Albert Pierce Evans (December 29, 1968 – June 22, 2015) was an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He 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 1988, became a principal dancer in 1995, making him the second African American dancer to hold this position, and had pursue choreography. He retired from performing in 2010, then served as a ballet master until his death.

Early life

Evans was born in

Atlanta Atlanta ( ) is the capital and most populous city of the U.S. state of Georgia. It is the seat of Fulton County, the most populous county in Georgia, but its territory falls in both Fulton and DeKalb counties. With a population of 498,715 ...

. He started training in ballet and modern dance after watching ''

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 ...

'' on television. In 1986, he entered 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 ...

on full scholarship.

Career

In 1988, Evans joined the

. He was soon given lead roles by choreographers Eliot Feld and William Forsythe, both for NYCB's American Music Festival. He was also cast in other lead roles while being a corps de ballet member. He was promoted to soloist in 1991 and principal dancer in 1995. He was the second African American principal dancer in the company, after Arthur Mitchell, and the sole one during his career. Though he had never worked with

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze; ka, გიორგი მელიტონის ძე ბალანჩივაძე; January 22, 1904 (O. S. January 9) – April 30, 1983) was ...

, he was known for performing his works. Choreographers he had created roles for includes Alexei Ratmansky,

Christopher Wheeldon Christopher Peter Wheeldon OBE (born 22 March 1973) is an English international choreographer of contemporary ballet. Life and career Born in Yeovil, Somerset, to an engineer and a physical therapist, Wheeldon began training to be a ballet dan ...

and

Susan Stroman Susan P. Stroman (born October 17, 1954) is an American theatre director, choreographer, film director and performer. Her notable theater productions include '' The Producers'', '' Crazy for You'', ''Contact'', and '' The Scottsboro Boys''. She i ...

. While he was still performing, he started pursuing choreography, his works include ''Haiku'', ''Broken Promises'', both for NYCB, and ''Seego'' for The Washington Ballet. In June 2010, Evans retired after performing the third (Phlegmatic) variation from Balanchine's '' The Four Temperaments'' and Forsythe's ''Herman Schmerman'' pas de deux, partnering

Wendy Whelan Wendy Whelan (; born May 7, 1967) is an American ballet dancer. She was principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and performed with the company for 30 years, and toured in the U.S., Europe, and Asia. Whelan has also been an influential gue ...

. He then served as a ballet master with the company. He also became an assistant to resident choreographer Justin Peck, and appeared in the documentary ''Ballet 422'', which follows the creation process of Peck's '' Paz de la Jolla''.

Death

On June 22, 2015, Evans died at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City following a short illness.

References

External links

New York City Ballet biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Albert 1968 births 2015 deaths People from Atlanta American male ballet dancers New York City Ballet principal dancers New York City Ballet balletmasters School of American Ballet alumni African-American male dancers Ballet choreographers African-American choreographers American choreographers New York City Ballet Diamond Project choreographers 21st-century American ballet dancers Dancers from Georgia (U.S. state) African-American ballet dancers 20th-century American ballet dancers