CharlesAskegard

Photo of Charles Askegard, ballet dancer and founding co-artistic director and co-principal dancer of Ballet Next.

Born in Minneapolis, Minnesota (USA), Charles began his dance training at the age of five with Loyce Houlton and the Minnesota Dance Theatre. He continued his studies in Minneapolis until the age of 16, spending one summer at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet, in 1983. Mr. Askegard joined American Ballet Theatre as a member of the corps de ballet in 1987, and was promoted to soloist in 1992. His repertoire while at American Ballet Theatre included leading roles in Giselle, La Bayadere, Manon, Romeo and Juliet, The Nutcracker, Etudes, Voluntaries, The Rite of Spring, Symphonic Variations, Rodeo, Fall River Legend, The Other, The Red Shoes, Le Corsaire pas de deux and Apollo.

In 1997, Mr. Askegard left ABT to join New York City Ballet as a soloist. He served as Principal Dancer from 1998 until 2011. In 2002, he appeared in the nationally televised Live from Lincoln Center broadcast, "New York City Ballet's Diamond Project: Ten Years of New Choreography" on PBS, dancing in Them Twos. And in May of 2004, he appeared in the Live From Lincoln Center broadcast of "Lincoln Center Celebrates Balanchine 100," dancing in Vienna Waltzes. In addition to his appearances with New York City Ballet, Mr. Askegard has been a guest artist with The Dutch National Ballet, the National Ballet of Canada, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Ballet Etudes of South Florida, Bavarian State Opera Ballet, Minnesota Dance Theatre, Philippine Ballet Theatre, The Daring Project and the Stars of American Ballet. He performed the leading roles opposite Barbie in the "Barbie" 3-D animated videos, dancing in Swan Lake, Nutcracker, and the Twelve Dancing Princesses. He can also be seen in the documentary Ballet, directed by Fred Wiseman.

Since joining New York City Ballet, Mr. Askegard has danced featured roles in several key choreographers of the 20th and 21st century including:

George Balanchine's Allegro Brillante, Apollo, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet (Fourth Movement), Concerto Barocco, Coppélia (Frantz), Cortège Hongrois, Firebird, The Four Temperaments, George Balanchine's The Nutcracker™, "Diamonds" from Jewels, Ivesiana, Kammermusik No. 2, Liebeslieder Walzer, A Midsummer Night's Dream, Monumentum pro Gesualdo, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Orpheus, Robert Schumann's "Davidsbündlertänze", Scotch Symphony, Serenade, Stars and Stripes, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Swan Lake, Symphony in C, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2, Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3 (Theme and Variations), Union Jack, Vienna Waltzes, Walpurgisnacht Ballet, Western Symphony, Who Cares?

Peter Martins' Barber Violin Concerto, Fearful Symmetries, Morgen, Naïve and Sentimental Music, The Sleeping Beauty (Gold), Swan Lake (Siegfried and Russian), The Waltz Project, Harmonielehre, River of Light, Swan Lake, ThemTwos, Thou Swell and Viva Verdi

Jerome Robbins' The Four Seasons (Fall), Glass Pieces, In Memory of..., In the Night, Ives, Songs

In addition to Eliot Feld's Intermezzo No. 1, The Unanswered Question, and Organon and Robert La Fosse's "Rockin' in Rhythm" from Duke!, Helgi Tomasson's Prism (2000 Diamond Project ballet) and Christopher Wheeldon's Carnival of the Animals.