Gillian Murphy ( ; born April 11, 1979) is an American ballet dancer who is a

principal dancer A principal dancer (often shortened to principal) is a dancer at the highest rank within a professional dance company, particularly a ballet company. A principal may be male or female. The position is similar to that of '' soloist''; however, p ...

with the

American Ballet Theatre American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual ei ...

Early life and education

Raised in

Florence, South Carolina Florence is a city in and the county seat of Florence County, South Carolina, United States. It lies at the intersection of Interstates 20 and 95 and is the eastern terminus of the former. It is the primary city within the Florence metropolit ...

, Murphy was a member of Columbia City Ballet before attending high school at

University of North Carolina School of the Arts The University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) is an arts school in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. It grants high school, undergraduate, and graduate degrees. Founded in 1963 as the North Carolina School of the Arts by then-Governo ...

. There, under the tutelage of Melissa Hayden, she danced principal roles in several of the school's productions, including ''

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 ...

'' and

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 ...

’s ''

Concerto Barocco ''Concerto Barocco'' is a neoclassical ballet made for students at the School of American Ballet by George Balanchine, subsequently ballet master and co-founder of New York City Ballet, to Johann Sebastian Bach's Concerto in D minor for Two V ...

'', ''Western Symphony'', ''

Tarantella () is a group of various southern Italian folk dances originating in the regions of Calabria, Campania and Puglia. It is characterized by a fast upbeat tempo, usually in time (sometimes or ), accompanied by tambourines. It is among the mo ...

'' and ''

Theme and Variations In music, variation is a formal technique where material is repeated in an altered form. The changes may involve melody, rhythm, harmony, counterpoint, timbre, orchestration or any combination of these. Variation techniques Mozart's Twelve ...

''.

Career

Following her graduation from high school, Murphy joined American Ballet Theatre's

corps de ballet In ballet, the ''corps de ballet'' (; French for "body of the ballet") is the group of dancers who are not principal dancers or soloists. They are a permanent part of the ballet company and often work as a backdrop for the principal dancers. ...

in August 1996 at the age of 17. She was promoted to soloist in 1998. In 2001, her debut as Odette/Odile in ''Swan Lake'' garnered rave reviews from The New York Times. The following year she was promoted to principal dancer. That same year she was named one of Dance Magazine's 25 To Watch by Gus Solomon Jr. Murphy has performed as a guest artist with

Mariinsky Ballet The Mariinsky Ballet (russian: Балет Мариинского театра) is the resident classical ballet company of the Mariinsky Theatre in Saint Petersburg, Russia. Founded in the 18th century and originally known as the Imperial Russ ...

Royal Swedish Ballet The Royal Swedish Ballet is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, King Gustav III founded the ballet in 1773 as a part of his national cultural project in response to the French and Italian dominance in this fi ...

Staatsballett Berlin The Berlin State Ballet (german: Staatsballett Berlin, links=no, italic=no) is the principal ballet company in the German capital of Berlin. It was created in 2004 through a merger of the separate ballet companies of the city's three opera houses ...

Kiev Ballet Kyiv National Ballet performs works of classical ballet and tours internationally. It currently has 24 ballets in its repertory, one of the largest in the world, and has had many notable dancers among its members. History 1867 to 1930 The Nationa ...

, and

The Australian Ballet The Australian Ballet is the largest classical ballet company in Australia. It was founded by J. C. Williamson Theatres Ltd and the Australian Elizabethan Theatre Trust in 1962, with the English-born dancer, teacher, repetiteur and direct ...

. She spent 3 years as a Guest Principal with

Royal New Zealand Ballet The Royal New Zealand Ballet is a ballet company based in Wellington, New Zealand. It was originally known as The New Zealand Ballet Company. History New Zealand Ballet was established in 1953 as an independent charitable trust by Royal Danish ...

, during her husband's tenure as the company's director. Murphy celebrated her 20th anniversary with ABT on May 28, 2016, with a performance of ''

La Fille mal gardée LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figure ...

''.

Selected repertoire

Murphy's repertory with the American Ballet Theatre includes:

Awards

* Awarded the

Prix de Lausanne The Prix de Lausanne is an international dance competition held annually in Lausanne, Switzerland. The competition is for young dancers seeking to pursue a professional career in classical ballet, and many former prize winners of the competition a ...

Espoir (1995) * Presidential Scholar nominee (1996) * Awarded a Dance Fellowship by the Princess Grace Foundation (1998) * Received the Princess Grace Statue Award (2009) *Honorary Doctorate, University of North Carolina School of the Arts

Television and movie appearances

In 2000, she had a small part in the film '' Center Stage'', which featured her ABT colleagues

Ethan Stiefel Ethan Stiefel (born February 13, 1973) is an American dancer, choreographer, and director. He was a principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre (ABT) from 1997 until July 2012. He was the artistic director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet fro ...

, Julie Kent, and

Sascha Radetsky Sascha Radetsky (born March 29, 1977) is a former ballet dancer and actor. He was a soloist with the American Ballet Theatre and a principal with Dutch National Ballet. He is known for having starred as Charlie in the motion picture ''Center S ...

in starring roles. She also appeared in the film's sequel, '' Center Stage: Turn It Up''. In 2005 she performed the dual role, Odette and Odile, in Kevin McKenzie's version of Swan Lake with ABT. This performance was filmed and broadcast as a part of ''

Great Performances ''Great Performances'' is a television anthology series dedicated to the performing arts; the banner has been used to televise theatrical performances such as plays, musicals, opera, ballet, concerts, as well as occasional documentaries. It is pr ...

: Dance in America'' on PBS. In 2010 she appeared as herself in season 4, episode 8 of ''

Gossip Girl ''Gossip Girl'' is an American teen drama television series based on the novel series of the same name written by Cecily von Ziegesar. The series, developed for television by Josh Schwartz and Stephanie Savage, ran on The CW network for six sea ...

'' with

. She also appears as the eponymous character in Royal New Zealand Ballet's documentary and filmed production of Giselle. Behind the scenes, she served as a ballet consultant on the movie ''

Black Swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large waterbird, a species of swan which breeds mainly in the southeast and southwest regions of Australia. Within Australia, the black swan is nomadic, with erratic migration patterns dependent upon c ...

''.

Personal life

On September 19, 2015, Murphy married her longtime partner

, a former principal dancer with

and

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' ...

. Stiefel proposed to her following her performance in the opening night gala of American Ballet Theatre's 2011 season. On December 14, 2018, Murphy announced that she was pregnant with their first child and would take maternity leave for the 2018-2019 season. In June 2019, Murphy announced the birth of her first child, Ax Nathaniel Stiefel. Murphy graduated from St. Mary's College in 2018. She completed the Crossover to Business program for professional artists and athletes at

Harvard Business School Harvard Business School (HBS) is the graduate business school of Harvard University, a private research university in Boston, Massachusetts. It is consistently ranked among the top business schools in the world and offers a large full-time MBA p ...

References

External links

*
Gillian Murphy
at

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Murphy, Gillian 1979 births Living people American ballerinas Prima ballerinas American Ballet Theatre principal dancers Princess Grace Awards winners Prix de Lausanne winners 21st-century American ballet dancers Saint Mary's College of California alumni Dancers from North Carolina People from Florence, South Carolina 21st-century American women