PNB School Faculty Spotlight: Kurt Froman

Today, we are featuring PNB School Men’s Division Coordinator Kurt Froman!

Kurt Froman (he/him), born in Fort Worth, TX, joined Pacific Northwest Ballet School’s faculty in 2024. His professional dance career began in New York after he was awarded the first Rudolf Nureyev Scholarship, allowing him to study at the School of American Ballet. After six months, he was invited to join the New York City Ballet, where he danced from 1995 to 2002. His Broadway career began with the lead role in Twyla Tharp and Billy Joel’s show Movin’ Out. Other Broadway credits include Pal Joey, An American in Paris (Original Dance Captain), and Billy Elliot the Musical (Resident Choreographer). A go-to dance trainer in Hollywood, he has coached numerous actors for films that require dancing, including Black Swan (Associate Choreographer, training Natalie Portman and Mila Kunis), Rooney Mara, Christina Ricci, Zoe Saldana, and Jennifer Lawrence, whom he trained for four months for her role as a Bolshoi ballerina turned spy in Red Sparrow. Notably, Froman was thanked personally by Natalie Portman in her Oscar acceptance speech. Teaching since 2009, including at the New York City Ballet and Paris Opera Ballet, he now serves as Head Faculty of the Men’s Division, bringing his extensive Balanchine background and resourceful teaching approach to PNB School.

Learn more about Mr. Froman’s fascinating career, teaching philosophies, and more in this spotlight!

Describe your role at PNB School. What classes and levels do you teach?

Kurt: I’m the head of the men’s division, so I oversee the entire boys and men’s program. This year, I’m teaching from pre-intermediate all the way up to the Professional Division. I teach strength training and variations classes, all with the guys as well.

This year I want to incorporate some of the technique featured in male choreography (like turns in second, tours, and more beats like cabrioles) into the PNB School syllabus. Our students are very eager to learn those kinds of things, and I’m planning to introduce them piece by piece. I’m also a point of contact for any parent who has boys going to PNB School.

Can you share a memorable moment from your time dancing professionally?

Kurt: There are so many. I am lucky to have lived so many different lives as a dancer. When I was in my mid-20s, I began to feel that I had more to give than was being utilized at New York City Ballet. Just a week after I had come to that conclusion, a casting director called my twin brother and me to audition for Twyla Tharp and Billy Joel’s show Movin’ Out. I had never been called for Broadway, but I ended up getting one of the leading roles in Movin’ Out, and that was a transformative experience for me.

Movin’ Out thrust me into the spotlight. It was the first time that I felt trusted to be a principal dancer. I got to wipe the slate clean; there were no preconceived notions about what I could or couldn’t do. Twyla said, “I don’t want you to just think of yourself as a dancer anymore. I want you to think of yourself as a performer.” That seems like such a simple idea, but it allowed me to feel that my career could go in many different directions. I could act, I could sing, I could dance, and I could do movies, TV, and film. The show allowed me to dance in a different style than anything that I had done at New York City Ballet.

Movin’ Out is set during the ‘60s, the Vietnam War, and the fallout afterwards. After every show, there would be one or two Vietnam vets who would wait by the stage door, and they would just be in tears over how it captured their experiences. I have dreams where I’m doing that show three or four times a week, and they’re some of the happiest dreams in my life. Even though I did three other Broadway shows, that one was really, really special!

You’ve worked extensively as a dance coach and choreographer for TV, film, and Broadway. What was unique about those experiences?

Kurt: Both movies that I worked on, Red Sparrow and Black Swan, were approached in two different ways. Benjamin Millepied, who choreographed Black Swan had considered the actors’ capabilities and what would make them look best. For Red Sparrow, Justin Peck choreographed on American Ballet Theater dancers, and it was up to me to get Jennifer Lawrence up to their level. For both, the upper body is the most important thing, because you can always have a dance double doing feet and legs and things like that. Even with really savvy visual effects, the upper body needs to be as clean as possible.

When I was working on Black Swan, it was my first teaching gig ever! It was really educational for me as a teacher, because I was working with two non-dancers. Teaching is all about communication. Often, I would have to dig deep and explain steps in a different way. It made me more resourceful. Also, when you’re working with actors who are used to being at the top of their field, they are in a sensitive space as beginners. So, there’s a lot of building them up while giving them corrections. It wouldn’t have worked if I just said, “Well, that wasn’t good enough.” I had to keep them feeling empowered and patient with the process. 

Working on Billy Elliot and An American in Paris was difficult because I had to teach a lot of different “tracks” as we call it on Broadway. For example, in An American in Paris there was something like 23 dancers, and each one had unique choreography. It was a lot of information that I had to know and teach simultaneously. So, it’s all challenging in different ways. 

If you could go back in time to see any dance performance, what would you pick?

Kurt: Anything with Suzanne Farrell is at the top of the list because she never gave the same show twice. She was incredibly impulsive. I have tapes of her performing the same role, and each show is completely different from the other.

Seeing George Balanchine’s and Jerome Robbins’ repertoires is what made me want to be a dancer. Balanchine had so many facets of his body of work that I love. I want another young dancer to get the bug the way I did. I loved working hard in class, but unless you see what it is all leading to, you’re only getting half the equation.

What advice would you give to your 13-year-old self?

Kurt: I’m proud that I was so disciplined as a 13-year-old and beyond, and that I educated myself. I would look up old reviews at the library to read about historic dancers and ballets. Those middle school and high school ages are some of the hardest, and I think I would say it gets better. I’d pat myself on the back and tell myself that I’m doing everything the way I should, knowing that it’s all leading towards something.

What do you like to do to relax when you’re not dancing?

Kurt: I love movies, I’m a big film buff, and I always have been. I have my favorite directors, but when there’s a new director that I fall in love with, I will exhaust everything that director has done. I also love cooking for big groups of friends and spending time with my dog. I’m also a collector of art and ballet footage. My main focus is on footage of New York City Ballet. I don’t believe in living in the past, but it sets a standard that I hope percolates into my teaching.

Thanks to Mr. Froman for taking the time out of his busy schedule and speaking with us! He shares, “I love the dancers at PNB School. So much talent here!”