Abi Stafford is an American ballet dancer. She joined the

New York City Ballet New York City Ballet (NYCB) is a ballet company founded in 1948 by choreographer George Balanchine and Lincoln Kirstein. Balanchine and Jerome Robbins are considered the founding choreographers of the company. Léon Barzin was the company' ...

in 2000 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2007. She retired in 2021.

Early life

Stafford was born in

Carlisle, Pennsylvania Carlisle is a Borough (Pennsylvania), borough in and the county seat of Cumberland County, Pennsylvania, United States. Carlisle is located within the Cumberland Valley, a highly productive agricultural region. As of the 2020 United States census, ...

. She started ballet when she was six. In 1998, she was admitted to the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the most renowned ballet school in the United States. School of American Ballet is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New ...

in New York City as a full-time student.

Career

Stafford became an apprentice with the

in November 1999. Two months later, she became a member of the corps de ballet. Stafford received the Janice Levin Dancer Award in 2000-01, which was given to promising corps dancers of NYCB. Stafford was promoted to soloist in 2002 and principal dancer in 2007. She had danced lead roles in nearly 60 ballets, among them are ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' ( rus, Щелкунчик, Shchelkunchik, links=no ) is an 1892 two-act ballet (""; russian: балет-феерия, link=no, ), originally choreographed by Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov with a score by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaiko ...

'', ''

Apollo Apollo, grc, Ἀπόλλωνος, Apóllōnos, label=genitive , ; , grc-dor, Ἀπέλλων, Apéllōn, ; grc, Ἀπείλων, Apeílōn, label=Arcadocypriot Greek, ; grc-aeo, Ἄπλουν, Áploun, la, Apollō, la, Apollinis, label= ...

'' and ''

Dances at a Gathering ''Dances at a Gathering'' is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to music by Frédéric Chopin, with costumes designed by Joe Eula. The ballet premiered on May 22, 1969, at the New York State Theater, performed by the New York City Ballet. ...

''. She was one of the eight NYCB dancers that performed in Cuba in 2010. She also served as motion capture dancer for ''

Barbie in the Nutcracker ''Barbie in the Nutcracker'' is a 2001 computer-animated fantasy film directed by Owen Hurley and written Linda Engelsiepen and Hilary Hinkle from a screenplay by Rob Hudnut. Featuring the voice of Kelly Sheridan as Barbie, it marked the firs ...

'' and ''

Barbie of Swan Lake ''Barbie of Swan Lake'' is a 2003 computer-animated fantasy film directed by Owen Hurley. It was released to video and DVD on September 30, 2003, and made its television premiere on Nickelodeon on November 16, 2003. Based on the Tchaikovsky ball ...

''. Stafford was a teaching fellow at School of American Ballet between 2012 and 2016. She became a member of the permanent faculty in 2016. Stafford's brother,

Jonathan Stafford Jonathan Stafford is an American ballet dancer and artistic director. He danced with the New York City Ballet (NYCB) as a principal dancer until his retirement in 2014, then he served as a ballet master. He became the artistic director of NYCB in ...

, was also a principal dancer at NYCB. Though the two were seldom paired together, she danced with him in his farewell performance. Jonathan Stafford is now the artistic director of NYCB. Stafford retired from performing in 2021. In her final performance, she danced Ratmansky's ''

Russian Seasons ''Russian Seasons'' is a ballet choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky to Leonid Desyatnikov's music of the same name, with costumes designed by Galina Solovyeva. The ballet premiered on June 8, 2006 at the New York State Theater, performed by the N ...

'', in a role she originated.

Selected repertoire

Stafford's repertoire with the New York City Ballet includes:

Created roles

Personal life

In 2015, Stafford gave birth to a son. Stafford has a history degree from

Fordham University Fordham University () is a Private university, private Jesuit universities, Jesuit research university in New York City. Established in 1841 and named after the Fordham, Bronx, Fordham neighborhood of the The Bronx, Bronx in which its origina ...

. She spent eight years to study part-time and graduated in 2018. She started to study law afterwards, and interned at

The Legal Aid Society The Legal Aid Society is a 501(c)(3) non-profit legal aid provider based in New York City. Founded in 1876, it is the oldest and largest provider of legal aid in the United States. Its attorneys provide representation on criminal and civil m ...

. She is expected to graduate in 2022.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Stafford, Abi New York City Ballet principal dancers American ballerinas School of American Ballet alumni Janice Levin Award dancers People from Carlisle, Pennsylvania School of American Ballet faculty 1980s births Living people Year of birth missing (living people) Dancers from Pennsylvania Prima ballerinas 21st-century American ballet dancers Fordham University alumni 21st-century American women