Question: Margaret "Maggie" Black (March 31, 1930 – May 11, 2015) was a ballet teacher who taught in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s, she coached dancers such as which American ballerina, who joined the New York City Ballet in 1968 at age fifteen, at the invitation of George Balanchine?

Gelsey Kirkland (born December 29, 1952) is an American ballerina.  She was promoted to soloist in 1969 and principal in 1972.  Kirkland joined the New York City Ballet in 1968 at age fifteen, at the invitation of George Balanchine.  She went on to create leading roles in many of the great twentieth century ballets by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor including Balanchine's revival of "The Firebird", Robbins' "Goldberg Variations", and Tudor's "The Leaves are Fading".  Balanchine re-choreographed his version of Stravinsky's "The Firebird" specifically for her.  She left the New York City Ballet to join the American Ballet Theatre in 1974. <SEP> Margaret "Maggie" Black (March 31, 1930 – May 11, 2015) was a ballet teacher who taught in New York City during the 1970s and 1980s.  She developed a ballet technique based on anatomy.  She stressed moving from a neutral spinal and pelvic alignment with weight evenly distributed throughout each foot.  She amassed a large following of both ballet and modern dancers.  She coached dancers such as Martine Van Hamel, Kevin McKenzie, Natalia Makarova and Gelsey Kirkland.  Eventually she split her class into two, one for modern dancers and one for ballet dancers.  Choreographers such as William Forsythe and Ohad Naharin attended her class. <SEP> Heather Watts (born September 27, 1953), was a principal ballerina with New York City Ballet.  A native of California, Ms. Watts was born as Linda Heather Watts in Long Beach on September 27, 1953.  As a little girl, she was a troublemaking child.  She had always wanted to be an actress.  An acting coach advised her taking ballet classes, seeing as she was incredibly dramatic (and clumsy).  She started dancing at the age of 10, came to New York at the age of 13 on a Ford Foundation summer scholarship to attend the School of American Ballet, the official school of the New York City Ballet.  She moved permanently to New York at age 15, again on a Ford Foundation scholarship to the School of American Ballet.  Watts joined the New York City Ballet in 1970 and was promoted to principal dancer by company founder George Balanchine in 1979.  George Balanchine took Watts into his companies "because he would not let such a talent disappear."  During Ms. Watts's tenure with the company, she had numerous principal roles created for her by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Peter Martins among others.  Mr. Balanchine gave Ms. Watts the principal roles in many of his existing masterpieces, including "Agon", Concerto Barocco, "Apollo", Symphony in C, "Theme and Variations" and "Serenade".  Ms. Watts performed around the world and starred in numerous "Dance in America" television programs, and she performed opposite frequent partner Mikhail Baryshnikov at the White House in a national televised performance of Balanchine's "Rubies" for President and Mrs. Carter.  Ms. Watts retired from the stage in a gala performance at Lincoln Center in 1995. <SEP> John Clifford, born June 12th is the founder / artistic director of the original Los Angeles Ballet (1974–1985), and the chamber sized touring ensemble, Ballet of Los Angeles (1988–1991) and the creator of “CASABLANCA, THE DANCE” produced by Warner Bros.  Theatre Ventures, Inc. (which premiered in Beijing, China at the historic "Great Hall of the People" in 2005) and his Los Angeles Dance Theater.  Before that time,Clifford was a principal dancer and choreographer with George Balanchine’s New York City Ballet, (1966–1974) and guest artist from 1974–1980, and was widely considered to be Balanchine’s protégé (Saturday Review).  He choreographed his first (of 8) ballets for the NYC Ballet under Balanchine at age 20 thus making him the 2nd youngest choreographer in history ever to be attached to a major company.  The first was Balanchine himself who was 20 yrs-old when he choreographed his first ballet for Serge Diaghilev's "Ballets Russes."  During his time with Balanchine, in his early 20's, he also was a guest choreographer with co's ranging from the San Francisco Ballet, to the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, to the Deutsche Oper Ballet in Berlin.  Clifford's works were also featured in many TV shows and movies, such as "Flashdance," "The Man Who Loved Women," and TV series such as "Dynasty," "Glitter," and other shows produced by Blake Edwards and Aaron Spelling.