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Isabella Boylston

{{Short description|American ballet dancer}}

{{Use mdy dates|date=August 2022}}

{{Infobox dancer

| name = Isabella Boylston

| image =

| caption =

| birth_name = Hildur Isabella Boylston

| birth_date = {{birth date and age|1986|10|13}}

| birth_place = Sun Valley, Idaho, U.S.

| education = Academy of Colorado Ballet
Harid Conservatory

| spouse = {{marriage|Daniel Shin|2014}}

| occupation = Ballet dancer

| years_active = 2005–present

| current_group = American Ballet Theatre

| website = {{URL|https://www.isabellaboylston.com/|IsabellaBoylston.com}}

}}

Hildur Isabella Boylston (born October 13, 1986) is an American ballet dancer who is currently a principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre (ABT).

Early life

Boylston was born Hildur Isabella Boylston, named for an Icelandic great-grandmother, in Sun Valley, Idaho. Her father Mike was an American country-blues drummer and "ski bum" while her mother Cornelia was a Swedish engineer.{{cite news |url=https://www.dancemagazine.com/becoming-isabella-boylston-2316803660.html |title=Becoming Isabella Boylston |work=Dance Magazine |date=March 16, 2017}}

When she was seven, her family moved to Boulder, Colorado, where she started training at the Boulder Ballet. By the age of 12, she had started studies at the Colorado Ballet Academy.{{cite web |url=http://newyork.timeout.com/arts-culture/dance/1345339/isabella-boylston |title=Isabella Boylston: ABT's real swan speaks up. |author=Kourlas, Gia |work=Time Out New York |date=May 8, 2011}} During that time, she won a gold medal at the 2001 Youth America Grand Prix Finals in New York City.{{cite web |title=YAGP 2001 - NEW YORK CITY FINALS - |url=https://yagp.org/events/yagp-2001-new-york-city-finals/ |website=yagp.org |access-date=2022-09-19}}

In 2002, she received a full scholarship to train at the HARID Conservatory in Boca Raton, Florida. During her time there she worked with choreographer Mark Godden and danced in leading roles such as Medora in Le Corsaire, the Paquita pas de trois, Lise in La fille mal gardée and the Sugarplum Fairy in The Nutcracker. In 2004, she received the Reuger Scholarship for excellence in dance. She participated in summer programs at the School of American Ballet, the Boston Ballet, and the American Ballet Theatre.

Career

File:Isabella Boylston.jpg

In 2005, Boylston joined the ABT Studio Company and became an apprentice with the main company in May 2006. She joined the corps de ballet in March 2007, was promoted to soloist in June 2011 and principal in August 2014. Lead roles she danced include Nikiya in La Bayadère, Kitri in Don Quixote and Columbine in Harlequinade. Boylston won the Princess Grace Award in 2009 and was nominated for the 2010 Prix Benois de la Danse.{{cite web |title=Isabella Boylston |url=https://www.abt.org/people/isabella-boylston/ |website=American Ballet Theatre |accessdate=June 5, 2019}}

Outside of ABT, she also designed costumes for the Pacific Northwest Ballet's 2010 production of Benjamin Millepied's 3 Movements, a ballet set to Steve Reich's Three Movements for Orchestra.{{cite news |url=http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-01-19/dance/a-breeze-from-the-pacific-northwest-ballet/ |title=A Breeze From the Pacific Northwest Ballet: Seattle leaps saucily onto the Joyce Theater stage |publisher=The Village Voice |author=Jowitt, Deborah |author-link=Deborah Jowitt |date=January 19, 2010 |access-date=April 27, 2010 |archive-date=April 25, 2010 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20100425131502/http://www.villagevoice.com/2010-01-19/dance/a-breeze-from-the-pacific-northwest-ballet/ |url-status=dead }} She has appeared as a guest artist with the Mariinsky Ballet in St. Petersburg and the Royal Danish Ballet. Boylston also served as Jennifer Lawrence's dance double in 2018 film Red Sparrow, choreographed by Justin Peck.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2018/02/27/arts/dance/jennifer-lawrence-red-sparrow-kurt-froman-isabella-boylston.html |title=How a Dance Dream Team Turned Jennifer Lawrence Into a Ballerina |work=New York Times |last=Kourlas |first=Gia |date=February 27, 2018 |access-date=April 14, 2020}} In 2019, she helped breaking the Guinness World Record for the most dancers ever to go on pointe at the same time, alongside James Whiteside on Live with Kelly and Ryan.{{cite news |url=https://www.dancemagazine.com/most-dancers-on-pointe-2639806233.html |title=James Whiteside and Isabella Boylston Want You to Help Them Set a Guinness World Record |work=Dance Magazine |date=August 13, 2019}}

Alastair Macaulay of the New York Times noted Boylston portrayal of Lise in La Fille mal gardée is "intimate, heartfelt, rapturous."{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/05/26/arts/dance/review-dancing-chickens-and-a-real-pony-in-american-ballet-theaters-comic-pastoral.html |title=Review: Dancing Chickens and a Real Pony in American Ballet Theater's Comic Pastoral |work=New York Times |last=Macaulay |first=Alastair |date=May 25, 2016 |access-date=April 15, 2020}} On Swan Lake, Macaulay praised Boylston's musicality and phrasing.{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2017/06/13/arts/dance/review-abt-american-ballet-theater-swan-lake-isabella-boylston-alban-lendorf.html |title=Review: Two True Artists, One Dramatically Limp 'Swan Lake' |work=New York Times |last=Macaulay |first=Alastair |date=June 13, 2017 |access-date=April 15, 2020}}

In 2020, Boylston participated in Misty Copeland's fundraiser, Swans for Relief, by dancing The Swan, in light of the impacts of the 2019-20 coronavirus pandemic on the dance community. The fund will go to participating dancers' companies and other related relief funds.{{cite news |url=https://www.dancemagazine.com/ballet-dancer-relief-fund-2645933643.html |title=32 Ballerinas From Around the World Perform "The Dying Swan" for COVID-19 Relief |work=Dance Magazine |date=May 6, 2020}}

Selected repertoire

Boylston's repertory with the American Ballet Theatre includes:

{{columns-list|colwidth=20em|

=Created roles=

  • Columbine in Alexei Ratmansky’s Harlequinade
  • The Spirit of the Corn in Ratmansky’s The Seasons
  • The Diamond Fairy in Ratmansky’s The Sleeping Beauty
  • Ratmansky’s Chamber Symphony
  • Christopher Wheeldon’s Thirteen Diversions
  • Gemma Bond’s A Time There Was
  • Lauri Stallings’ Citizen
  • Ratmansky’s Dumbarton
  • Demis Volpi’s Private Light

}}

Personal life

Boylston is married to financier Daniel Shin.{{cite news |url=https://observer.com/2018/05/isabella-boylston-brings-realism-to-american-ballet-theatre-2018-season/ |title=Isabella Boylston Is the Dancer Bringing Realism to American Ballet |work=Observer |last=Isherwood |first=Charles |date=May 16, 2018 |access-date=April 14, 2020}} They live in Brooklyn, New York.{{cite news |url=https://www.architecturaldigest.com/story/isabella-boylstons-brookyn-apartment |title=Isabella Boylston's Brooklyn Apartment Is an Art-Filled Oasis |work=Architectural Digest |last=Sessums |first=Zoë |date=February 25, 2020 |access-date=April 14, 2020}}

See also

References

{{Reflist|refs=

{{cite news |last=Kourlas |first=Gia |title=Isabella Boylston on Treasuring 'Giselle' and Trusting Herself |newspaper=New York Times |location=New York City, United States |date=May 8, 2015 |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2015/05/10/arts/dance/isabella-boylston-on-treasuring-giselle-and-trusting-herself.html?ref=dance&_r=0 |accessdate=May 11, 2015}}

}}

External links

  • {{Official website|https://www.isabellaboylston.com/}}
  • [https://www.abt.org/people/isabella-boylston/ Isabella Boylston] at American Ballet Theatre

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{{DEFAULTSORT:Boylston, Isabella}}

Category:1986 births

Category:Living people

Category:People from Sun Valley, Idaho

Category:American Ballet Theatre principal dancers

Category:Princess Grace Awards winners

Category:Dancers from Idaho

Category:American prima ballerinas

Category:21st-century American ballet dancers

Category:American people of Icelandic descent

Category:American people of Swedish descent

Category:21st-century American women