12 Facts About Gelsey Kirkland

Gelsey Kirkland was born on December 29,1952 and is an American ballerina.

Gelsey Kirkland received early ballet training at the School of American Ballet.

Gelsey Kirkland was promoted to soloist in 1969, and principal in 1972.

Gelsey Kirkland went on to create leading roles in many of the great twentieth century ballets by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor, including Balanchine's revival of The Firebird, Robbins' Goldberg Variations, and Tudor's The Leaves are Fading.

Gelsey Kirkland left the New York City Ballet to join the American Ballet Theatre in 1974 as a principal dancer.

Gelsey Kirkland's father, Jack Kirkland, was a playwright who penned the Broadway adaptations of Tobacco Road and Tortilla Flat.

Gelsey Kirkland was repeatedly fired by American Ballet Theatre for drug abuse and erratic behavior.

Gelsey Kirkland said many of the dancers in the company were doing all kinds of drugs to cope with the pressures of dancing.

Gelsey Kirkland was featured on the May 1,1978, cover of Time.

In 1986, Gelsey Kirkland retired from performing, becoming a ballet teacher, choreographer, and coach.

In 2007, Gelsey Kirkland choreographed a new production of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, in which, after an absence from the stage of more than 20 years, she danced the role of "Carabosse, the Wicked Fairy".

Gelsey Kirkland's first autobiography, Dancing on My Grave, written with her then-husband Greg Lawrence, was a memoir chronicling her artistic transformation from George Balanchine's "baby ballerina" to one of the more acclaimed ballerinas of her generation.