Catherine Hurlin

Catherine Hurlin (born 1995 or 1996)^[1] is an American ballet dancer. She joined the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 2014 and was promoted to principal dancer in 2022.

Hurlin was born in New York City and raised in Westchester County, New York.^[2][3] Her mother, was a Paul Taylor Dance Company dancer and left the company when she was 14 weeks pregnant with Hurlin.^[4] Her father was a stage manager with the company and later Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS's production manager. Hurlin started creative movement at age three, then ballet at age five. When she was eight, her mother sent her to Westchester Dance Academy, a competitive dance school, where Hurlin trained in jazz and lyrical dance in addition to ballet, and performed around the East Coast on weekends.^[1] At age 11, she competed at the Youth America Grand Prix, and won a scholarship to the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School (JKO School).^[5] At the time, she preferred lyrical dance and later recalled her mother "dragged" her to the school, though gradually found herself enjoying ballet and decided to pursue it professionally.^[1]

Between age eleven and thirteen, Hurlin performed in the Radio City Christmas Spectacular as Clara.^[6] In 2010, whilst she was a student with the JKO School, she created the role of Young Clara in Alexei Ratmansky's The Nutcracker, which was performed by the American Ballet Theatre.^[7]

Hurlin first danced with the American Ballet Theatre's Studio Company, then became an apprentice with the main company in 2013, and a corps de ballet member in 2014.^[2] In 2015, she danced Taylor's Company B, which had been created when her mother was in his company.^[4] Whilst in the corps de ballet, she also created a role in Morris' After You, and the role of Mademoiselle Marianne Chartreuse in Ratmansky's Whipped Cream.^[2] She also performed solo roles in The Sleeping Beauty,^[8] La Bayadère, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, Giselle, Swan Lake, Ratmansky's The Firebird and MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet.^[2]

Hurlin was promoted to soloist in 2018.^[9] The following year, she represented ABT at the Erik Bruhn Prize with colleague Aran Bell. The pair performed a pas de deux from Don Quixote and Let Me Sing Forevermore, which was created for them by Jessica Lang. Hurlin won the female category.^[10] Since her promotion, she created several roles, including Hail in Ratmansky's The Seasons,^[1] Greased Lighting in Tharp's A Gathering of Ghosts^[11] and in Whiteside's New American Romance.^[12] She had also appeared as Young Jane Eyre in Marston's Jane Eyre,^[1] in Lang's Garden Blue,^[5] Tharp's In the Upper Room and Deuce Coupe.^[1]

In March 2020, Hurlin originated the role of Callirhoe in Ratmansky's full-length ballet Of Love and Rage in Costa Mesa, California.^[13] However, ABT's spring season, which included the New York premiere and some of Hurlin's major debuts, was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic.^[14] During the pandemic, she and Bell, who were quarantining together, performed Let Me Sing Forevermore at Central Park, filmed for ABT's virtual gala in May 2020.^[15] In March 2021, Hurlin performed the world premiere of Ratmansky's Bernstein in a Bubble, created while a group of ABT dancers were in a bubble in Upstate New York earlier that year.^[16] In the summer, she took part in the company's eight-city tour, performing outdoors and mainly with members of the corps de ballet.^[17]

In 2022, at the company's first season at the Metropolitan Opera House since the pandemic, Hurlin danced as Kitri in Don Quixote, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, and Callirhoe in the New York premiere of Of Love and Rage.^[18][19][20] Towards the end of the season, she was promoted to principal dancer.^[21]

Hurlin's repertoire with the American Ballet Theatre includes:^[22]