My favorite teacher.

[B] Melissa Morrissey, formerly with Dance Theatre of Harlem, currently freelance

[B] Elizabeth Walker, corps, New York City Ballet 

[B] Anna Laghezza, dancer, Metropolitan Opera Ballet

[B] Jenifer Ringer, principal, New York City Ballet

[A] Nancy Bielski

MELISSA MORRISSEY I started taking class from Nancy when I was 11 years old in David Howard's summer program. Later when I was with National Ballet of Canada, I would stop in at Steps and take her class whenever I came to New York. Now I sometimes take it five days a week. She has a lot of energy and gives lots of corrections. Her barre is great; it warms me up and prepares me for center. I love her center work because it has a lot of releves that are strengthening and get you ready for pirouettes. She gives challenging pointe work and good petit allegro combinations. And that helped with all the Balanchine I was doing at Dance Theatre of Harlem. Now that I've been freelancing, she'd know when I was going to do Sugar Plum or Paquita and she would put fouettes in class so I could work on them.

ELIZABETH WALKER I went back to Nancy's class because I needed a fresh perspective on my dancing. Her barre is so challenging in terms of variety speed, and stamina. To link the steps together, you have to fully complete one movement in order to do the next. The combination of glissades, jetes, brises, and sissonnes--it's like an obstacle course to grasp in your mind and translate into your body. But she doesn't just throw it at you and watch you flail. She's very clear in demonstrating, and she'll stop and ask if it's too fast or too slow.

I'm an allegro dancer, and adagio has been a challenge for me. Her adagios are lengthy and strengthening, so now I feel confident in adagio. Sometimes her reminders are things I've heard for years and one day the light bulb goes off. For instance, when you're balancing at the barre, you should connect your inside shoulder and your outside hip energetically. I couldn't feel that diagonal connection until about a month ago!

ANNA LAGHEZZA Nancy's class will make you strong and make you aware of musicality. She creates an environment where everybody is working super hard. It's a good space to try to do new things and not be afraid to fall over. She encourages dancers of all types. I tend to move adagio, and she helps me jump higher and move faster. I need to be up on my turnout, so she'll poke me in the back of my leg to wake it up, or she'll say "Get up on your hip." If you're doing a port de bras forward in fourth or fifth, she reminds you to keep your weight equal. She's constantly teaching; she doesn't just give steps. She reminds you that there's always a little something you can fix so you don't get complacent with the millionth pli6 of your life.

JENIFER RINGER I first took class with Nancy when I was 14 at David Howard's old studio. Now I study with her at Steps in addition to taking company class. She talks while you're dancing to tell you things, like making sure your ribs are over your hips. She taught me to think about where I'm putting my limbs in relation to each other. I tend to throw my weight back, and she has been correcting me about that for years. She'll say to imagine a lemon between your ribs so there's a sense of strength in front of the torso. She's very honest even when the truth hurts, but it comes from a place of deep caring about her students. When she sees something she thinks can be fixed, she'll tell you. Also, she stood by me in a time when other people had given up on me. When I had stopped dancing, she saw me on the street and just laid me to take class; it shows how much she cares about her students.

[B] Annie-B Parson, co-artistic director, Big Dance Theater 

[A] Bessie Schonberg, teacher of choreography

I had Bessie around 1992 at Dance Theater Workshop in their choreography master class. She had a gravitas, a weight in the room. She made you sit up straight, speak more carefully, work harder in rehearsal. She was interested in ambiguity expressed through the body, through movement invention. She liked emotional work but she wanted you to build your phrases to a point that you could earn that emotion. In class discussions she wouldn't let us use the word "I," so we couldn't say, "I liked that part." You had to talk about the work, not yourself. She wasn't so interested in how you felt about the work as much as describing the tools that were used. Bessie always said she was a "meddler," not a teacher. But she was more like a lock-picker or code-breaker. She looked at what you were working on, and she knew kinetically, intellectually, physically, where you were at, and would send you away to work on that.

[B] Carlota Santana, artistic director, Flamenco Vivo Carlota Santana

[A] Maria Alba, Maria Alba Flamenco Dancers

Maria Alba was like a magnet. You would get dragged through the mud and you would still follow her along.

She was tough; she would scream and yell and use four-letter words. She would scream, "You're too high up. Sentada!" That literally means "Be seated," but she meant to get grounded and put weight in the pelvic area. The way she moved was so expressive--not the strongest in footwork and rhythm--but she exuded strength. I once saw her lean down and pick up a shawl onstage, and I was glued to her for the full minute it took to happen. The whole audience was. She was never afraid onstage. If she made 15 mistakes, it didn't make any difference. I'm still trying to find out what her secret was.

[B] Charlotte d'Amboise, dancer/actress/singer

[A] Phil Black, Broadway Dance Center

I mainly had done ballet, but at 14 or 16 I started to take jazz everywhere in the city. Phil Black was the first person who taught me how to phrase. I used to do everything full out, 150 percent. He taught me when to pull back, when to be subtle, when to go lyrical, when to go full blast--all the different shades of colors. He really turned my dancing around.

Of course, my father Jacques d'Amboise was a big influence my whole life. I grew up watching him dance, so I wanted to jump and turn like a man; I was doing double tours as a kid.

[B] Derick Grant, tap dancer/choreographer/director

[A] Dianne Walker, master tap teacher

With Dianne, I've learned as much off the ice, as we say, as in the studio--riding around in the car, talking. She's a social worker at heart. She makes a bridge for you to connect who you are as a person with who you are as an artist.

Our generation wouldn't be here without her. We were learning from the tap greats, but it was the rudimentary steps. They weren't teaching their stuff, because that was their stuff. For some reason they let Dianne into their circle. She learned their stuff. Who knows what the tap world would be like without her? She's the mother of our generation.

[B] Fang-Yi Sheu, principal dancer, Martha Graham Dance Company

[A] Ross Parkes

My modern teacher at the National Institute of the Arts in Taiwan was Ross Parkes, a former Graham dancer. A classmate told me that Ross was asking who had trained me, that he thought I had good potential to be a dancer. I was shocked--I had never had any confidence in myself until then. He gave me hope that l could make something of myself. I was 20 years old and I had never dared to dream about what I could do. I didn't want to let him down, so I went to school at 6 or 7 every morning to practice. I trained with him for five years. He said he thought I was interesting because I didn't compare myself to others, only to myself. And that made me realize that's a great thing. To be challenged by yourself is much harder.

[B] Gerri Houlihan, faculty, Virginia Commonwealth University 

[A] Antony Tudor, choreographer

I started studying with Mr. Tudor at Juilliard when I was 17 He was very sarcastic. He was funny. I was intimidated by him. He also made the most beautiful combinations. I had a fairly decent line and I could jump, but I wasn't a good turner. His was the only class where I was able to do multiple turns. His combinations were so musical and so rhythmically organic that it was possible for you to do things you were not usually able to do. During rehearsal he would stop us in the middle of a step and say, "Now the person that is your character--what do you think is her favorite color? What is the last book she read? What is her favorite perfume? What music does she listen to?"

[B] David Hallberg, principal dancer, American Ballet Theatre 

[A] Kee-Juan Han, North Carolina School of the Arts 

When I started at Phoenix's Arizona Ballet School, my teacher, Kee-Juan Han, was a profound influence on me. A lot of students tend to lean on their strengths, but Mr. Han insisted on correct placement for every step. He gave me a strong sense of discipline and hard work. He believed in clarity and cleanliness, not muddling through, and he instilled in me a respect for professionalism and humility that goes beyond the classroom into real life.

[B] Irina Kolpakova, ballet mistress, American Ballet Theatre

[A] Agrippina Vaganova, The Vaganova School of Ballet

Vaganova used to say, "I will see what a dancer does for me in her solo, that's where she will reveal her musicality and how well she understands her character." She couldn't stand a dirty step, and she loved a pure line. She would say, "An arabesque should go straight from your fingertips like you're ready to take flight." She taught us never to focus on the mirror, to be ample in our movements, to be strong but light, and above all to be natural. Only now do I understand, as I teach other artists and students, that she was the greatest teacher in the world. So I make a big bow, and I say "Thank you" to her.

[B] Stephanie Saland, ballet teacher and former New York City Ballet principal

[A] Stanley Williams, School of American Ballet 

I came to SAB around 1968. Stanley was like a camera, focusing in on one thing. He wasn't effusive but was entirely generous. He was very Zen. He would say, "Jump, don't jump" or "Turn, don't turn." One entire year was "Big toe!" It had to do with driving down, the ground reaction force would then suddenly cascade down the entire body through the big toe. Many of us were Stanley addicts. He was very Danish; he'd stand there with a pipe and say one word, and a "YES!" was worth a year's work. I call them Stanley glyphs-you'd have to be some kind of archaeologist--and once you get it in your bones it cannot be wrung out--it's so deep in the cells.

Everything in Japan is contained, with well-defined parameters of beauty. That's what Stanley offered us. He was the still center of a hurricane.

[B] Kishaya Dudley, entertainment choreographer

[A] Keith Lewis, Harlem School of the Arts 

Keith Lewis was the first person to teach me hip hop. He was a hard teacher and he expected us to pick up the steps fast. At first I was slow at getting the combinations and I wasn't naturally flexible, so he gave me some stretching exercises to do at home. He taught me about presence and confidence during performances--always reminding me to check in with what my face was doing. I grew up in a rough neighborhood in the Bronx and it was easy for me to get sidetracked. Keith taught me to focus on dance-and let it take me up and out of there.

[B] Matthew Rushing, dancer, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater 

[A] Kashmir Blake, Westridge School in Pasadena

We were like sponges in Kashmir's class. Everything she did, we took in. She was teaching us how to feel the combinations. I was only 12 when I met her in an after school program in Los Angeles. She was a powerful dancer--sometimes raw, sometimes fluid, always honest. She choreographed from her life stories. Before showing us the steps, she'd talk to us about the emotions and lives behind the piece. She also took care of me in my early years. I got a part in a small community musical and stayed with her so I could perform. Even now, when she comes to see the Ailey company in L.A., she gives me notes afterward.

[B] Noelani Pantastico, principal, Pacific Northwest Ballet 

[A] Darla Hoover, associate artistic director, Ballet Academy East

When I was 12 or 13, Darla came down to Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet to teach and set Balanchine ballets. She taught me how to phrase music, to make the dancing more brisk and exciting. She sometimes gave us brainteaser combinations. You had to be quick on your feet; it trains your brain to work in a certain way. She would take me to New York City to watch New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre. She brought me into that world. I didn't even know I wanted to be a dancer, but she opened my eyes to it.

[B] Rasta Thomas, freelance ballet dancer

[A] Dawei Zhang, artistic director, Potomac Dance Centre

I started learning from Dawei when I was 13 at the Maryland Youth Ballet. He was passionate and relentless-determined to pull the correct technique out of us. He taught every class as though we were to perform Swan Lake onstage the next day. He's a demonstrator first, then a yeller, and then maybe a torturer (laughs). He sees things in people that they can't see yet and guides them down a path. The technique I learned from him is the blueprint that's allowed me to have a career.

[B] Sterling Hyltin, soloist, New York City Ballet

[A] Susan Pilarre, faculty, Schoot of American Ballet

Suzy always wore bright colors that put everyone in a good mood. She not only taught me how to dance, she taught me to love dance. I was nervous at first, because there's always the basic dancer instinct that you want to please. But once I got used to the way she taught, I relaxed because it was really fun. She has wonderful analogies. She would say a coupe was like a wall telephone, or that you should pretend you're wearing jewelry and you have to show it off. My main correction was to get my face forward. She would say, "See if you can touch the girl in front of you." Or she would get in front of me and say, "You have to touch me in this step."

[A] 18 dancers, choreographers, coaches, and teachers

[B] talk about the ones who made a difference.