Heather Watts joined New York City Ballet in 1970 and was one of the last of the famed Balanchine Ballerinas. She worked closely with George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins at NYCB, and was an international ballet star retiring from performing in 1995. Post-stage, Watts has been a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine where she covered arts and culture for over two decades. An award-winning lecturer, Watts has created courses and taught on Balanchine’s life and work globally including at Harvard University, UC Santa Barbara, the Dance Education Laboratory, and at Princeton University. Watts was an inaugural fellow at the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University, where she has continued to do research and lectures. She has received numerous awards for arts education and dance, and in 2012, Watts received a Doctorate in Fine Arts honoris causa from Hunter College.
