Once a dancer

Allegra Kent joined the New York City Ballet at age 15 and within two years had become one of Balanchine's favorite dancers, inspiring numerous works including The Unanswered Question. By turns beautiful, sensuous, and mysterious on stage, her life was as dramatic as her dancing style: marrying at age twenty and having three children in the middle of her career; battling an overbearing mother, depression, and financial troubles; and experiencing health problems. Fired from the company on the day Balanchine died, she remains one of the most influential and inspiring principal dancers from the early years of the New York City Ballet. She lives in New York City.