American Ballet Theatre News

Following the critical acclaim and record-breaking attendance of Festival 2016, Jacob's Pillow Dance announces its 85th Anniversary Season of exciting programming featuring world premieres, commissions, site-specific work, international artists, live music, and Pillow-exclusive engagements.

Music Director Donato Cabrera leads the California Symphony in the Orchestra's first performance of Beethoven's Symphony No. 4 and a performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto No. 23 by Romanian-Austrian pianist Maria Radutu, who is making her West Coast orchestral debut as soloist, Sunday, January 22 at 4 pm at the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. 

The Royal Academy of Dance (RAD) is pleased to reveal the winning medallists of the prestigious Genée International Ballet Competition 2016 held at the Sydney Opera House on 11 December 2016. The annual flagship event of the Royal Academy of Dance, the competition attracted 86 of the world's finest young dancers from 12 countries, aged between 15 to 19 years old and culminated in a finalthat was judged by David McAllister, Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet, Kevin O'Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, and Francesco Ventrigilia, Artistic Director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Festival Ballet Theatre (FBT), Orange County's resident professional ballet company, will present the family favorite production of The Nutcracker, December 10 - 24, 2016 at the Irvine Barclay Theatre in Irvine, California.

The Royal Academy of Dance's (RAD) prestigious Genee International Ballet Competition returns to Australia in 2016 with the final to be held at the Sydney Opera House on 11 December 2016. As the annual flagship event of the Royal Academy of Dance, the competition attracts the world's finest young dancers aged between 15 to 19 years old and culminates in a final to be judged by David McAllister, Artistic Director of The Australian Ballet, Kevin O'Hare, Director of The Royal Ballet, and Francesco Ventrigilia, Artistic Director of the Royal New Zealand Ballet.

Casting for American Ballet Theatre's The Nutcracker, co-presented by Segerstrom Center for the Arts and ABT, was announced today by Kevin McKenzie, ABT Artistic Director and Terry Dwyer, Segerstrom Center President. Choreographed by ABT Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky, The Nutcracker will be given 12 performances at Segerstrom Center for the Arts, December 9-18, 2016. The Nutcracker, set to music by Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky, features choreography by Alexei Ratmansky, scenery and costumes by award-winning designer Richard Hudson and lighting by Jennifer Tipton. The Pacific Symphony performs the beloved holiday score. In the Los Angeles Times review from last year's inaugural Center performance, it declared, "Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky has made his own Christmas miracle: a joyful 'Nutcracker' ballet that is ravishing and clever enough to inspire multiple viewings."

American Ballet Theatre marks its annual engagement with one of the most beloved full-length classical ballets, Swan Lake, January 25-29 for seven performances in the Opera House.

 The Performing Arts School at bergenPAC announces the 2017 Master Class series in residence with Principal Ballet Dancers. The classes will be held at The Performing Arts School at bergenPAC-1 Depot Square, Englewood, NJ 07631. 

The Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, announces the recipients of the seventh annual Winning Works Choreographic Competition: Shannon Alvis, Sean Carmon, Karen Gabay and Jimmy Orrante.

In the summer of 2017, The School at Jacob's Pillow, a world renowned center for professional dance training will present Professional Advancement Programs in Ballet, Contemporary, Musical Theatre Dance, and a Tap Program led by Michelle Dorrance.

Works & Process at the Guggenheim has announced its spring 2017 season.

The Franklin Performing Arts Company (FPAC) presents The Nutcracker, bringing special guest artists, a 27-piece orchestra, and more than 100 area dancers to one suburban stage.

Porchlight Music Theatre and Artistic Director Michael Weber have announced the final extension of Porchlight's 22nd season opener, the multi-Tony Award-winning In The Heights, now playing through Saturday, Dec. 31, music and lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda, book by Quiara Alegria Hudes.

American Ballet Theatre's Summer Intensive National Audition Tour will kick off January 7, 2017 in New York City and will visit a total of 27 cities through February 12, 2017. Intermediate and advanced students, ages 9 to 24, are invited to audition for ABT's New York, Collegiate and satellite Summer Intensives, and Young Dancer Summer Workshop.

LABA: Laboratory for Jewish Culture and Mystical Feet Company present The Mar Vista, a dance/theater work written and choreographed by Yehuda Hyman in collaboration with the Mystical Feet Company (Ron Kagan, Dwight Kelly, Ryan Pater, Ezra Lowrey, Amanda Schussel and Hyman) at The Theater at the 14th Street Y, 344 E. 14th Street, from December 1-18, 2016.  Performance schedule: Today-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $18 in advance or $22.50 at the door. Tickets are available at 646-395-4310 or www.14streety.org.   

LABA: Laboratory for Jewish Culture and Mystical Feet Company present The Mar Vista, a dance/theater work written and choreographed by Yehuda Hyman in collaboration with the Mystical Feet Company (Ron Kagan, Dwight Kelly, Ryan Pater, Ezra Lowrey, Amanda Schussel and Hyman) at The Theater at the 14th Street Y, 344 E. 14th Street, from December 1-18, 2016.

The New York Choral Society (NYChoral) under the direction of its music director David Hayes will ring in the holiday season with a Christmas concert at Alice Tully Hall on Wednesday evening, December 21st, at 7:30 p.m. The program, featuring soloists Frederick Ballentine and Justin Hopkins, will present works by two musical giants of 20th Century American choral music, Robert Shaw, whose 100th birthday would have been this year, and Robert De Cormier, NYChoral Music Director Emeritus, who was awarded the 2016 Michael Korn Founders Award by Chorus America for his lifetime contribution to the choral arts. The concert will also include works by Ralph Vaughan Williams, Elizabeth Poston, and James MacMillan, and will end with an audience sing-along of beloved Christmas carols. The complete program follows:

LABA: Laboratory for Jewish Culture and Mystical Feet Company present The Mar Vista, a dance/theater work written and choreographed by Yehuda Hyman in collaboration with the Mystical Feet Company (Ron Kagan, Dwight Kelly, Ryan Pater, Ezra Lowrey, Amanda Schussel and Hyman) at The Theater at the 14th Street Y, 344 E. 14th Street, from December 1-18, 2016.  Performance schedule: Thursday-Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm. Tickets are $18 in advance or $22.50 at the door. Tickets are available at 646-395-4310 or www.14streety.org.   

The Nutcracker is a holiday season tradition for countless young dancers whose annual turn in the Christmas fantasy marks a celebrated rite of passage. The chance to take part in the enchanting production, full of pageantry and splendor, engages the starry-eyed child dancer, while more advanced ballerinas relish opportunities to be cast in progressively more challenging roles.

Neglia Ballet Artists' annual production of The Nutcracker is back to kick off the holiday season with a Thanksgiving weekend of performances at Shea's Buffalo Theatre with the Buffalo Philharmonic Orchestra performing live. Audiences will delight in this annual holiday production as we follow Marie on her journey through a wondrous battle scene, breathtaking winter wonderland and delectable land of sweets. The Buffalo News called this production “a holiday spectacle capable of eliciting wide-eyed wonder in children of all ages.”