The return of Jennifer Ringer: principal dancer at New York City Ballet takes back center stage. (Cover Story).

JENIFER RINGER HAD JUST FINISHED A DRESS rehearsal of Fancy Free and was heading back to her dressing room in stocking feet and robe when she heard the loudspeaker in the New York State Theater blare, "Jenifer Ringer, please come to the stage." "Okaayee," she said to herself, and headed back. There, standing in the wings, was Peter Martins, ballet master in chief of the New York City Ballet, with his right-hand man, Sean Lavery. Ringer remembers Martins saying, "So, I would like to promote you." "And I said, `Really?' Peter looked over at Sean and they both laughed and said, `Yes, really.'" When the dancers rehearsing onstage heard the commotion in the wings, they figured out what had happened and burst into applause.

"It was all very unglamorous and unexpected," says Ringer about her promotion to principal dancer in May 2000, but no surprise to anyone who has seen Ringer perform from her earliest days in the company. Espen Giljane, a former NYCB member who frequently teaches company class, remembers partnering Ringer as a newly minted corps member in Balanchine's Vienna Waltzes. "I thought, `Well, here comes another 16-year-old out of the School of American Ballet who probably can't waltz and is terrified about the dress--a sweeping ball gown.' But instead, she said, `Oh, this is so romantic.' Then she stepped on the stage and danced. She was so open, and she swooped and she moved. Jenny could have done the lead that day, and everybody would have said, `Wow!'"

These days Ringer consistently "wows" audiences in some of the more challenging ballets in the NYCB repertoire. She triumphed as Aurora in the full-length Sleeping Beauty and shimmered in Jerome Robbins's Dances at a Gathering. And about Balanchine's blockbuster pas de deux, La Source, Clive Barnes proclaimed her debut "exultant" in Dance Magazine (May, page 72).

Last spring, Martins cast her in his new work, Morgen, a deeply moving ballet with dramatic and innovative partnering. Ringer says, "It was a darker part for me, which was fun to do. I hadn't worked with Peter in a long time--not since I was in the corps--so it was fun to work with him again."

In the sylvan setting of Saratoga Springs in upstate New York, where NYCB performs each July, Ringer and Nilas Martins were rehearsing an intricate partnering maneuver from Morgen. With Richard Strauss's soaring music filling the airy studio, late afternoon rays of sun filtered through the pine trees and, as if on cue, illuminated Ringer's serenely beautiful face and shoulders as she melted into a deep arch over her partner's arm.

Born in New Bern, North Carolina, and raised in Summerville, South Carolina, Ringer grew up in a close-knit family. She thought of herself as a timid tomboy shadowing her older sister, Rebecca, a musical prodigy who also excelled in sports. "I did everything she did; I just wasn't as good as Becky," says Ringer. At 10, she accompanied her best friend to ballet school and decided "it looked like fun." The Ringer family then moved to Washington, D.C., where she studied at the Washington School of Ballet and, at age 12, danced her first Balanchine ballet, Serenade. At 14, Ringer did a summer course at the School of American Ballet and at age 15, she won a full scholarship there. Appointed apprentice in October of 1989, she became a NYCB corps member in January 1990 at the age of 16.

Onstage and in person, Ringer, with her roses-and-cream complexion, black hair, and luminous brown eyes, emanates a special glow, even in the windowless conference room at the New York State Theater. Dressed in a denim mini and a T-shirt emblazoned with "Supergirl," she strides towards me on those tapering long legs and greets me with a cheery "Hi." Then, taking a deep breath, Ringer launches into the odyssey that's been her life and career. "Looking back on everything that has happened, I wouldn't change it for the world--even at its worst, it was a blessing. It's changed me as a person and enriched my dancing."

RINGER'S EARLY CAREER STARTED PROMISINGLY WHEN Jerome Robbins cast her in several of his ballets, including Interplay and The Concert. He also chose her for 2 & 3 Part Inventions, a work Robbins originally choreographed on SAB graduating students, then reset on the company. "It's the closest I've come to being choreographed on by Jerry," says Ringer, "He was in the room with us every day, and he would change things for us--tweak it. That was a great experience."

For the 1992 Diamond Project, Ringer originated principal roles in Robert La Fosse's hit I Have My Own Room and David Allan's Reunions. Later she created parts in Miriam Mahdaviani's Correlazione, Damian Woetzel's jazzy Ebony Concerto, and Peter Martins's Mozart Piano Concerto, and she continued to add new roles from the Balanchine repertoire.

But even as her career was taking off, her self-esteem was plummeting. If weight gain and injuries are the twin demons of a dancer's career, Ringer was about to deal with both. As a coltish 16-year-old who was unprepared to deal with her still-maturing body, she began to struggle with weight control and self-doubt. Ringer set unrealistically high standards for herself, and, beset by low self-esteem, she did not allow anyone into her crumbling world. Basing all her self-worth on her accomplishments as a dancer, she thought, "If I get promoted, everything will be great, and I will be happy." In January 1995, Ringer did in fact get promoted to soloist, but she continued her downward spiral while pretending to be "happy and thrilled." Ringer, who tends to be fiercely independent and self-reliant, says, "I felt that that was the image I needed to present."

Stressed out from her hectic schedule, Ringer became physically and emotionally depleted. She says, "I would be so tired and I would think, `If I eat that extra--whatever--it would give me more energy the next day.'" Early in 1996, Ringer suffered a severe back injury that sidelined her for nine months. When she came back, she was heavier and began to lose parts. The company tried to put her in costumes with more coverage, but soon even that wouldn't work. "It was mortifying," says Ringer. "Dancing had become anathema for me." At the close of the 1997 summer season, she left NYCB by mutual agreement, with the caveat that the door was always open.

Ringer's indomitable spirit prevailed as she set new goals for herself in other aspects of her life. Having already enrolled in Fordham University, that fall Ringer accelerated her course load as an English major and graduated summa cum laude in December 1997. And to make ends meet, she worked as a secretary at her church and taught the New York City Ballet Workout at various locations around the city.

After months of avoiding any contact with the dance world, Ringer ran into Nancy Bielski, her beloved ballet teacher from the popular New York dance studio Steps. "You must come to class!" Bielski remembers saying to Ringer. "I don't care what you look like or how you dance; just come to class."

The healing process began with Bielski's classes, where she stopped judging herself as a professional dancer and started dancing for the sheer joy of it. Bielski also helped her with her technique. Ringer says, "The lyrical, romantic stuff comes more naturally to me, but I have very slow, sloppy feet. I had to work really hard on that. My time at SAB was spent trying to get my feet to move quicker and sharper, and Nancy's class stresses quick feet--good medicine for me."

As Ringer shed pounds, she gained confidence. Before she left the company, James Fayette, a soloist with NYCB, had asked her to perform the Sugar Plum Fairy in The Nutcracker for the New Paltz Ballet Theatre in upstate New York. In late 1997, he called to remind her that it was time to start rehearsing. Ringer tried to beg off, protesting she was still too heavy and out of shape, but Fayette insisted. For the next few months, she and Fayette performed around the tri-state area (New York, Connecticut, New Jersey).

By mid-1998, Ringer had returned to company classes, and by January 1999, she was back in full swing, adding luster to lead roles in Robbins's In the Night and The Four Seasons, and dazzling with newfound assurance in Balanchine's Divertimento No. 15.

HER COMEBACK ACCELERATED WHEN TWYLA THARP tapped Ringer, in fall 1999, for a principal role in her new ballet, The Beethoven Seventh. Tharp says she chose Ringer because "Jenifer is a major talent; she is gorgeous; she has qualities few dancers do. She radiates what she is--a very good person. That combination of real beauty and talent and warmth made her a logical choice. Jenifer has a very clear, clean technique and her exceptional musicality is a factor; she is an intelligent person." And, Tharp adds, "In a partnership, Jenifer has a female quality that is marvelous."

Ringer married Fayette, her partner, friend, and beloved, in July 2000. She says, "James keeps my head on straight. He has a great way of looking at the world and is very normal and smart." One of the most satisfying experiences for Ringer is dancing with her husband. "The rehearsals are great, the performing is great; it just adds a whole other element to my dancing. I think that is always going to be one of the joys in my life," says Ringer emphatically.

Fayette concurs. "In rehearsal, there are no politics, and onstage, we know each other so well--there is the trust and the timing," he says.

This partnership has not gone unnoticed by the critics. "Never has a neo-romantic duet been projected with such exciting extremes as Jenifer Ringer and James Fayette showed in their high lifts and extra-arched backs...." wrote Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times about Balanchine's Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet.

With her promotion to principal dancer, Ringer realizes she has achieved her dream. But she also considers this promotion the start of something new. "I can't just ride on this title now," she says. "The story doesn't end here; I look at it more as a new beginning. I enjoy trying new things--it's always wonderful to get a new part and to improve other things." Some of the new things she would like to try are the more dramatic roles in the NYCB repertoire, such as Robbins's Afternoon of a Faun. And, she admits, "I would love to do those full-length Romantic ballets, such as Giselle, but it's not a huge craving."

Sean Lavery, assistant to the ballet master in chief, has watched Ringer come up through the ranks. "Every time I watch Jenifer Ringer on pointe, I see that she gives her audience the feeling of well-being," Lavery says. "She is so elegant, diverse, talented, and technically strong. Her interpretation of so many roles, whether comical, romantic, neoclassical or classical, makes one see what the ballet is all about."

The joy Ringer brings to audiences emanates from the joy she experiences herself. As she says, "I love to perform ... I do, I do. I really love it. Basically, that is the best part of my day."

Astrida Woods, a former ballet dancer, is the dance critic for Show Business Weekly and has written for several publications, including Country, Madison, and Hamptons Magazine.