Albert Evans | |
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Born | Albert Pierce Evans December 29, 1968
Atlanta, Georgia, U.S. |
Died | June 22, 2015
Mount Sinai Hospital, New York City, U.S. | (aged 47)
Education | School of American Ballet |
Occupations |
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Years active | 1988–2010 |
Career | |
Former groups | New York City Ballet |
Albert Pierce Evans (December 29, 1968 – June 22, 2015) [1] was an American ballet dancer and choreographer. He joined the New York City Ballet in 1988, became a principal dancer in 1995, making him the second African American dancer to hold this position, and had pursue choreography. He retired from performing in 2010, then served as a ballet master until his death.
Evans was born in Atlanta. He started training in ballet and modern dance after watching The Nutcracker on television. [1] In 1986, he entered the School of American Ballet on full scholarship. [2]
In 1988, Evans joined the New York City Ballet. He was soon given lead roles by choreographers Eliot Feld and William Forsythe, both for NYCB's American Music Festival. [3] He was also cast in other lead roles while being a corps de ballet member. [2] He was promoted to soloist in 1991 and principal dancer in 1995. [4] He was the second African American principal dancer in the company, after Arthur Mitchell, and the sole one during his career. [3] Though he had never worked with George Balanchine, he was known for performing his works. [1] Choreographers he had created roles for includes Alexei Ratmansky, Christopher Wheeldon and Susan Stroman. [2] While he was still performing, he started pursuing choreography, his works include Haiku, Broken Promises, both for NYCB, [1] and Seego for The Washington Ballet. [2]
In June 2010, Evans retired after performing the third (Phlegmatic) variation from Balanchine's The Four Temperaments and Forsythe's Herman Schmerman pas de deux, partnering Wendy Whelan. [5] He then served as a ballet master with the company. [4] He also became an assistant to resident choreographer Justin Peck, [2] and appeared in the documentary Ballet 422, which follows the creation process of Peck's Paz de la Jolla. [6]
On June 22, 2015, Evans died at the Mount Sinai Hospital in New York City following a short illness. [1]