2009 Wien Award Recipients

The School of American Ballet is pleased to announce the following recipients of the 2009 Mae L. Wien Award: MAE L. WIEN FACULTY AWARD FOR DISTINGUISHED SERVICE Violette Verdy MAE L. WIEN AWARDS FOR OUTSTANDING PROMISE Emilie Gerrity Ashly Isaacs Shoshana Rosenfield Taylor Stanley

From left: Emilie Gerrity, Taylor Stanley, Shoshana Rosenfield, Violette Verdy with Peter Martins. Photos by Paul Kolnik

VIOLETTE VERDY, born in the northwest of France, appeared with Ballets des Champs Elysée as a child. As a young dancer she performed with several leading companies in Europe before accepting the invitation to join New York City Ballet as a principal in 1958; she stayed for nearly two decades before retiring. Among the roles Balanchine choreographed on her are Emeralds, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, La Source, and Liebeslieder Waltzer. After retiring from the stage, she directed several companies and is currently on the faculty of Indiana University and serves as Artistic Advisor at The Rock School in Philadelphia. She was named Principal Guest Teacher at SAB in 2008. Miss Verdy was recently made a Chevalier of the National Order of the Legion of Honor, France’s highest decoration. Peter Martins has said, “Violette brings to the studio not only her broad range of knowledge, but also the same exceptional generosity of spirit that so defines her life.”

EMILIE GERRITY grew up in upstate New York and studied with Lisa and Peter Naumann (SAB and NYCB alumni). She first auditioned in 2004, was accepted into SAB’s Summer Course and has spent three Winter Terms at the School. Emilie, 18, choreographed a short ballet for the Student Choreography Project last fall and danced leading roles in both Serenade and Stars and Stripes at the 2009 Workshop Performances. She became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in the fall of 2009.

ASHLY ISAACS is a Florida native. She studied with Magda Auñon in Fort Lauderdale before auditioning for SAB in 2006. During SAB's 2008-09 Winter Term, she performed in both the School’s Student Choreography Workshop and the New York Choreographic Institute. She was invited to become an apprentice with NYCB in the fall of 2009.

SHOSHANA ROSENFIELD is a New Yorker who lives just blocks from Lincoln Center. Before auditioning for the School she studied with SAB alumna Darla Hoover. Shoshana completed five years of intermediate and advanced training at SAB.  As a child she danced in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker at New York City Ballet, and at the 2009 Workshop Performances, she performed leading roles in Serenade.  Shoshana became an apprentice with NYCB in the fall of 2009.

TAYLOR STANLEY studied with SAB alumni Stephanie and Bojan Spassoff at The Rock School in Philadelphia before coming to the School of American Ballet as a Merit Scholarship awardee in 2008. He is a native of West Chester, Pennsylvania. Taylor performed the principal part of "El Capitan" in Stars and Stripes at the 2009 Workshop Performances. He became an apprentice with New York City Ballet in the fall of 2009.