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April 2, 1999

Ethan Stiefel, 26, has all the tricks: so many turns you can lose count, gravity-defying jumps, and legs that contort in the air. But it is subtler gifts and his dedication to classical ballet that makes him a dancer worth watching.

"(A solo) is almost immediate gratification," Stiefel told Joel Lobenthal [Ballet Review Fall 1998] in explaining his interest in pyrotechnics and dramatic expression. "It has to all be intertwined. It's continuous, and different from an abstract ballet where I am me. Doing the same steps that I did before within that character is like breaking through several layers of skin to reach what is needed to get what you want across for playing Siegfried or Albrecht....I feel the process and the change and the struggle, but also the enjoyment when you reach something that you feel is going to let people into what you're thinking or what your ideas are about a certain role."

If you haven't seen Stiefel yet, you might get your chance this season as he exhibits his lofty jump, brilliant footwork and detailed characterization with American Ballet Theatre, the New York City Ballet, and the Royal Ballet in London this year.

Stiefel, born in Pennsylvania and bred in Madison, Wisconsin and New York, received his dance education at Marcia Dale Weary's Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, School of American Ballet, and with Mikhail Baryshnikov at the short-lived School of Classical Ballet.

Stiefel's talents were unveiled when he did the third movement of Balanchine's Symphony in C at the SAB annual spring workshop in 1989. He joined the New York City Ballet that year at 16. It wasn't long before Stiefel began performing solo parts. His short tenure at NYCB was characterized by Stiefel's frequent comings and goings. He left in 1992 to dance for a season with the Zurich Ballet, anxious for a chance to dance the classics.

Stiefel returned in 1994 to NYCB, where he danced most of the major roles by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Peter Martins. In addition, he was a favorite of Diamond Project choreographers David Allen, Kevin O'Day, Robert LaFosse, and Richard Tanner. However, Stiefel left again in 1997 and joined ABT in order to explore more character-driven roles.

Stiefel is at his best skimming across the stage as Oberon in Balanchine's Midsummer Night's Dream or the Bluebird solo in Sleeping Beauty, soaring through the air as Ali or Conrad in Le Corsaire, or the jive-dancing shadowboxer in Twyla Tharp's Known by Heart.--Dale Brauner

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