The Parts and Past of Pointe Shoes

Dyumna Chhabraballerina, Ballet, costumes, history, insights, technical development Leave a Comment

By Aakanksha Mukherjee The Past of Pointe Shoes  Have you ever wondered how, in Swan Lake, Odette seems to be flying across the stage as though she truly were a swan with wings, gliding through the sky? Or how, in The Nutcracker, during The Waltz of the Snowflakes, the dancers float and drift around seamlessly, emulating the movements of snowflakes ...

A Whole New World: A Mother’s Perspective on the Path to Professional Ballet

Dyumna Chhabraalumni, artist, Ballet, careers, dancers, student scoop Leave a Comment

Radha Nambisan with her mom Irene Manning We sat down with Irene Manning, mother of Radha Nambisan, to delve into the intricate world of ballet academia. Irene graciously shared her wealth of knowledge and firsthand experience regarding the technicalities involved in Radha’s journey into the world of professional ballet. Radha at TLFCB Can you tell us a bit about what ...

Dance at your Doorstep: The History of the Spread of Ballet Worldwide

Dyumna ChhabraBallet, ballet productions, history Leave a Comment

By Aashaya Anand Today, ballet is one of the most popular dance performances worldwide. Even those who do not practise it themselves have an intuition of what it is; an image comes to mind when you hear the word ‘ballet.’ Perhaps it’s white tutus, or pointe shoes, or low romantic buns. But how did these things emerge as they are ...

What Should Young Ballet Students Eat Before and After Class?

Dyumna ChhabraBallet, food Leave a Comment

By Kushisree S For young dancers, what they eat is just as important as the time they spend in the studio. Ballet strength, focus, coordination, and endurance, so giving children the right foods before and after class can help them get most out of the class. For parents of children in Pre-Primary through Grade 2 ballet, whether they’re attending an ...

How The Nutcracker Became a Winter Tradition

Dyumna ChhabraBallet Leave a Comment

It is no surprise that if you’ve been associated with ballet in any capacity (or perhaps even movies that revolve around one specific doll: Barbie), you know about The Nutcracker. It is also no surprise that you know it as a ballet performed across the USA by most ballet companies from November to January, and sometimes even longer. But how ...

Holly Hynes on her designing process

Dyumna ChhabraBallet Leave a Comment

Article by Ahana Ayyaparaj for En Avant Winter 2025 Holly Hynes We hear from Holly Hynes, an award-winning costume designer with credits in over 300 ballets, including more than 70 for New York City Ballet. Her work appears in major companies worldwide - from The Bolshoi Ballet and The Royal Ballet to American Ballet Theatre, La Scala, and Paris Opera ...

Behind the Curtain : What Parents Don’t See in Our Latest Production

Devang Bhanushaliballet productions, dancers, danceshows, performances, preparation Leave a Comment

It's 8pm in the evening and I am sitting in the office at Ulsoor, surrounded by raw materials for accessories and their components - over 2100 (yes, two thousand one hundred) of them that we have to make for the upcoming Madame Mystique Marvelous Machine production. I am cutting the comb that goes as part of the headpiece for the ...

Flexibility Meets Function: How Dancers Train Off Stage

Dyumna ChhabraBallet, dancefit, dancers Leave a Comment

Content by Swetlana Goswami, and design by Maya Haridas for En Avant Summer 2025 When you watch a dancer performing on the stage, especially a ballet dancer, it often looks like an illusion of grace, power, and precision flowing effortlessly together. But what happens behind the scenes is months and years of rigorous training. Dancers nowadays understand that what they ...

Lights, Sound, Rehearsals!

Dyumna Chhabraballerina, Ballet, ballet class Leave a Comment

Students during rehearsals for Wicked (Summer Program 2025). The word “rehearsals” is as far from alien to the world of performing arts as it can be. If there is a show, there must be rehearsals and if there are rehearsals, a dancer knows, their family knows, their friends know and often (at least here in India) even their distant family ...