Eliot Feld (born July 5, 1942) is an American modern ballet choreographer, performer, teacher, and director. Feld works in contemporary ballet. His company and schools, including the Feld Ballet and Ballet Tech, are involved in dance and dance education in

New York City New York, often called New York City (NYC), is the most populous city in the United States, located at the southern tip of New York State on one of the world's largest natural harbors. The city comprises five boroughs, each coextensive w ...

. Feld has choreographed 149 ballets since 1967, with his work being performed by such companies as

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. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spr ...

, the

Joffrey Ballet The Joffrey Ballet is an American dance company and training institution in Chicago, Illinois. The Joffrey regularly performs classical and contemporary ballets during its annual performance season at the Civic Opera House, including its annual ...

, the

Juilliard School The Juilliard School ( ) is a Private university, private performing arts music school, conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became ...

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's fir ...

, the

New York City Opera The New York City Opera (NYCO) is an American opera company located in Manhattan in New York City. The company has been active from 1943 through its 2013 bankruptcy, and again since 2016 when it was revived. The opera company, dubbed "the peopl ...

, and

Mikhail Baryshnikov Mikhail Nikolayevich Baryshnikov ( rus, Михаил Николаевич Барышников, p=mʲɪxɐˈil bɐ'rɨʂnʲɪkəf; ; born January 27, 1948) is a Latvian and American dancer, choreographer, and actor. He was the preeminent male ...

, among many others.

Life and career

Feld was born in

Brooklyn, New York Brooklyn is a Boroughs of New York City, borough of New York City located at the westernmost end of Long Island in the New York (state), State of New York. Formerly an independent city, the borough is coextensive with Kings County, one of twelv ...

, the son of Alice (née Posner), a travel agent, and Benjamin Noah Feld, an attorney. Feld attended the

High School of Performing Arts The High School of Performing Arts (informally known as "PA") was a public alternative high school established in 1947 and located at 120 West 46th Street in the borough of Manhattan, New York City, from 1948 to 1984. In 1961, the school was ...

in New York, and studied at the

School of American Ballet The School of American Ballet (SAB) is the associate school of the New York City Ballet, a ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional voc ...

and the New Dance Group, as well as with Richard Thomas and Donald McKayle. He performed as a child in

George Balanchine George Balanchine (; Various sources: * * * * born Georgiy Melitonovich Balanchivadze;, Romanization of Georgian, : April 30, 1983) was a Georgian-American ballet choreographer, recognized as one of the most influential choreographers ...

's original production of ''

The Nutcracker ''The Nutcracker'' (, ), Opus number, Op. 71, is an 1892 two-act classical ballet (conceived as a '; ) by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky, set on Christmas Eve at the foot of a Christmas tree in a child's imagination featuring a Nutcracker doll. Th ...

'' as the Nutcracker Prince; and later with the companies of Mary Anthony, Pearl Lang, and Sophie Maslow. At sixteen he appeared on Broadway in ''

West Side Story ''West Side Story'' is a Musical theatre, musical conceived by Jerome Robbins with music by Leonard Bernstein, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, and a Book (musical theatre), book by Arthur Laurents. Inspired by William Shakespeare's play ''Romeo an ...

'' and was cast as Baby John in the movie version of the musical; during the filming of "Cool" (one of the hardest dances in the film), Feld was sick with

pneumonia Pneumonia is an Inflammation, inflammatory condition of the lung primarily affecting the small air sacs known as Pulmonary alveolus, alveoli. Symptoms typically include some combination of Cough#Classification, productive or dry cough, ches ...

. His other Broadway credits from this period include '' I Can Get It for You Wholesale'' and ''

Fiddler on the Roof ''Fiddler on the Roof'' is a musical theatre, musical with music by Jerry Bock, lyrics by Sheldon Harnick, and musical theatre#Book musicals, book by Joseph Stein, set in the Pale of Settlement of Russian Empire, Imperial Russia in or around 19 ...

''. He appeared on television on ''

The Garry Moore Show ''The Garry Moore Show'' is the name for several separate American variety series on the CBS television network in the 1950s and 1960s. Hosted by experienced radio performer Garry Moore, the series helped launch the careers of many comedic tale ...

'' and ''

The Ed Sullivan Show ''The Ed Sullivan Show'' is an American television variety show that ran on CBS from June 20, 1948, to March 28, 1971, and was hosted by New York City, New York entertainment columnist Ed Sullivan. It was replaced in September 1971 by the ''CB ...

''. Later, Feld joined

, leaving at age 25 to form his own company. In the early 1980s, with Cora Cahan, Feld founded the

Joyce Theater The Joyce Theatre Foundation is a leading presenter of dance in New York City and nationally. It is runs, in part, from the Joyce Theater, a 472-seat dance performance venue located in the Chelsea, Manhattan, Chelsea neighborhood of Manhattan in ...

as a home for the Feld Ballet.Anderson, Jack (May 30, 1982)
"DANCE VIEW; The Feld Christens Its New Home"
''The New York Times''. Feld was also instrumental in the creation of the Lawrence A. Wien Center for Dance & Theater at 890 Broadway in New York City.

Feld's companies and schools

In 1967, at the age of twenty-five, Feld broke away from the

to form his own company, the American Ballet Company. Feld used his new company, later known simply as Feld Ballet, to explore a variety of dance genres. In 1978, Feld began a ballet school, the New Ballet School. Feld believed that all children should have the opportunity to learn dance, regardless of their family income. In keeping with that philosophy, and in partnership with the

New York City Board of Education The Panel for Educational Policy of the Department of Education of the City School District of the City of New York, abbreviated as the Panel for Educational Policy and also known as the New York City Board of Education, is the governing body of ...

, he auditioned more than 1,500 children at eight New York City public schools; almost 150 students were then enrolled, tuition-free, to a 17-week course at the New Ballet School. Additional dancers at the school were drawn from other troupes and academies. Since its 1978 founding, Feld's school has auditioned more than 900,000 New York City public school students, and invited more than 26,000 children to take free Introduction to Ballet classes. In 1996 the school changed its name to the New York City Public School for Dance. In 1997, Feld merged the New York City Public School for Dance and Feld Ballet into Ballet Tech, providing a unified organization, and establishing a professional performing outlet for the school's graduates. In 2003, Feld disbanded Feld Ballet to focus on his schools.Kourlas, Gia (June 12, 2013)
"A School for Young Dancers Grows Up: Eliot Feld's Ballet Tech Program Is Expanding"
''The New York Times''. Today, Ballet Tech's activities include the tuition-free New York City Public School for Dance, and Kids Dance, a pre-professional children's group.

Choreography

Feld has choreographe
149 ballets
since 1967. His work has been performed by the American Ballet Company,

, the Atlanta Ballet,

, Feld Ballets/NY & Ballet Tech & Kids Dance, 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. ...

, the Joffrey Ballet, the John Curry Skating Company, the

, the

London Festival Ballet English National Ballet is a classical ballet company founded by Alicia Markova, Dame Alicia Markova and Anton Dolin (ballet dancer), Sir Anton Dolin as London Festival Ballet and based in London, England. Along with The Royal Ballet, Birmingham ...

, the

National Ballet of Canada The National Ballet of Canada is a Canadian ballet company that was founded in 1951 in Toronto, Ontario, with Celia Franca, the first artistic director. A company of 70 dancers with its own orchestra, the National Ballet has been led since 2022 ...

, the

Pacific Northwest Ballet Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) is an American ballet company based in Seattle, Washington. It is said to have the highest per capita attendance in the United States, with 11,000 subscribers in 2004. The company consists of 49 dancers and hosts ...

, the Richmond Ballet, the

Royal Danish Ballet The Royal Danish Ballet ( Danish: ''Den Kongelige Ballet'') is an internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Danish Theatre in Kongens Nytorv, Copenhagen, Denmark. It is one of the oldest ballet companies in the world a ...

, the

Royal Swedish Ballet The Royal Swedish Ballet is one of the oldest ballet companies in Europe. Based in Stockholm, Sweden, Gustav III of Sweden, King Gustav III founded the ballet in 1773 as a part of his national cultural project in response to the French and Italian ...

, the

Royal Winnipeg Ballet The Royal Winnipeg Ballet is Canada's oldest ballet company and the longest continuously operating ballet company in North America. History It was founded in 1939 as the "Winnipeg Ballet Club" by Gweneth Lloyd and Betty Farrally (who also fou ...

, and the

San Francisco Ballet San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Fra ...

, among others. Feld planned a ballet for

Patrick Swayze Patrick Wayne Swayze ( ; August 18, 1952 – September 14, 2009) was an American actor, singer, songwriter, and dancer. Known for his romantic, tough, and comedic roles in blockbusters and cult films, Swayze was nominated for three Golden Glob ...

and Mikhail Baryshnikov, prevented by Swayze's knee reconstruction. Feld's choreography also appeared in the revival of the Broadway musical '' On the Town'' (2001), performed in

Central Park Central Park is an urban park between the Upper West Side and Upper East Side neighborhoods of Manhattan in New York City, and the first landscaped park in the United States. It is the List of parks in New York City, sixth-largest park in the ...

. In place of the company's usual summer engagement at the

, Feld included several of his own dancers of the Ballet Tech company. Feld uses aspects from ballet and modern dance and fuses them together in his work. "The down of one, the up of the other — both beauties attracted me, I think I've spent my choreographic life trying in some way to reconcile, cope, deal with these two elements. He claims to have always "loved the

pointe shoe A pointe shoe (, ), also referred to as a ''ballet shoe'', is a type of shoe worn by ballet dancers when performing pointe technique, pointe work. Pointe shoes were conceived in response to the desire for dancers to appear weightless and sylph-li ...

." Feld's works are varied and contain anything from off-beat music to aerobic exercises, including somersaults, push-ups, sprints, leaps, and calisthenics. Some of his choreography was inspired by

Jewish Jews (, , ), or the Jewish people, are an ethnoreligious group and nation, originating from the Israelites of History of ancient Israel and Judah, ancient Israel and Judah. They also traditionally adhere to Judaism. Jewish ethnicity, rel ...

material; other works were influenced by

Martha Graham Martha Graham (May 11, 1894 – April 1, 1991) was an American modern dancer, teacher and choreographer, whose style, the Graham technique, reshaped the dance world and is still taught in academies worldwide. Graham danced and taught for over s ...

. Feld has choreographed 15 ballets to the music of

Steve Reich Stephen Michael Reich ( ; born October 3, 1936) is an American composer best known as a pioneer of minimal music in the mid to late 1960s. Reich's work is marked by its use of repetitive figures, slow harmonic rhythm, and canons. Reich descr ...

. ''Pointing 3'', Feld's most recent ballet, premiered in New York in June 2018; it was choreographed for 4 students from the Ballet Tech school, to the second movement of Music for Airports, by

Brian Eno Brian Peter George Jean-Baptiste de la Salle Eno (, born 15 May 1948), also mononymously known as Eno, is an English musician, songwriter, record producer, visual artist, and activist. He is best known for his pioneering contributions to ambien ...

, arranged by David Lang. In May 2024, Feld and Ballet Tech announced that most of Feld's ballets were being placed in the public domain.

Selected choreographic works

* 1967: ''Harbinger'' (May 1967;

, New York State Theater) - set to music by

Sergei Prokofiev Sergei Sergeyevich Prokofiev; alternative transliterations of his name include ''Sergey'' or ''Serge'', and ''Prokofief'', ''Prokofieff'', or ''Prokofyev''. , group=n ( – 5 March 1953) was a Russian composer, pianist, and conductor who l ...

* 1967: ''At Midnight'' (ABT) — set to music by

Gustav Mahler Gustav Mahler (; 7 July 1860 – 18 May 1911) was an Austro-Bohemian Romantic music, Romantic composer, and one of the leading conductors of his generation. As a composer he acted as a bridge between the 19th-century Austro-German tradition and ...

* 1969: ''Intermezzo #1'' — set to waltzes by Johannes

Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid- Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, often set within studied ye ...

Smith, Sid (January 6, 1985)
"Eliot Feld Storms Back-- Ballet's Bad Boy Has Grown Up"
''

Chicago Tribune The ''Chicago Tribune'' is an American daily newspaper based in Chicago, Illinois, United States. Founded in 1847, it was formerly self-styled as the "World's Greatest Newspaper", a slogan from which its once integrated WGN (AM), WGN radio and ...

''. * 1974: ''Tzaddik'' - set to music by

Aaron Copland Aaron Copland (, ; November 14, 1900December 2, 1990) was an American composer, critic, writer, teacher, pianist, and conductor of his own and other American music. Copland was referred to by his peers and critics as the "Dean of American Compos ...

* 1974: ''Sephardic Song'' * 1977: ''A Footstep of Air'' (Eliot Feld Ballet,

Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts Wolf Trap National Park for the Performing Arts (originally known as the Wolf Trap Farm Park for the Performing Arts and simply known as Wolf Trap) is a performing arts center located on of national park land in unincorporated Fairfax County, ...

) — set to music by

Beethoven Ludwig van Beethoven (baptised 17 December 177026 March 1827) was a German composer and pianist. He is one of the most revered figures in the history of Western music; his works rank among the most performed of the classical music repertoire ...

* 1978: ''La Vida'' (April 1978, Eliot Feld Ballet, Plymouth Theatre) — set to music by

* 1978: ''Santa Fe Saga'' (April 1978; Feld Ballet, Plymouth Theatre) — set to music by

Morton Gould Morton Gould (December 10, 1913February 21, 1996) was an American composer, conductor, arranger, and pianist. Biography Morton Gould was born in Richmond Hill, New York, United States. He was of Austrian-Jewish heritage. He was recognized ear ...

, featuring

"Eliot Feld Ballet Set For a Broadway Season"
''The New York Times'' (March 27, 1978). * 1978: ''Half Time'' - set to music by

* 1979: ''Danzon Cuban'' — set to music by

Kriegsman, Alan M. (August 12, 1978)
"Feld's 'Danzon'"
''The Washington Post''. * 1979: ''Papillon''Kriegsman, Alan M. (December 23, 1979)
"Eliot Feld: Wised-Up Wunderkind"
''The Washington Post''. * 1982: ''Anatomic Balm'' (Feld Ballet,

) — set to

ragtime Ragtime, also spelled rag-time or rag time, is a musical style that had its peak from the 1890s to 1910s. Its cardinal trait is its Syncopation, syncopated or "ragged" rhythm. Ragtime was popularized during the early 20th century by composers ...

* 1982: ''Play Bach'' (Feld Ballet,

) — set to

Bach Johann Sebastian Bach (German: �joːhan zeˈbasti̯an baχ ( – 28 July 1750) was a German composer and musician of the late Baroque period. He is known for his prolific output across a variety of instruments and forms, including the or ...

* 1982: ''Straw Hearts'' (October 1982, Feld Ballet,

) * 1984: ''Adieu'' (Feld Ballet,

) — dedicated to Feld's late teacher Richard Thomas * 1984: ''The Jig Is Up'' * 1984: ''The Grand Canon'' (Feld Ballet,

) — set to music by

* 1985: ''Against the Sky''- music by Bela BartokDunning, Jennifer (April 4, 1985)
"THE DANCE: Feld Ballet With 'Against The Sky'"
''The New York Times''. * 1985: ''Intermezzo No. 2'' - music by

Johannes Brahms Johannes Brahms (; ; 7 May 1833 – 3 April 1897) was a German composer, virtuoso pianist, and conductor of the mid-Romantic period (music), Romantic period. His music is noted for its rhythmic vitality and freer treatment of dissonance, oft ...

* 1985: ''Medium: Rare'' — Music by

* 1985: ''Aurora I'' — Music by

* 1985: ''Aurora II'' — Music by

* 1986: ''Echo'' — Music by

* 1986: ''Bent Planes'' — Music by

* 1988: '' The Unanswered Question: Some Intimations of the American Composer Charles Ives'' (April 1988, New York City Ballet, New York State Theatre) — set to

Charles Ives Charles Edward Ives (; October 20, 1874May 19, 1954) was an American modernist composer, actuary and businessman. Ives was among the earliest renowned American composers to achieve recognition on a global scale. His music was largely ignored d ...

' ''

The Unanswered Question ''The Unanswered Question'' is a musical work by American composer Charles Ives. Originally paired with ''Central Park in the Dark'' as ''Two Contemplations'' in 1908, ''The Unanswered Question'' was revised by Ives in 1930–1935. As with many ...

'' * 1988: ''Kore'' — Music by

* 1990: ''Ion'' — Music by

* 1991: ''Clave'' — Music by

* 1992: ''Hello Fancy'' * 1993: ''The Relative Disposition of the Parts'' (March 1993, Feld Ballets/NY,

) — set to Bach's orchestral suitesKisselgoff, Anna (March 6, 1993)
"Review/Dance; The Feld Shows Off Its Young Pupils With a Gala"
''The New York Times''. * 1995: ''Chi'' — Music by

* 1995: ''Tongue and Groove'' — Music by

* 2004: ''Proverb'' — Music by

* 2004: ''A Stair Dance'' — Music by

* 2004: '' Backchat'' (April 2004; Ballet Tech,

) — set to "Idle Chatter Junior" by

Paul Lansky Paul Lansky (born June 18, 1944, in New York City) is an American composer. Biography Paul Lansky (born 1944) is an American composer. He was educated at Manhattan's High School of Music and Art, Queens College and Princeton University, studyi ...

* 2005: ''Sir Isaac's Apples'' — Music by

- commissioned by The

Juilliard The Juilliard School ( ) is a private performing arts conservatory in New York City. Founded by Frank Damrosch as the Institute of Musical Art in 1905, the school later added dance and drama programs and became the Juilliard School, named aft ...

School * 2008: ''Isis In Transit'' — Music by

* 2008: ''Dotty Polkas'' — set to music by

Johann Strauss II Johann Baptist Strauss II (; ; 25 October 1825 – 3 June 1899), also known as Johann Strauss Jr., the Younger or the Son (), was an List of Austrian composers, Austrian composer of light music, particularly dance music and operettas as well ...

and Josef Strauss * 2008: ''Quickstep'' — set to music by Steve Martland * 2013: ''Upside Dance'' — set to Scandinavian folk music * 2014: ''KYDZNY'' — set to music performed by the Raya Brass Band * 2015: ''A Yankee Doodle'' (June 2015, Kids Dance/Ballet Tech,

) * 2017: ''Pointing 1'' — set to music by

Julia Wolfe Julia Wolfe (born December 18, 1958) is an American composer and professor of music at New York University. According to ''The Wall Street Journal'', Wolfe's music has "long inhabited a terrain of its own, a place where classical forms are rech ...

* 2018: ''Pointing 2'' — set to music by

* 2018: ''Pointing 3'' — set to music by

, arranged by David Lang

Accolades

Feld has picked up numerous awards, including the John Simon

Guggenheim Fellowship Guggenheim Fellowships are Grant (money), grants that have been awarded annually since by the John Simon Guggenheim Memorial Foundation, endowed by the late Simon Guggenheim, Simon and Olga Hirsh Guggenheim. These awards are bestowed upon indiv ...

(1969), the

Dance Magazine ''Dance Magazine'' is an American trade publication for dance. It was first published in June 1927 as ''The American Dancer''. ''Dance Magazine'' is currently part of Dance Media, led by longtime arts publisher Joanna Harp as president, and has mu ...

Award (1990), and an honorary doctorate degree from

(1991).

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Feld, Eliot 1942 births American ballet teachers American ballet choreographers Jewish American male actors American male ballet dancers Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School alumni Living people Jewish dancers Dancers from Brooklyn New York City Ballet Diamond Project choreographers Choreographers of New York City Ballet Eliot Feld

Life and career

Feld's companies and schools

Choreography

Selected choreographic works

Accolades

Further reading

References

External links