Emma Von Enck Promoted To Principal Dancer At New York City Ballet

New York City Ballet has announced that Emma Von Enck has been promoted to Principal Dancer. The promotion was made on Thursday, May 16 by NYCB Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford and Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, following a performance of George Balanchine's “Rubies” from Jewels in which Von Enck performed the leading female role.  Later in the evening she also performed a featured role in Amy Hall Garner's Underneath, There Is Light, which Von Enck originated for the ballet's World Premiere performance at NYCB's 2024 Spring Gala earlier this month.    

During the Company's 2024 Spring Season Von Enck has debuted in leading roles in Balanchine's Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (Third Movement), Justin Peck's Year of the Rabbit, and Alexei Ratmansky's Pictures at an Exhibition.  In addition, this spring Von Enck has reprised featured roles in various works by Balanchine (Symphony in C (Third Movement) and Symphony in Three Movements), Justin Peck (Pulcinella Variations), and Gianna Reisen (Play Time).  She is scheduled to make one final debut this spring, as the Butterfly in Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream, which will close out NYCB's 2024 Spring Season with a week of performances from May 28 to June 2.

Von Enck was born in Cleveland, Ohio, and began her dance training at the Royal School of Ballet.  She later studied at the Cleveland School of Dance, the Cleveland Ballet Conservatory, and attended summer courses at the School of American Ballet (SAB), enrolling as a full-time student at SAB for the 2012 winter term. In August of 2016, she became an apprentice with NYCB. She joined the Company as a member of the corps de ballet in August 2017 and was promoted to Soloist in January 2022.  

As a member of the Company, Von Enck has performed featured roles in a variety of works by Balanchine, Peter Martins, Justin Peck, Alysa Pires, Ratmansky, Jerome Robbins, Reisen, and Christopher Wheeldon.  In addition, she has originated featured roles in works by Silas Farley, Tiler Peck, Reisen, and Jamar Roberts.  

In 2016, as a student at SAB, Von Enck received the Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise.

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