jerome Robbins’ Interplay
- Justin Peck’s Year of the Rabbit
He also had a featured role created on him by Amy Hall Garner for her new ballet, Underneath, There Is Light. He adds this to his list of other featured roles in ballets by George Balanchine, Keerati Jinakunwiphat, Peter Martins, and Tiler Peck.
Alec Knight
was born in Queensland, Australia. He began his dance training in jazz and tap dance at Davidia Lind Dance Centre, and trained at The Australian Ballet School from 2010 to 2013. In 2011, he received an Award of Excellence from the school.
He attended the summer course at SAB in 2013, after which he enrolled as a full-time student. In 2015, Knight received the Martin E. Segal Award which acknowledges the exemplary achievement of young artists.
Knight became an apprentice with NYCB later that year and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2016.
During NYCB’s 2024 Spring Season, Knight debuted leading roles in:
- Pam Tanowitz’s Law of Mosaics
- George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (Theseus)
He has also performed featured roles in works by Albert Evans, Martins, Justin Peck, Robbins, and Christopher Wheeldon, and has originated roles in works by Warren Carlyle, Lauren Lovette, Peck, and Reisen.
Jules Mabie
was born in West Palm Beach, Florida and began his dance training at the age of 8 at the Academy of Dance, Music & Theatre in West Palm Beach. In 2011, he began training at Ballet East, formerly Susan Lyle Studio.
He attended summer programs at SAB in 2015 and 2016, and in 2016 he entered the School as a full-time student for the winter term.
In 2018, he became an apprentice with NYCB, and joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2019.
Mabie’s leading role debuts in the 2024 Spring Season include:
- Justin Peck’s Pulcinella Variations
- Jerome Robbins’ Interplay and Glass Pieces
He also had a role created on him in Garner’s Underneath, There Is Light.
Since joining NYCB, he has performed featured roles in works by Balanchine, Justin Peck, and Robbins, and has originated roles in works by Wheeldon, Peck, and Tiler Peck.
Featured Photo of newly-promoted New York City Ballet soloist David Gabriel in George Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements. Photo by Erin Baiano.
