joined the New York City Ballet in 1970, and was promoted to principal dancer by company founder George Balanchine in 1979. Until her retirement from the stage in a gala performance at Lincoln Center in 1995, Heather Watts was given principal roles in many of Balanchine’s masterpieces, including Agon, Concerto Barocco, Apollo, Symphony in C, Theme and Variations and Serenade. Not only Balanchine, but also Jerome Robbins and Peter Martins created principal roles especially for her. In addition to her dancing career, she was director of the New York State Summer School of the Arts in Saratoga Springs from 1982 to 1994, where she administered a ballet school for gifted children. Heather Watts has directed many (inter)national dance touring companies, and she has rehearsed and staged ballets around the world. She has also designed costumes for various ballet productions. She has been a contributing editor at Vanity Fair magazine since 1995. She currently serves on the board of Friends in Deed, a service for persons living with AIDS, and has received awards for the courses she taught at Harvard University.