Darci Kistler

Darci Kistler (born June 4^th, 1964) Toni Bentley, Darci Kistler Exits the Stage, The Wall Street Journal, 28 May 2010, p. W2 is a noted American ballerina. She is often said to be the last muse for legendary choreographer George Balanchine.

Biography

Kistler was born in Riverside, California, the fifth child (with four older brothers) of a medical doctor and his wife. Her brothers excelled in amateur wrestling, and she followed them into water-skiing, basketball, football and horseback riding. However, at age 4 she received her first tutu, and (figuratively) never took it off, beginning ballet training that same year. She claimed although she was always athletic, she could never keep to her brothers--so ballet turned out to be one cornerstone she had mastered. She studied with Mary Lynn at Riverside Ballet Arts and later with Irina Kosmovska in Los Angeles.

Kistler married New York City Ballet's balletmaster-in-chief Peter Martins in 1991. They have one daughter, Talicia Tove Martins, born in June 1996.Milestones, Time Magazine, 24 June 1996

Ballet

In early 1979 Kistler was selected to study at New York City Ballet's School of American Ballet (SAB), where she met Balanchine. She joined the New York City Ballet (NYCB) corps de ballet in 1980, and was featured in a Time Magazine article before the end of the year.Martha Duffy, Dance: A New Sunbeam,...
Read More