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

(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 Hershlag{{efn, Some Hebrew sources claim that her birth name was "Neta-Lee Hershleg" ({{langx, he, נטע-לי הרשלג) and later, her first name was Americanized to "Natalie". {{Cite news , last=Shamir , first=Oron , date=August ...

in the 2010 film ''

Black Swan The black swan (''Cygnus atratus'') is a large Anatidae, 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 ...

''.

Early life

Lane was born in

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

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

Memphis, Tennessee Memphis is a city in Shelby County, Tennessee, United States, and its county seat. Situated along the Mississippi River, it had a population of 633,104 at the 2020 United States census, 2020 census, making it the List of municipalities in Tenne ...

. Her family later moved to

Rochester, New York Rochester is a city in and the county seat, seat of government of Monroe County, New York, United States. It is the List of municipalities in New York, fourth-most populous city and 10th most-populated municipality in New York, with a populati ...

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. ...

'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 Memorial Center for the Performing Arts, commonly known as the Kennedy Center, is the national cultural center of the United States, located on the eastern bank of the Potomac River in Washington, D.C. Opened on September 8, ...

Washington, D.C Washington, D.C., formally the District of Columbia and commonly known as Washington or D.C., is the capital city and federal district of the United States. The city is on the Potomac River, across from Virginia, and shares land borders with ...

., as a presidential scholar in the arts. Also in 2002, she won the bronze medal at the Youth America Grand Prix Competition. Lane is a YoungArts alumnus.

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 () in two acts with music by Adolphe Adam. Considered a masterwork in the classical ballet performance canon, it was first perfor ...

'', Odette/Odile in ''

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

'', 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, also known as Chantilly cream or (), is high-fat dairy cream that has been aerated by whisking until it becomes light, fluffy, and capable of holding its shape. This process incorporates air into the cream, creating a semi-soli ...

''. In February 2020, Lane starred in the Richmond Ballet's "Swan Lake," partnered by Cory Stearns, a day after performing "Giselle" in DC. The scheduled Chinese National Ballet dancers had been unable to travel. The ''

New York Times ''The New York Times'' (''NYT'') is an American daily newspaper based in New York City. ''The New York Times'' covers domestic, national, and international news, and publishes opinion pieces, investigative reports, and reviews. As one of ...

'' called Lane's debut in ''Giselle'' “distinguished.” Her term with ABT ended in 2020. In 2023, she briefly became Director of the School of Ballet RI before resigning in December of 2023.

''Black Swan''

Lane served as a "

" for

in the 2010 film ''

'', a

psychological thriller Psychological thriller is a Film genre, genre combining the thriller (genre), 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 ...

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. 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 ...

'', 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 als ...

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

Jersey City, New Jersey Jersey City is the List of municipalities in New Jersey, second-most populous

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'' (''WSJ''), also referred to simply as the ''Journal,'' is an American newspaper based in New York City. The newspaper provides extensive coverage of news, especially business and finance. It operates on a subscriptio ...

'', 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 prima ballerinas 21st-century American ballet dancers American Ballet Theatre principal dancers Princess Grace Awards winners Entertainers from San Francisco Dancers from New York (state)