Sarah Lane (born August 3, 1984) is an American ballet dancer who was a principal dancer with

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 ...

(ABT). She served as a "

dance double In filmmaking, a double is a person who substitutes FOR another actor such that the person's face is not shown. There are various terms associated with a double based on the specific body part or ability they serve as a double for, such as stunt ...

" for

Natalie Portman Natalie Portman (born Natalie Hershlag, he, נטע-לי הרשלג, ) is an Israeli-born American actress. She has had a prolific film career since her teenage years and has starred in various blockbusters and independent films, receiving mu ...

in the 2010 film ''

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 ...

''.

Early life

Lane was born in

San Francisco San Francisco (; Spanish language, Spanish for "Francis of Assisi, Saint Francis"), officially the City and County of San Francisco, is the commercial, financial, and cultural center of Northern California. The city proper is the List of Ca ...

, California. She started training for dance at Classical Ballet Memphis in

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in the U.S. state of Tennessee. It is the seat of Shelby County in the southwest part of the state; it is situated along the Mississippi River. With a population of 633,104 at the 2020 U.S. census, Memphis is the second-mos ...

. Her family later moved to

Rochester, New York Rochester () is a City (New York), city in the U.S. state of New York (state), New York, the county seat, seat of Monroe County, New York, Monroe County, and the fourth-most populous in the state after New York City, Buffalo, New York, Buffalo, ...

where she continued her training at the Draper Center for Dance Education. At the age of 16 she attended the

Boston Ballet The Boston Ballet is an American professional classical ballet company based in Boston, Massachusetts. It was founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams and Sydney Leonard, and was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. I ...

's Summer Program on a full scholarship. At the North American Ballet Festival in 2000 and 2001, she won first place and received the Capezio Class Excellence Award. In 2002 she received the highest medal in the Junior Division of the Jackson International Ballet Competition. During that time she also performed at the

Kennedy Center The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts (formally known as the John F. Kennedy Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, and commonly referred to as the Kennedy Center) is the United States National Cultural Center, located on the Potom ...

in Washington, D.C., as a

presidential scholar The United States Presidential Scholars Program is a program of the United States Department of Education. It is described as "one of the Nation's highest honors for students" in the United States of America and the globe. The program was estab ...

in the arts. Also in 2002, she won the bronze medal at the Youth America Grand Prix Competition.

Career

Lane joined

as an apprentice in August 2003, became a member of the company's corps de ballet in April 2004. Lane was the June 2007 cover model for ''Dance Magazine''. She was appointed a Soloist in August 2007 and was promoted to Principal Dancer in September 2017. Her promotion was announced following four successful role debuts - the titular role in ''

Giselle ''Giselle'' (; ), originally titled ''Giselle, ou les Wilis'' (, ''Giselle, or The Wilis''), is a romantic ballet (" ballet-pantomime") in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, ...

'', Odette/Odile in ''

Swan Lake ''Swan Lake'' ( rus, Лебеди́ное о́зеро, r=Lebedínoye ózero, p=lʲɪbʲɪˈdʲinəjə ˈozʲɪrə, link=no ), Op. 20, is a ballet composed by Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky in 1875–76. Despite its initial failur ...

'', and a leading role in ''Souvenir d'un lieu cher'' - as part of ABT's 2017 season at the Metropolitan Opera House. She also originated the role of Princess Praline in ''

Whipped Cream Whipped cream is liquid heavy cream that is whipped by a whisk or mixer until it is light and fluffy and holds its shape, or by the expansion of dissolved gas, forming a firm colloid. It is often sweetened, typically with white sugar, and ...

''. 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 d ...

'' called Lane's debut in ''Giselle'' “distinguished.” Her term with ABT ended in 2020.

''Black Swan''

Lane served as a "

" for

in the 2010 film ''

'', a

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a genre combining the thriller and psychological fiction genres. It is commonly used to describe literature or films that deal with psychological narratives in a thriller or thrilling setting. In terms of context and co ...

about ballet dancers in New York City. In a March 3 blog entry for ''

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance published by the Macfadden Communications Group. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' has multiple sister publications, including ''Pointe' ...

'', editor-in-chief

Wendy Perron Wendy Perron is an American dancer, choreographer, and teacher who was the editor-in-chief of ''Dance Magazine'' from 2004 to 2013. She is the author of ''Through the Eyes of a Dancer, Selected Writings'', published by Wesleyan University Press ...

asked: "Do people really believe that it takes only one year to make a ballerina? We know that Natalie Portman studied ballet as a kid and had a year of intensive training for the film, but that doesn’t add up to being a ballerina. However, it seems that many people believe that Portman did her own dancing in ''Black Swan''." This led to responses from

Benjamin Millepied Benjamin Millepied (; born 10 June 1977) is a French dancer and choreographer, who has lived and worked in the United States since joining the New York City Ballet in 1995, where he became a soloist in 1998 and a principal in 2002. He has also ...

and Aronofsky, who both defended Portman, as well as a response from Lane on the subject.

Personal life

In December 2007, Lane married

Luis Ribagorda 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 ...

, a member of the ABT's ''corps de ballet''. They reside in

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the second-most populous city in the U.S. state of New Jersey, after Newark.

Selected repertoire

Lane's repertory with the American Ballet Theatre includes:

Publications

*
My (Double) Life as a Black Swan
" ''

The Wall Street Journal ''The Wall Street Journal'' is an American business-focused, international daily newspaper based in New York City, with international editions also available in Chinese and Japanese. The ''Journal'', along with its Asian editions, is published ...

'', March 30, 2011.

References

External links

Sarah Lane
at

*
ABC News video featuring Sarah Lane and Luis Ribagorda (September 25, 2008)
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lane, Sarah 1984 births Living people American ballerinas Prima ballerinas 21st-century American ballet dancers American Ballet Theatre principal dancers Princess Grace Awards winners People from San Francisco People from New York (state) Dancers from New York (state)