Kay Mazzo

Kay Mazzo, born January 17, 1946, in Chicago, Illinois, is an American former ballet dancer and educator whose career centered on the New York City Ballet and, later, the School of American Ballet. She began taking dance lessons at age six and enrolled at the School of American Ballet in New York in 1959 at the age of thirteen. Mazzo graduated from the Rhodes Preparatory School.

Her professional career began in 1961 when she joined Jerome Robbins' touring company, Ballets USA, having auditioned out of curiosity after learning that George Balanchine would not cast apprentices in The Nutcracker. The company was seeking a dancer with a naive quality for Robbins' Afternoon of a Faun, and Mazzo filled that role. Her Broadway appearance that same year was in The Concert. Following the disbanding of Ballets USA, she returned to the New York City Ballet in 1962.

At eighteen, Mazzo danced her first lead role in Balanchine's La Valse in 1964, and the following year she was named soloist. Even at that rank, she was given principal roles, among them Balanchine's Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux and Liebeslieder Walzer, as well as Merce Cunningham's Summerspace. She was promoted to principal dancer in 1969, the same year she originated the role of Mauve Girl in Robbins' Dances at a Gathering. When Suzanne Farrell departed the company around the time of Mazzo's promotion, Balanchine cast Mazzo in roles Farrell had held, including Dulcinea in Don Quixote, the "Diamonds" section of Jewels, Symphony in C, Terpsichore in Apollo, Agon, Movements for Piano and Orchestra, Titania in A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Episodes. Additional roles she took on included Donizetti Variations, Serenade, Square Dance, and La Sonnambula.

In 1970, Mazzo created roles in Balanchine's Suite No. 3 and Robbins' In the Night. The 1972 New York City Ballet Stravinsky Festival marked a significant point in her career, as Balanchine created three works on her: Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Duo Concertant, and Scherzo à la Russe. Balanchine later granted Mazzo the rights to Duo Concertant prior to his death. When Farrell rejoined the company in 1975, the roles Mazzo had been performing returned to Farrell. Mazzo went on to create three further roles for Balanchine: Union Jack in 1976, Vienna Waltzes in 1977, and Robert Schumann's Davidsbündlertänze in 1980. She retired from performing in 1981, the year her son was born, citing the demands of the performance schedule as incompatible with the family time she wanted.

Following her retirement from the stage, Mazzo began teaching at the School of American Ballet at Balanchine's invitation. She joined the school's permanent faculty in 1983, was named co-chairman of faculty in 1997, and became chair of faculty in 2018. Alongside faculty member Katrina Killian, she formalized the syllabus for the children's division, drawing on the teachings of Elise Reiman. Mazzo stepped down from the chair position in June 2022 but continues to teach advanced classes. In 1978, she married Albert Bellas, a businessman.