Gelsey Kirkland (born December 29, 1952) is an American ballerina. She received early ballet training at the School of American Ballet. Kirkland joined the New York City Ballet in 1968 at age 15, at the invitation of George Balanchine. She was promoted to soloist in 1969, and principal in 1972. She went on to create leading roles in many of the great twentieth century ballets by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor, including Balanchine's revival of The Firebird, Robbins' Goldberg Variations, and Tudor's The Leaves are Fading. Balanchine re-choreographed his version of Stravinsky's The Firebird specifically for her. She left the New York City Ballet to join the American Ballet Theatre in 1974 as a principal dancer. Kirkland is perhaps most famous to the general public for dancing the role of Clara Stahlbaum in Baryshnikov's 1977 televised production of The Nutcracker. She left the American Ballet Theatre in 1984. Personal life Kirkland was born December 29, 1952, in Bethlehem, Pennsylvania. Her father, Jack Kirkland, was a playwright who penned the Broadway adaptations of Tobacco Road and Tortilla Flat. Her mother, Nancy Hoardley, was an actress. Her sister, Johnna Kirkland, also studied at the School of American Ballet and danced with the New York City Ballet. Gelsey Kirkland currently lives in Maine with her second husband, dancer, choreographer, and teacher Michael Chernov, who was also with ABT. In 2006, she was awarded the Dance Magazine Award. Career While at the New York City Ballet from 1968-1974, Kirkland performed as a soloist and principal dancer in several ballets including Concerto Barocco, The Cage, Irish Fantasy, Symphony in C, La Source, Theme and Variations, Tarantella, Harlequinade, The Nutcracker, and Dances at a Gathering. After joining the American Ballet Theatre in 1974, she performed as a principal dancer in a number of classical ballets including the title role in Giselle, Kitri in Don Quixote, Clara in The Nutcracker, Swanilda in Coppélia, Aurora in The Sleeping Beauty, Juliet in Romeo and Juliet, the Sylph in La Sylphide, Lise in La Fille Mal Gardée, Odette/Odile in Swan Lake, Nikiya in The Kingdom of the Shades, the Mazurka and pas de deux in Les Sylphides, and the Sleepwalker in La Sonnambula. Kirkland was repeatedly fired (but always rehired) by American Ballet Theatre for drug abuse and erratic behavior. It was her partner Patrick Bissell who had introduced her to cocaine, which the two did together. Kirkland said