Dance and Administrative Career
Born and raised in Copenhagen, Denmark, Martins studied at the School of the Royal Danish Ballet and danced with the company from 1965 to 1969. Although before that, he studied ballroom dance at the age of five. He was already an international star when he joined NYCB in 1970 as a principal dancer. Martins danced a wide variety of roles, although he may be most famous for Apollo and the Cavalier in Balanchine's Nutcracker. He danced frequently with Suzanne Farrell, although they parted acrimoniously when she retired in 1989. Martins was Balanchine's choice to run the company, and he was made Balletmaster in 1981. He retired from dancing in 1983 and assumed the job of Balletmaster-in-Chief in 1990. He was Balanchine's own choice to carry on the legacy of the NYCB when Balanchine himself passed.
Martins regularly choreographs new works for both companies. His first piece was Calcium Light Night set to music by Charles Ives and premiered in 1977. His more recent pieces include Octet, Friandises, Stabat Mater and the full-length ballets The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Romeo † Juliet. He also did the choreography for the Barbie movies Barbie in the Nutcracker and Barbie of Swan Lake.
Read more about this topic: Peter Martins
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