American Ballet Theatre Studio Company is having a moment. Though the Company鈥檚 junior tier has been around since the 1970s, its latest iteration, helmed since 2018 by ABT alum Sascha Radetsky, is soaring to new heights. With a roster of dancers aged 17 to 21, ABT Studio Company performs in certain main Company productions and develops the next generation of talent to matriculate into ABT, all while maintaining its own rigorous touring schedule and working with up-and-coming dancemakers. Since Radetsky took the reins, a remarkable 73% of ABT Studio Company鈥檚 graduates have made it into the main Company. And his team鈥檚 commitment to diversity speaks for itself: Of the 20 ballets ABT Studio Company has commissioned, 70% of the choreographers are women, and 65% identify as BIPOC.
As Radetsky and ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie were gearing up for ABT鈥檚 2022 Fall season鈥攚hat is, after a 30-year tenure, McKenzie鈥檚 last鈥攖hey sat down together to discuss what has enabled ABT Studio Company鈥檚 recent success and what their hopes are for its future. An abbreviated version of that conversation follows.
Since its founding, ABT Studio Company has been through so many changes. What do you see as its mission today?
Kevin McKenzie: It鈥檚 about being the bridge between being destined to be a professional dancer, and learning what it actually means to become a professional dancer. If they鈥檙e getting into Studio Company, talent is not a question. But they are at a crucial age where they have to figure out how to take care of themselves so that they can develop into being good artists. That鈥檚 where I feel we have really hit our stride. Sascha has looked at everything that has worked, and focused it, and moved it forward towards developing the full artist, not just the dancer and their technique.
What skills do you hope that dancers take away from their time in ABT Studio Company?
Sascha Radetsky: It鈥檚 important that we develop good citizens who support one another, beyond what they can do onstage. We want dancers who are intellectually curious, whose hunger for knowledge and for experience go beyond dance. A lot of kids their age go off to college and form their values and who they want to be, and we鈥檙e getting these dancers at a similar formative period in their development. It鈥檚 definitely not something that we take lightly. It might keep me up at night; but that鈥檚 the goal.
Are more dancers from ABT Studio Company making it into the main Company now than in the past?
KM: I鈥檇 say so. I鈥檝e just been raiding Sascha right and left. He hires someone, and I go, 鈥淥h thank you,鈥� and take them into the main Company!
SR: I think it鈥檚 because Kevin and I are so aligned in our tastes. I was forged in the fire of ABT; my tastes were developed there, my palate, too.
In the past few years, two works created for ABT Studio Company鈥擫auren Lovette鈥檚 La Follia Variations and Jessica Lang鈥檚 Children鈥檚 Songs Dance鈥攈ave gone on to be performed by the main Company. In terms of ABT Studio Company鈥檚 repertoire, how do you strike a balance between new work and ABT鈥檚 classics?
KM: I think this is the first time that鈥檚 happened, and it鈥檚 ultimately a testament to how in tune Sascha and I are. And that was the whole idea of Studio Company: We鈥檙e not just incubating dancers, but also choreographers.
SR: We鈥檙e also here to prepare the dancers for a wide variety of ABT repertoire. We travel to some locales that are unfamiliar with ballet, so I like to give them bites of all sorts of genres: tap, modern, contemporary, jazz, and sterling, quintessential classical and neoclassical ballet. Versatility is one of our biggest strengths. Our dancers can move and groove, but they can also strap on the 鈥渂oots鈥� and deliver top quality classical dance.
Sascha, since you took over, ABT Studio Company has toured to nearly 30 cities, with more coming up this year. What have been the highlights of your time on the road?
SR: Kevin has said before that touring is a symbiotic enrichment experience. We鈥檙e doing engagement work and learning from communities, and they鈥檙e getting something from our performances. Going to the Philippines in 2019 stands out. We had such beautiful and meaningful interactions, and we鈥檙e set to go back this spring. And we鈥檙e still buzzing from last year鈥檚 trip to The Royal Opera House; selling out the Linbury Theatre, and seeing some of the dancers鈥� longtime idols in the audience.
What are your goals for ABT Studio Company鈥檚 next chapter?
KM: That it just keeps going on this track, because they are uniquely positioned, even better than the main Company is, to discover the next brilliant, innovative talent.
SR: I鈥檓 presently excited because my wife, Stella Abrera, has just assumed the position of Acting Artistic Director of the ABT Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, and I鈥檓 excited to see how Studio Company and the School can help one another and work together. Studio Company has to strike that balance between being available to the main Company but also serving as a domestic and global representative of ABT that鈥檚 smaller and more nimble. So I want to keep touring and commissioning and finding talent to work with, and maybe playing a little role in their journey as artists and people. I got my start in Studio Company in 1995, so this has been a full circle moment. And it makes me more deeply invested, just by dint of it having been my own springboard.
KM: I feel very much the same way about ABT in general. It鈥檚 not where I started, but it鈥檚 where I aspired to be at 15, watching the likes of Erik Bruhn and Carla Fracci and going, 鈥淭hat鈥檚 where I want to be. I want to do that.鈥� There is something to finding yourself responsible for the very thing that you aspired to be part of that is very humbling.
Chava Pearl Lansky is a Brooklyn-based writer and a contributor to Dance Magazine.
