Lauren Lovette (born November 10, 1991) is an American ballet dancer and choreographer who was previously 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

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' ...

Early life and education

Lovette was born in

Thousand Oaks, California Thousand Oaks is the second-largest city in Ventura County, California, United States. It is in the northwestern part of Greater Los Angeles, approximately from the city of Los Angeles and from Downtown Los Angeles, Downtown. It is named af ...

, and started her ballet education at the age of eleven. She went on to study at the Cary Ballet Conservatory in North Carolina, followed by 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 ...

Career

Lovette became an apprentice with the New York City Ballet in 2009. She was invited to join the company'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 2010 and promoted to soloist in 2013. In 2015, she was promoted to principal dancer. She has danced an extensive repertoire at New York City Ballet, including existing and new works by

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 ...

Jerome Robbins Jerome Robbins (born Jerome Wilson Rabinowitz; October 11, 1918 – July 29, 1998) was an American dancer, choreographer, film director, theatre director and producer who worked in classical ballet, on stage, film, and television. Among his nu ...

Peter Martins Peter Martins (born 27 October 1946) is a Danish ballet dancer and choreographer. Martins was a principal dancer with the Royal Danish Ballet and with the New York City Ballet, where he joined George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and John Taras as ...

Justin Peck Justin Peck (born September 8, 1987) is an American choreographer, director, and dancer associated with New York City Ballet, of which he was appointed Resident Choreographer in July 2014, being the second person in the history of the instituti ...

Alexei Ratmansky Alexei Osipovich Ratmansky (russian: Алексей Осипович Ратманский, born August 27, 1968) is a Russian-American choreographer and former ballet dancer. From 2004 to 2008 he was the director of the Bolshoi Ballet. He left Rus ...

, and

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 ...

. She also performed for

President Barack Obama Barack Hussein Obama II ( ; born August 4, 1961) is an American politician who served as the 44th president of the United States from 2009 to 2017. A member of the Democratic Party (United States), Democratic Party, Obama was the first Af ...

and First Lady

Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama (born January 17, 1964) is an American attorney and author who served as first lady of the United States from 2009 to 2017. She was the first African-American woman to serve in this position. She is married t ...

as part of the 2014

Kennedy Center Honors The Kennedy Center Honors are annual honors given to those in the performing arts for their lifetime of contributions to American culture. They have been presented annually since 1978, culminating each December in a gala celebrating five hono ...

celebrating

Patricia McBride Patricia McBride (born August 23, 1942 in Teaneck, New Jersey) is a ballerina who spent nearly 30 years dancing with the New York City Ballet. McBride joined the New York City Ballet in 1959. She became a principal in 1961, becoming the company's ...

. Lovette emerged as a choreographer in her own right in 2016 with her work ''For'' ''Clara,'' commissioned by New York City Ballet. She has gone on to create two more pieces for the company, ''Not Our Fate'' (2017) and ''The Shaded Line'' (2019), in addition to others for

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 ...

's Studio Company and

Damian Woetzel Damian Woetzel (born May 17, 1967) is an American choreographer. Woetzel was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, where he performed from 1985 until 2008. He also frequently performed with companies like the Kirov Ballet and America ...

's Vail Dance Festival. She additionally served as the Artist-in-Residence for the Vail Dance Festival in 2019. Her collaborators have included musician

Kate Davis Kathryn L. "Kate" Davis (born February 4, 1991) is an American singer, songwriter, and bassist. Early life Davis started learning music on the violin. She moved to the Pacific Northwest in middle school and began to study the double bass. She p ...

, poet

Andrea Gibson Andrea Gibson (born August 13, 1975) is an American poet and activist from Calais, Maine, who has lived in Boulder, Colorado since 1999. Gibson's poetry focuses on gender norms, politics, social reform, and LGBTQ topics. Personal life Gibson ...

, and fashion designers Zac Posen,

Narciso Rodriguez Narciso Jesus Rodriguez III (; born January 27, 1961) is an American fashion designer. Early life and education Rodriguez was born in Newark, New Jersey, the eldest child and only son of Cuban parents. His parents, Narciso Rodríguez Sanchez I ...

, and Fernando Garcia and Laura Kim of

Oscar de la Renta Óscar Arístides Renta Fiallo (22 July 1932 – 20 October 2014), known professionally as Oscar de la Renta, was a Dominican fashion designer. Born in Santo Domingo, he was trained by Cristóbal Balenciaga and Antonio del Castillo. De la Renta ...

/MONSE. In response to her choreography, ''

The New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''the Times'', ''NYT'', or the Gray Lady) is a daily newspaper based in New York City with a worldwide readership reported in 2020 to comprise a declining 840,000 paid print subscribers, and a growing 6 million paid ...

'' proclaimed in 2019 that, "There's urgency to Ms. Lovette’s desire to turn ballet inside out. In essence, she has crossed a line from prettiness to power." In October 2021, Lovette left the New York City Ballet, noting it "will give me the time to fully explore new creative projects as both a choreographer and dancer and I'm really excited about the future." Her final performance was held in October, in which she danced Robbins' ''

Opus 19/The Dreamer ''Opus 19/The Dreamer'' is a ballet choreographed by Jerome Robbins to Sergei Prokofiev's Violin Concerto No. 1. The ballet premiered on June 14, 1979 at the New York State Theater, danced by the New York City Ballet. Production ''Opus 19/Th ...

'' and Ratmansky's '' Namouna, A Grand Divertissement''. In March 2022, she was appointed resident choreographer of

Paul Taylor Dance Company Paul Taylor Dance Company, is a modern dance company, formed by dancer and choreographer Paul Taylor (1930—2018). The modern dance company is based in New York, New York and was founded in 1954. Taylor originally performed in the companies of ...

Selected works

Lovette's work as a choreographer includes: *''For Clara'' (2016) - New York City Ballet *''Not Our Fate'' (2017) - New York City Ballet *''Angels of the Get Through'' (2017) - Vail Dance Festival *''Le Jeune'' (2018) - ABT Studio Company *''Red Spotted Purple'' (2018) - The Ashley Bouder Project *''Papillon'' (2018) - Vail Dance Festival *''If You're Gonna Build a Body, Start with the Bones'' (2019) - Vail Dance Festival *''The Shaded Line'' (2019) - New York City Ballet

Honors

* Clive Barnes Award (2012) * Janice Levin Award (2012-2013) *Virginia B. Toulmin Fellowship for Women Leaders in Dance at The Center for Ballet and the Arts at

New York University New York University (NYU) is a private research university in New York City. Chartered in 1831 by the New York State Legislature, NYU was founded by a group of New Yorkers led by then-Secretary of the Treasury Albert Gallatin. In 1832, the ...

(2018)

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lovette, Lauren 1991 births Living people American female dancers American choreographers New York City Ballet principal dancers School of American Ballet alumni People from Thousand Oaks, California Dancers from California