| Patricia Barker... continued |
| Imbued with the entrepreneurial spirit, in 1999 Ms. Barker became the founder and owner of her own dancewear company, BKWear, where she received a patent for a new contemporary dance shoe. Patricia is also an expert on toe shoes, having collaborated with Freed of London on "Patricia Barker on Pointe Shoes," an instructional video for new dancers on the selection and wearing of pointe shoes. Barker is on the advisory board for Pointe Magazine, CriticalDance.com, California Ballet, and Minnesota Dance Theater and is a consultant to Bunheads Inc.
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| Only weeks into her "retirement", Patricia had begun teaching at the PNB School. This summer, she returns to New England to teach at Boston Ballet School. Ms. Barker is married to former PNB dancer Michael Auer. |
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| Kyra Nichols |
| Principal dancer Kyra Nichols, 48, retired from New York City Ballet this past June after an unprecedented 34 year run, the company record for a female dancer. |
| Born in California and raised in Berkeley, Nichols' mother and first ballet teacher, Sally Streets, had danced in NYCB's corps de ballet in the 1950s. Ms. Nichols eventually studied at the School of American Ballet summer program, and joined New York City Ballet in 1974. In 1979, she was promoted to principal dancer.
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| In addition to her longevity record, Nichols also holds the distinction of being among the last dancers who were part of the George Balanchine era. During that time, Balanchine chose to showcase the talents of Suzanne Farrell over Nichols'. Although Kyra had always shared roles with Farrell, it was only after Balanchine's death in 1983 that Nichols began to routinely dance many of the roles Balanchine had originally created for Farrell.
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