Suki Schorer began her professional career with the San Francisco Ballet and joined the New York City Ballet in 1959, becoming a principal dancer in 1968. Her repertory included principal roles in Apollo, Serenade, Concerto Barocco, Symphony in C, Stars and Stripes, Tarantella and Jewels among others. Balanchine choreographed solo roles on her in Don Quixote, Raymonda Variations, Harlequinade, and A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
In the early 1960s, George Balanchine asked Ms. Schorer to assist him as a teacher at the Company and in Ford Foundation Seminars for teachers. She started as a guest teacher at the School of American Ballet while still a fairly new corps dancer in the Company and she also took class with several of the founding teachers of the School. In 1972, Ms. Schorer became a permanent member of the faculty, teaching intermediate and advanced students. That same year at Balanchine’s request, she reorganized the NYCB lecture demonstration program for public schools, which she oversaw until 1995.
Suki Schorer has set ballets (or ballet excerpts) choreographed by Balanchine for SAB’s Workshop Performances annually since 1973. In early 2007, she staged Serenade with Francia Russell for the Bolshoi Ballet.
Ms. Schorer lectures on Balanchine aesthetics and guest teaches widely in the United States and abroad. She is the author of the award-winning Suki Schorer on Balanchine Technique (Knopf, 1999) and Put Your Best Foot Forward: A Young Dancer’s Guide to Life (Workman Publishing, 2005); and is the recipient of the Dance Magazine Award for 1998, among other honors.
Q&A with Suki Schorer 2014 from Indianapolis City Ballet on Vimeo.