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Strength and sensitivity: Craig Hall of the New York City Ballet teaches Arts Academy dancers to embrace their contradictions
In ballet, power meets grace—and few understand this duality better than Craig Hall. Known for his masterful partnering of the world's top ballerinas, Hall showed Interlochen Arts Academy dancers how to harness both strength and sensitivity in their craft.
Craig Hall. Photo by Henry Leutwyler
Artistic inspiration comes in many forms at Interlochen Arts Academy, where world-class professionals regularly step into classrooms and studios to share their expertise. This fall, the Dance division experienced a particularly exciting moment with the arrival of Craig Hall, current repertory director at the New York City Ballet. During his time on campus, Hall offered students a glimpse into the professional dance world, sharing insights gleaned from a remarkable ballet career—from joining a family tradition to partnering the world’s top ballerinas.
A pathway to professional dance
For Hall, dancing started out as a family affair.
“I grew up in the suburbs outside of Chicago,” Hall recalls. “As a four-year-old, I started dancing at my local dance studio, after my older brother and sister started, and my two younger siblings started shortly after. It was a thing we did on the weekends.”
As a 14-year-old, Hall was accepted into the Chicago Academy for the Arts. It was here, after some initial resistance, that he started to become more serious about dance.
“When I was first introduced to ballet, I really hated it,” says Hall. “I thought it was too structured and too hard, with too many rules. But I had an incredible teacher who kept challenging me and pushing me. Before the end of the year, I absolutely fell in love with ballet.”
Hall’s dreams for the future began to take shape when, as a junior, he had the opportunity to share studio space with several dancers from the Joffrey Ballet. As he observed the dancers rehearsing and taking classes, Hall began to envision a life as a professional dancer.
“My superheroes were right there. I could touch them, and what they were doing was so cool. After that, becoming a professional dancer was all I wanted to do.”
After taking summer programs with School of American Ballet, Hall became enthralled with the city of New York and knew he needed to move there. Luckily enough, the director of the New York City Ballet had been watching some of Hall’s classes, and was impressed with the young dancer’s skills. Before long, Hall was chosen to become an apprentice in the New York City Ballet. In the city of his dreams, just a few steps away from the job of his dreams, Hall felt that his entire life had become surreal.
“In the evenings, we would go across the plaza to the ballet performances and watch the professionals,” he says. “I knew that pretty soon, I would be dancing side-by-side with them. Becoming an apprentice brought with it a whole new level of obstacles and challenges. Would I be able to live up to the expectation of being a professional dancer?”
Craig Hall dances with Wendy Whelan. Photo by Paul Kolnik
A passion for partnering
Four months passed, and Hall was offered a professional contract. The New York City Ballet would become his home for the next 17 years. Here, Hall honed in on his unique gifts and worked with some of the biggest names in ballet.
One of Hall’s favorite experiences was the chance to perform in Slavonic Dances, the first ballet ever written by Christopher Wheeldon. Wheeldon would later become known for An American in Paris, MJ: The Musical, and more titles he premiered as he earned an international reputation for his choreography.
Inspired by examples of Black male dancers like Arthur Mitchell, Albert Evans, and Mel Tomlinson, Hall was determined to carve out a space where his talents would shine. Before long, he realized that most of his gifts lay in partnering.
“I danced by myself many times, but I always found it very lonely out there,” says Hall. “I love the relationship that’s created with another dancer on stage. I love that you can create a love story, a competition, a fight, or even just camaraderie between two friends. I love trying to figure out how to make that real on stage, and how much of an actor you have to be without using your words or your mouth. I really tried to focus on that and bring that across in my dancing.”
Soon, Hall was being paired with top ballerinas like Wendy Whelan, with whom he shared many dances over the years. Although not as tall as some other male dancers, Hall was frequently assigned the tallest ballerinas due to his abilities and physical strength. Partnering also helped Hall develop a sense of his own signature style as a dancer.
“For me, it’s the combination of brute strength and masculinity with sensitivity,” he says.
In recent years, Hall has stepped back from performance, but he’s continued to accept select engagements: in 2019, he performed at the American Music Awards, dancing with American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Misty Copeland during Taylor Swift's performance of "Lover".
Working with students at Interlochen
Retired as a dancer, Hall now taps into another set of skills as repertory director for the New York City Ballet. He teaches young dancers to balance seemingly contradictory parts of themselves, just as he learned to do.
“It’s all a balancing act: how can you be both strong and sensitive? How can you be big and quiet? I invite students to tap into their contradictions.”
This November, he visited Interlochen Arts Academy as a guest artist. Hall says he deeply values the chance to work with dancers at the high school level.
“I love to work with young dancers in this age group, where they are just moments away from tapping into a whole new world,” Hall reflects. “Some of them will come to New York, and some may end up at the School of American Ballet, and some may end up in the New York City Ballet. What I've learned here, I love to pass along.”
He considers Director of Dance Joseph Morrissey a personal friend; the two men took professional classes together in New York years ago.
“There's some excellent teaching happening at Interlochen,” says Hall.
At the end of the day, Hall considers it his highest calling to provide young dancers with the support they need to thrive.
“It's a challenging world, and we as dancers are our worst critics—we dance in front of mirrors every day,” Hall notes. “I challenge students, but I also offer support and let everyone know that we are creating art. It's a beautiful, wonderful gift that we get to give. Let's appreciate that for each other.”
Dancers at Interlochen Arts Academy frequently have opportunities to learn from top dancers and dance instructors like Hall. Learn more about Dance at Interlochen Arts Academy.
