121:, her dream as a little girl was to be an actress. She was an incredibly troublesome child. An acting coach advised her to take ballet classes, seeing as she was incredibly dramatic (and clumsy). So she started dancing at the age of 10, to "develop poise." She came to New York at the age of 13 on a
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from 1982 to 1994, where she administered a ballet school for gifted children. Watts has directed many national and international dance touring companies, including a tour entitled "Homage a
Balanchine" of 108 cities for Columbia Artists, and she has rehearsed and staged ballets around the world.
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among other programs. Watts has served as a panelist for the
National Endowment for the Arts, and currently serves on the Artists Committee for the Kennedy Center Honors, and on the selection committee for the Bessie Awards 2011 in New York City.
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She has also designed costumes for new ballets at the New York City Ballet, as well as for Off-Broadway productions. Watts was a founding board member of Gods Love We
Deliver and also served on the board of
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in 1979. Balanchine took Watts into his company "because he would not let such a talent disappear." During Watts's tenure with the company, she had numerous principal roles created for her by
Balanchine,
217:(Riverhead, 1997). Among the many awards that Watts has received are Jerome Robbins Award, the Dance Magazine Award, the L'Oreal Shining Star Award, the Lions of the Performing Arts Award from the
209:, both services for persons living with AIDS—she was among the first artists to join the fight against AIDS in the mid-1980s. She is the co-author, with fellow NYCB collaborator
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magazine since 1995. She currently covers arts and culture for the magazine, and is the photographer Bruce Weber's editor. She has also written articles for
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In addition to her dancing career, Watts was director of the New York State Summer School of the Arts in
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among others. Balanchine gave Watts the principal roles in many of his existing masterpieces, including
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Watts joined the New York City Ballet in 1970 and was promoted to principal dancer by company co-founder
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among other publications. She was one of the official technical consultants for the motion-picture
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Watts also co-created a new seminar for the Dance
Education Laboratory at the
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Heather Watts, An
Unlikely Swan, In Her Final Song - The New York Times
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as a
Visiting Lecturer. For her work at Harvard, Watts received two
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television programs, and she performed opposite frequent partner
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In
January 2012, Watts received a Doctorate in Fine Arts
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A Prima
Ballerina Takes a Final Bow - The New York Times
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in a national televised performance of Balanchine's
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