American Ballet Theatre News

In her first season as principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre, Misty Copeland has hit the stage glowing. Dancing both new roles, to her, and those she has performed before, while still a soloist with the company, she brought new life and light to the ballets. At every performance, the excitement throughout the audience was palpable, from the moment they entered the Metropolitan Opera House, N.Y.C., to the explosion of applause, calls of brava, and other vocalizations of appreciation at the end of each performance.

American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School announced today that, after an international search, Pamela Levy has been selected as the school's director. Levy will be the fourth director in its 62-year history. 

Carlos Lopez, a former Soloist with American Ballet Theatre, has been named to the position of Ballet Master with the Company effective August 1, 2016. It was announced today by Kevin McKenzie, ABT Artistic Director.

Sir Kenneth MacMillan silenced the Bard to the wordless storytelling of corporeal movement. His three-act Romeo & Juliet remounted at MetOpera this June 20-25, ennobled by three decades in American Ballet Theatre repertory.

Jeffrey Cirio has been promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Blaine Hoven has been promoted to Soloist.  The promotions, announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie, become effective August 1, 2016.

Multi award-winning Russian classical ballerina Natalia Osipova leads a triple bill of Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui / Russell Maliphant / Arthur Pita at Sadler's Wells from 29 Jun - 3 Jul 2016.

World-renowned ballet artists will share the stage for one spectacular night of dance at Festival Ballet Theatre's Gala of the Stars on Friday, August 12, 2016 at 6pm.

Disney aficionados, film buffs and musical theater lovers can expect an evening like no other when eight-time Oscar-winner Alan Menken comes to Segerstrom Center for the Arts performing his own music and sharing entertaining anecdotes about his unrivaled career.

BWW Reviews 'Swan Lake' by ABT starring Maria Kochetkova.

Twyla Tharp and Three Dances, the previously announced program conceived and directed by Twyla Tharp and featuring two classics and one premiere, will be presented by The Joyce Theater Foundation for two weeks next month, July 10-23, in its intimate Chelsea home, located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is celebrating its 30th Anniversary with an array of performances that represent the range of music, dance and theater that have been seen and heard on its stages since opening night of September 29, 1986.

Twyla Tharp and Three Dances, the previously announced program conceived and directed by Twyla Tharp and featuring two classics and one premiere, will be presented by The Joyce Theater Foundation for two weeks next month, July 10-23, in its intimate Chelsea home, located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street. Part of the Pathways to Dance Upstate/Downstate initiative, Twyla Tharp and Three Dances will feature a company of long-time Tharp dancers along with new members.  John Selya, Matthew Dibble, Daniel Baker, Ramona Kelley, Amy Ruggiero, Eva Trapp, Nicholas Coppula, Kaitlyn Gilliland and Reed Tankersley make up the company. On the program are two Tharp classics, Brahms Paganini and Country Dances, and a new work, Beethoven Opus 130, set to Beethoven's Opus of the same title having its world premiere at Saratoga Performing Arts Center on June 30. This presentation, one of the must-see cultural events of the summer, marks the first time Tharp's company will perform on The Joyce's stage in almost 12 years. Tickets range in price from $10-$75 and can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org.

Halfway through the bedroom scene (Act III, Scene I) I thought to myself, 'They're playing the music too quickly!' I was wrong. The tempo was fine; it simply felt faster than normal because the dancing was so wonderful. It's to be expected. Alessandra Ferri was guest starring in American Ballet Theatre's production of Kenneth MacMillan's 'Romeo and Juliet' nine years after she'd retired from the company in the same role.

New York Theatre Ballet will perform two works at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the Doris Duke Theatre from August 3- 7, 2016. Jacob's Pillow, a National Historic Landmark, National Medal of Arts recipient, and home to America's longest-running dance festival, is located in the Berkshires of Western Massachusetts at 358 George Carter Road in Becket.

Alessandra Ferri, a former Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre, will return as a Guest Artist to dance the role of Juliet in the Company's production of ROMEO AND JULIET at the Metropolitan Opera House, it was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

The world premiere of Unexpected Joy, opening July 21 at Wellfleet Harbor Actors Theater, will be directed by Lynne Taylor Corbett. Musical Direction is by Gillian Berkowitz. This world premiere by Bill Russell and Janet Hood is produced in association with Jim Kierstead, Linda & Craig Wielkotz, and Gabby Hanna & Marcy Feller. Casting is by Stephen DeAngelis. Unexpected Joy opens July 21, running Wednesdays-Mondays through August 20.

Due to a scheduling conflict, this engagement on August 7, 2016 has been cancelled.

Set inside the sensationalized female murderess craze that swept 1920s Chicago, CHICAGO draws its audience into a world of crime and glitz against the vivid backdrop of the jazz age. A first time production for Pittsburgh CLO, CHICAGO is sure to be 'all that jazz' and more!

Segerstrom Center for the Arts begins its 30th Anniversary celebration with another one-night-only star-studded evening of dance: Tour de Force III. The performance will be the first event to represent the array and diversity of the Center's artistic programming, in this case, 30 years of presenting the greatest ballet companies and the world's most celebrated dancers. Tour de Force III will be on Saturday, August 27 in Segerstrom Hall. Produced in collaboration with Ardani Artists, the program will include four Center premieres: Clay by Vladimir Varnava, Zeitgeist by Alastair Marriott, Tristesse by Marcelo Gomes and Le Divertissement du Roi by Maxim Petrov. The international cast includes Diana Vishneva, Joaquin de Luz, Marcelo Gomes, Denis Matvienko, Marcelino Sambe?, Friedemann Vogel and Edward Watson, as well as members of the The Royal Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada.

Times are hard for choreographers, which is why Elisa Monte, Jennifer Muller, Molissa Fenley, and Margo Sappington have banded together to present their full-length works at New York Live Arts. What one might not be able to afford, four are more than capable of shouldering. While a solid business idea, the results as seen on Wednesday June 15th, 2016 were decidedly uneven. It's not that the works were too different in tone, it's that the quality was rarely of top caliber.