Nichols, Kyra

Kyra Nichols Photos

Kyra Nichols Biography

Notable: Born 1958; New York City Ballet

Kyra Nichols was born in Berkeley, California, in 1958. She studied with her mother Sally Streets, a former NYCB dancer, and then with Alan Howard and at the School of American Ballet. She joined New York City Ballet in 1974 and was appointed principal in 1979. She spent her entire career with NYCB and was admired as one of the most classical of their ballerinas.

She dances a wide range of Balanchine roles, but he never created anything for her, except a revision of his Firebird in 1980. She created roles in many Robbins ballets, including The Four Seasons (1979), Rondo (1980), Piano Pieces (1981), I’m Old Fashioned (1983), Antique Epigraphs (1984) and Eight Lines (1985). She also created roles in Martins Histoire du soldat (1981), A Schubertiad (1984), Poulenc Sonata (1985), Tanzspiel (1988), Beethoven Romance (1989) and A Musical Offering (1991).