Karin von Aroldingen

Karin Anny Hannelore Reinbold von Aroldingen (9 September 1941 – 5 January 2018) was a German ballet dancer. She danced as a soloist at the Frankfurt Opera Ballet before joining the New York City Ballet in 1962 after receiving a personal invitation from George Balanchine. She was named as one of Balanchine's main beneficiaries in his will. Von Aroldingen retired from New York City Ballet in 1984, having reached the rank of principal dancer in 1972. In her later life, she worked as a répétiteur for the Balanchine Trust, for which she was also a founder, staging his ballets for various companies.

Early life Karin von Aroldingen was born on 9 September 1941 in Greiz, Germany. Her family, part of the German nobility, was originally from Berlin but evacuated during World War II. Her father, a scientist, disappeared on his way to Czechoslovakia for a work trip. Her mother moved the family from East Germany to West Berlin after the war ended. She became interested in dancing when she was nine years old and auditioned for a private ballet school and was awarded an eight-year scholarship. When she was ten years old, she was chosen from among two-hundred dancers to dance the title role in The Little Match Girl. She trained in Russian ballet, modern dance, and folk dance. In 1972 she was promoted to principal dancer. She was the first female lead in Stravinsky Violin Concerto, dancing the pas de deux with Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux. When she was in her mid-twenties she began teaching children's classes at the School of American Ballet while dancing with the company. She joined New York City Ballet's artistic staff as a ballet master in 2004 and retired in 2016. They had one daughter, Margo.

She enjoyed painting and studied at the Art Students League of New York during dance layoffs. She inherited the royalties of 37 ballets to be shared with Balanchine's former personal assistant, Barbara Horgan. She also inherited a $200,000 co-op apartment in Manhattan and Balanchine's Mercedes-Benz automobile. She was left the rights to six of his ballets: Serenade, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Liebeslieder Walzer, Une Porte et Un Soupir, Vienna Waltzes, and Kammermusik No. 2. Von Aroldingen gave out cuttings of rubber plants to dancers, all from a plant that had been given to her by Balanchine.

Von Aroldingen died, at the age of 76, on 5 January 2018 at her home in Manhattan.