Twins

[SanderO]

My identical twin nieces are about 11 or 12 (I should know) and I want to take them to the ballet and see if they are interested in studying ballet. So I was thinking... Are there (were there) any identical twins who are ballet dancers in the same company?

[carbro]

Peter and Paul Frame, both late of NYCB. I believe MCB also had a pair of female twins in the recent past, both with the first initial "M". They looked very much alike, but whether they are identical, I don't know. That's a medical determination.

[volcanohunter]

Until recently the Hamburg Ballet had identical twin principal dancers, Jiří and Otto Bubeníček. However last autumn Jiří moved to the ballet company in Dresden, after spending the first 13 years of his career in the same company as his brother.

[carbro]

There was that documentary that PBS showed in some markets recently about the Cuban twin sisters separated by politics. They both danced for Alonso in Ballet Nacional de Cuba, one married and moved to the US, the other remained in Cuba, and they were able to reunite in Havana after more than 40 years.

[artist]

I didn't see the documentary (I think it's called Mirror Dance), but their names are Ramona and Margarita de Saa'.

[Marga]

Kurt and Kyle Froman are identical twins who danced with New York City Ballet. Kurt Froman left to do Movin' Out a few years ago and Kyle Froman is still with NYCB.

[leibling]

Miami City Ballet has a long history of twins and or siblings in the company. For several years, the Modrono twins, Maribel and Mabel, danced, both eventually becoming principal dancers. Now there are the Esty twins, Sara and Leigh Ann, who are both in the corps.

[JMcN]

Identical twins Stefano and Maurizio Gianetti danced for ENB in the mid to late 80s. The first time I saw them it was very confusing because they were doing the Mandolin Dance in Sir Frederick Ashton's Romeo and Juliet. I thougt I was seeing double due to too much wine or suchlike!

[Estelle]

If I remember correctly, the dancers Jan and Wim Broeckx are identical twins. Jan was a principal dancer of Roland Petit's company, and Wim was a principal dancer of the Dutch National Ballet and now is the director of dance at the Royal Conservatory in The Hague.

[BalletNut]

About 10 years ago, SF Ballet had Leah and Megan Watson.

[punkie]

You might enjoy the book "Twins on Toes" by Joan Anderson. It's about Amy and Laurel Foster and their time at SAB through the Workshop and getting into Miami City Ballet. There are great pictures. The book may be out of print now but you can probably find it at Amazon.com.

[ViolinConcerto]

Paul and Francis Sackett are twins who danced with NYCB in the 70's and 80's. I am not sure if they are identical, but they are the kind of twins that finish each others' sentances. They were nearly always cast to be in the same ballets, though not in the same exact roles: I think one of them danced Kastchei in the Firebird. They are now antique dealers in New York I believe. I last saw and spoke with them at the memorial for Tanaquil LeClerq.

They had a sister who danced with NYCB before they did. Several years ago the NYCB website had a trivia question about the sets of siblings in the company, a tradition which continues.....

Good luck to your twins!

[Mel Johnson]

Actually, I do believe that there are a couple of years between Paul and Francis, and they were both in the company with their sister, Donna.