Sascha Radetsky

Early life

He was born in Santa Cruz, California, and began studying ballet in the San Francisco Bay Area. Like most boys, it was his older sister who really took ballet lessons but when he saw the males' powerful jumps he decided he wanted to do learn to do that. He was invited to study at the Bolshoi Academy in Moscow when he was 15 and, after spending a year there, he went to The Kirov Academy of Ballet. He later studied on a scholarship in the summer programs of the School of American Ballet, the American Ballet Theatre's School of Classical Ballet with Mikhail Baryshnikov, and the San Francisco Ballet School. Radetsky joined the American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in 1995, moving up to corps de ballet the following year, and was named a soloist in 2003.

Career

He starred in the 2000 movie Center Stage as Charlie, the lead's second love interest, and appeared in the Mandy Moore music video "I Wanna Be with You" from the movie's soundtrack. He has also had lead roles in the PBS television movie Home at Last and the NBC television series Midnight Caller.

Radetsky began his ballet studies in the San Francisco Bay Area with Damara Bennett and Ayako Takahashi. At the age of 15, he was invited to study in Moscow at the Bolshoi Academy under world-renowned men’s teacher Pytor Pestov. After a year in Russia, he studied on scholarship at the Kirov Academy in Washington, D. C. under Rudolph Kharatian and Andrei Garbouz. He toured with the Kirov Ballet throughout the United States and internationally. He also studied on scholarship at the summer programs of the School of American Ballet, American Ballet Theatre’s School of Classical Ballet with Mikhail Baryshnikov, the San Francisco Ballet School and the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Vail, Colorado.

Radetsky joined American Ballet Theatre as an apprentice in 1995, became a member of the corps de ballet in 1996 and a Soloist in 2003. His repertoire includes the Head Fakir in La Bayadère, Accordionist in The Bright Stream, the third movement in Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1, Lankendem and Birbanto in Le Corsaire, Espada and the lead gypsy in Don Quixote, Demetrius in The Dream, the Pastor in Fall River Legend, the second and third sailor in Fancy Free, Hilarion and the peasant pas de deux in Giselle, the pas de deux in Jabula, Gaston in Lady of the Camellias, the Jailer in Manon, Camille in The Merry Widow, Cavalier and the Nutcracker-Prince and in Kevin McKenzie's The Nutcracker, Iago in Othello, Petrouchka in Petrouchka, the Warrior Chieftain in the Polovtsian Dances from Prince Igor, Rabbit in Rabbit and Rogue, Bernard in Raymonda, the Champion Roper in Rodeo, Benvolio, Tybalt and Paris in Romeo and Juliet, the Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Benno, and von Rothbart in Swan Lake, Orion in Sylvia, the fourth movement in Symphony in C, Hortensio in The Taming of the Shrew, Thaïs Pas de Deux, the “Guitar” pas de deux from Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison and leading roles in The Brahms-Haydn Variations, C. to C. (Close to Chuck), Études, The Leaves Are Fading and many others. He created the Arabian Man in Alexei Ratmansky’s The Nutcracker and leading roles in From Here On Out, Troika and Thirteen Diversions.

He has danced the works of acclaimed choreographers such as Balanchine, Morris, Taylor, Lubovitch, MacMillan, Tharp, Tudor, Cranko, de Mille, Elo, Robbins, Reinking, Wheeldon and Kylian. He is an original member of the troupe “Stiefel and Stars” and has been a frequent guest performer and teacher will ballet companies across the United States and abroad.

In September 2008, Radetsky joined the Dutch National Ballet as a principal dancer, where his repertoire included Albrecht in Giselle and Masetto in Don Giovanni. In 2006, Radetsky married fellow then-ABT soloist, now principal, Stella Abrera. The two wed in his hometown of Santa Cruz, CA. In September 2008, Sascha Radetsky left ABT to join Dutch National Ballet as a principal. On January 1, 2010, Radetsky returned to American Ballet Theater as a Soloist and later retired in July 2014.

Radetsky appeared as Ross in the Starz TV drama Flesh and Bone in 2015.

Radetsky starred in the 2016 Hallmark Channel movie Nutcracker Christmas, as well as the TV-movie Center Stage: On Pointe where he reprised the role he debuted in the 2000 Center Stage film.