Julia Cinquemani

Miami City Ballet's new redesign of the magical George Balanchine's The Nutcracker will feature enchanting new costumes and sets by the designer-artist power couple Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Balanchine's glorious choreography and Tchaikovsky's beloved score.

A glittering 50th Anniversary celebration of George Balanchine's Jewels will open Miami City Ballet's 2017-18 season on October 20, 2017, and will mark the first time the company has performed Balanchine's full-evening masterpiece in a decade. Jewels will be performed to live music by MCB's Opus One Orchestra, conducted by Gary Sheldon. 

Miami City Ballet's new redesign of the magical George Balanchine's The Nutcracker will feature enchanting new costumes and sets by the designer-artist power couple Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Balanchine's glorious choreography and Tchaikovsky's beloved score.

Miami City Ballet's new redesign of the magical George Balanchine's The Nutcracker will feature enchanting new costumes and sets by the designer-artist power couple Isabel and Ruben Toledo, Balanchine's glorious choreography and Tchaikovsky's beloved score. The production, co-commissioned by The Music Center in Los Angeles, will run at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts in Miami from December 15 - 24, 2017.

Los Angeles Ballet (LAB) celebrated its Season 11 Gala on Friday, April 21, 2017 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. This year's honorees were Academy Award® nominated film producer Lawrence Bender and Governor Gray Davis & Sharon Davis.

Balanchine choreographed 425 works over the course of 60-plus years, and his works are considered masterpieces and performed by ballet companies all over the world. So you can image how thrilled I was to find out Los Angeles Ballet was going to present BALANCHINE: MASTER OF THE DANCE as their final selection of their 2016/2017 season. In it, three of his most outstanding ballet choreographies are presented: Divertimento No. 15 featuring music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Prodigal Son with music by Sergei Prokofiev; and Who Cares? with music by George Gershwin, adapted and orchestrated by Hershy Kay.

Los Angeles Ballet's eleventh season celebrates the masters and introduces LA to a new choreographer that is changing the dance landscape. The season opened with Modernists/Ballet Visionaries which features works of three icons of their time: August Bournonville, 1805-79, creator of the Danish Bournonville style of ballet, still vibrant today; George Balanchine, 1904-82, Master choreographer who transformed American dance and created modern American ballet; Aszure Barton, contemporary choreographer who is leading ballet into rich, new territory. The program includes Bournonville's Napoli Pas de Six and Tarantella, Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto and the Los Angeles Ballet Premiere of Barton's Untouched (2010).

LA Ballet's upcoming 2016/2017 Season launches their second decade and embraces the full-length classical ballets, the Balanchine repertoire that so revolutionized the dance world, and the commitment to identify, nurture and present both emerging and world-renowned choreographers. Co-Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary have announced the next season includes two full-length story ballets, the family-friendly comic ballet "Coppelia" and the holiday favorite "The Nutcracker" and two mixed bill programs, "Modernists /Directors' Choice" and "Balanchine/Master of the Dance." The upcoming season will also reintroduce pre-performance discussions, hosted by Christensen and Neary and their guests (at select performances).

DON QUIXOTE is a fantastic Los Angeles Ballet production, filled with the dreams of the Don (Adam Luders), the love of Kitri and Basilio (technically perfect and emotionally evocative dancers Julie Cinquemani and Kenta Shimizu) and the adventures that follow them during this epic tale. There is something for everyone: humor, love, adventure and lots of beauty performed by a lively cast of characters from village folk to gypsies to flamenco dancers who will enthrall audiences of all ages.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY ballet with glorious music by Tchaikovsky premiered in Moscow in 1890. With original choreography by Marius Petipa, it is considered one of the greatest story ballets of all time and the epitome of classical ballet. The story represents much more than just the fairy tale, showing us that even when poisoned by the forces of evil, the power of love can surmount any roadblock and triumph. Los Angeles Ballet Co-Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary have adapted the ballet with their own original choreography, based after Petipa. Their World Premiere LA Ballet presentation proved to be a spectacular work of artistic excellence thanks to the remarkable LA Ballet dancers.

The essential holiday tradition of The Nutcracker ballet continues for one more weekend, presented by the Los Angeles Ballet at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on Saturday, December 27 at 1:00pm and 5:00pm and on Sunday, December 28 at 2:00pm. This production is the perfect introduction to classic ballet for the whole family as there are many children of all ages in the cast. And given the number of touring companies bringing productions to Los Angeles, it's nice to be able to support a hometown ballet company where many of the featured dancers were born and/or live in our area.

Set to Tchaikovsky's sweeping score, the success of SWAN LAKE depends on its Odette/Odile, the sweetly vulnerable white swan/cunningly malevolent black swan. On the Los Angeles Ballet's 2014/2015 season opening night, the miraculous Allynne Noelle captivated with fragile, fluttering arms and superb footwork of the white swan to perfection. Ulrik Birkkjaer's Prince Siegfried lifts appeared so fluid, you would think Noelle was as light as a feather.