August 2007

Jock Soto (Navajo) was selected as a teenager to join the New York City Ballet by George Balanchine, and was to dance for 25 years with the company. He was a principal dancer from 1985 until his retirement from dance in 2005. Soto danced featured roles by George Balanchine, Peter Martins, Jerome Robbins, and Christopher Weldon, that had often been created just for him. Soto often appeared with the New York City Ballet on the PBS program Live from Lincoln Center, and also made several appearances on the PBS children's program Sesame Street. In 2003, he won the Dance Magazine Award. In 1998, he received the First Americans in the Arts Trustee Award for Accomplishment in Ballet. He is a faculty member at the School of American Ballet in New York, and received the school's Mae L. Wein Award for Distinguished Service in 2002. He studied at the Institute of Culinary Education and is a professional caterer. He was born in Gallup, New Mexico, raised in Phoenix, Arizona, and lives in New York, New York.

Image credit: Water Flowing Together - courtesy of Gwendolen Cates; Water Flowing Together - courtesy of Gwendolen Cates