Every Step You Take (31 page)

Whooping it up with the inimitable Lourdes Lopez in the first movement of Balanchine's
Western Symphony
.
(© 1984 Martha Swope)

With Ray Charles, Heather Watts, and Peter Martins at the premiere of Martins's
A Fool for You
at the American Music Festival in 1988.
(© Paul Kolnik)

Performing Jerome Robbins's
Afternoon of a Faun
with the sublime Darci Kistler.
(© Paul Kolnik)

Heather and me in the second movement of Balanchine's
Bugaku
—one of the ballets we would perform together at her retirement.
(© Steven Caras)

An emotional end to a long partnership came when Heather retired in 1995.
(© Steven Caras)

Back to my Native roots—sort of—afloat in a canoe on a lake in the Adirondacks with one of Bruce Weber's handsome pups.
(Courtesy of Bruce Weber)

Playing Bernardo in the fight scene of Jerome Robbins's
West Side Story Suite
.
(© Paul Kolnik)

Miranda Weese and I dance the second movement of
Mercurial Manoeuvres
, choreographed on us by Christopher Wheeldon.
(© Paul Kolnik)

When Christopher Wheeldon choreographed
Polyphonia
on Wendy Whelan and me, it was the beginning of an exciting new collaboration for all of us.
(© Paul Kolnik)

After the Rain
was the last ballet Christopher Wheeldon choreographed on Wendy and me, about six months before I retired.
(© Paul Kolnik)

Me and Luis, the year we met.
(Courtesy of the author)

Teaching a pas de deux class at SAB—one of my favorite classes.
(© Ellen Crane)

Bowing at my retirement performance, June 2005.
(© Johanna Weber)

JOCK SOTO
joined the New York City Ballet in 1981. He was promoted to soloist in 1984 and to principal dancer in 1985. He has danced featured roles in countless ballets, many of which were created specifically for him. He has been a permanent member of the faculty at the School of American Ballet since 1996, and in 2007 he was the subject of the critically acclaimed documentary
Water Flowing Together
. He lives in New York City with his partner, Luis Fuentes, a sommelier.