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Today on the Conversations on Dance podcast, we talk with former New York City Ballet dancer and Balanchine répétiteur Deborah Wingert about her early training at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, where rigorous daily classes, musical and artistic context, and early teaching responsibilities shaped her discipline and curiosity. Wingert recounts being accepted to the School of American Ballet, performing key workshop roles, and joining NYCB at 16, including formative experiences and personal coaching from George Balanchine before his death in 1983. She describes thriving as a detail-oriented “sponge,” navigating later casting and body-image pressures, and building a wide repertory across Balanchine and Robbins works. After leaving NYCB, she began teaching privately and at multiple New York schools, then expanded into staging Balanchine works around the world.
00:00 Meet The Hosts
00:11 Debra Wingert Overview
01:35 First Ballet Spark
04:16 CPYB Magic And Context
06:31 Rigor And Early Teaching
14:24 SAB Audition And Move
16:50 Workshop Breakthrough Roles
18:57 Joining NYCB At Sixteen
25:10 Balanchine Coaching Moments
27:21 Life After Balanchine
28:19 Other SAB Teachers
33:22 Body Image And Confidence
35:09 Backstage Ballet Devotion
35:34 Staying in the Company
36:39 Outside Projects and Robbins
38:07 Leaving NYCB and Starting to Teach
40:55 Outreach and Repertory Staging
43:10 Learning to Stage New Works
45:33 Musicality and Version Options
51:18 Keeping Patterns and Details Alive
55:56 Dream Ballets and Future Stagings
01:04:06 Closing Thanks and Signoff