Darci Kistler

Darci Kistler, the only remaining dancer at New York City Ballet to have been hired and trained by George Balanchine, will retire during the 2010 season according to The NY Times. Next year will mark thirty years with the company for the 44-year-old principal dancer. She will continue teaching at the School of American Ballet, where she has been a faculty member for fifteen years.

Ms. Kistler said she wanted to devote more of her day to teaching at the School of American Ballet, affiliated with the company, where she has been leading a hefty schedule of classes for 15 years. And the aches and pains that come with age have taken their toll, she said.

Although Balanchine never choreographed a role for her, Ms. Kistler danced central parts in most of his creations, including “Agon,” “Apollo,” “Symphony in C,” “Concerto Barocco” and “Vienna Waltzes.” She interpreted roles created for her by Jerome Robbins and her husband, Peter Martins, New York City Ballet’s ballet master in chief Ms. Kistler was born in Riverside, Calif., the only daughter and youngest of five children, and studied early on with Irina Kosmovska in Los Angeles.