Ballet Is Hard Enough. What Happens When You Lose a Year? An elite male principal. A veteran ballerina. A rising apprentice. Three dancers talk about life and work during the pandemic. From left, James Whiteside, a principal at American Ballet Theater; Savannah Durham, an apprentice at New York City Ballet; and Ashley Bouder, a City Ballet principal.Credit...Zach Gross for The New York Times March 10, 2021 In ballet when you lose a year, you lose a lot. It takes years of sacrifice and training to become a professional, and the performing life of a dancer is short. For elite ballet dancers, a solid career lasts around 15 years — and that comes after roughly a decade of schooling. Could this pause alter the evolution of dance generations?