Stanley Williams: Reflections on a Master Teacher

There may be no ballet teacher with as deep and wide an influence as Stanley Williams, whose legendary work had an extraordinary impact on his students and the ballet community as a whole. Hired by George Balanchine for the School of American Ballet in 1964, he turned out generations of students who worshiped his quiet, enigmatic teaching style. Revered and renowned internationally, he was also beloved, and his students became his acolytes.

Three former New York City Ballet principal dancers, Peter Boal, Helgi Tomasson, and Robert Weiss, devotees of Williams who all went on to important careers and subsequently to run their own ballet companies, join this program to reflect on their deep connection to Williams and on his mystique. Dance writer Marina Harss moderates the panel. This program is presented in conjunction with The George Balanchine Foundation.

Photo Credit: Stanley Williams. Photo by Carolyn George.

SEATING POLICY | Programs are free and open to all, but registration is requested. Check-in line forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Registered guests are given priority check-in 15 to 30 minutes before start time. Five minutes before the advertised start time, all seats are released, regardless of registration, to our patrons in the stand-by line. If you arrive after the program starts, you will be seated at the discretion of our front-of-house staff.

STANDBY LINE | If registration is sold out or has ended, do not fret! We welcome you to come to the Library regardless of registration status and wait in our standby line, which forms 45 minutes before the advertised start time. Five minutes before the program starts, all remaining seats are released. While this is not guaranteed, we will do our best to get you into any of our programs.

ASSISTIVE LISTENING AND ASL | ASL interpretation and real-time (CART) captioning available upon request. Please submit your request at least two weeks in advance by emailing [email protected].

BRUNO WALTER POLICY | Please note that any unoccupied seat will be released five minutes before the show begins and holding seats for anyone beyond that is prohibited. There is no food or drink allowed inside the venue.

AUDIO/VIDEO RECORDING | Programs may be photographed and recorded by and at the discretion of the Library for the Performing Arts and will post signs indicating as such. If you would prefer your image not be captured, please let us know and we can seat you accordingly. Attending any program indicates your consent to being filmed/photographed and your consent to the use of your recorded image for any and all purposes of the New York Public Library.

PRESS | Please send all press inquiries to Alex Teplitzky at [email protected]. Please note that all recording, including professional video recordings, are prohibited without expressed consent from the Library.

Host or Publisher New York Public Library for the Performing Arts