American Ballet Theatre News

Orange County, Calif.—June 1, 2016—Cynthia Ellis designed “The Inextinguishable Project” as an opportunity for concert listeners to discover some of the masterful music written in spite of the conflict and oppression of World War II. Ellis, Pacific Symphony's flute and piccolo player, and a resident of Brea, won one of four “Musician Innovation Grants” awarded by the Symphony's board of directors in the 2015-16 season for her project's creativity and potential for creating deeper interest in classical music. Her concert explores the music of two composers who overcame political and geographical circumstances to bring their music into the world. Theo Smit Sibinga walked out of prison camp carrying a suitcase in one hand and the broken remains of his cello in the other. Bohuslav Martinu, blacklisted by the Nazis, fled Paris, sleeping on train platforms while trying to get to America. Both survived to write beautiful music—music that has become “inextinguishable.”

?Metropolitan Ballet Academy & Company (MBA/MBC), recognized by Pointe magazine as one of “seven local studios in America cultivating top talent” (Oct/Nov 2011), will celebrate its 20th Anniversary year with a Gala Performance on Saturday, June 4, 2016 at 4:00 pm. Alumni from Metropolitan's two decades of training will return from their professional engagements with dance companies across America to perform in the Gala, which also features pre-professional Metropolitan Ballet Company dancers in classical and contemporary works. The Gala Performance will be held at the Josephine Muller Auditorium of Abington Friends School, 575 Washington Lane, Jenkintown, PA 19046. Tickets are $50 each and available at 215-663-1665 or online at www.metropolitanballetcompany.org.

At its best, classical ballet has the ability to utterly transfix, bending the boundaries of what we as human beings think is possible. With every gravity-defying grand jete and blossoming developpe, dancers transform into otherworldly beings, physicalizing that which can't be believed. At the 2016 Spring Season premiere of American Ballet Theatre's Le Corsaire, the company did just this, mesmerizing the audience and showcasing their ability to create a unique world of beauty, unto its own.

Four venerable American dance companies are joining forces with Usdan Summer Camp for the Arts (www.usdan.org), just in time for the 2016 summer camp season. Announced today, the troupes -The Ailey Organization, American Ballet Theatre (ABT), Martha Graham, and Pilobolus-- are officially on the Camp's proverbial dance card, further strengthening Usdan's notable offerings for campers from ages four through 18.

The School Of American Ballet (SAB) is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the school of George Balanchine's New York City Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional vocational ballet training for students aged 11-18.

'La Fille mal gardee', Frederick Ashton has given us folksy innocence, clever games, and sunny smiles. That smile was perfectly embodied by soloist Jeffrey Cirio, making a splendid debut as Colas in the opening performance of this life affirming ballet. He is more than ably assisted by a cast of tremendous artists who give of themselves completely to making these simple country characters sparkle. And what characters! With an opening danced by five chickens -- four hens and one manic rooster -- how could it be otherwise?

With over fifty presenters, conference attendees engaged in a vibrant discourse on ballet structure, technique(s), and form; race; gender; and, sustainability at New York University's Center for Ballet and the Arts and Barnard College, Columbia University.

Casting for the fifth and sixth weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2016 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

Princeton Ballet School, the official school of American Repertory Ballet, announces its Placement Class schedule in order to determine fall classes.

On the evening of May 16th 2016 at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center, the beloved troupe that was recognized as 'America's National Ballet Company' in 2006 by the United States Congress proved once again that the American Ballet Theatre is indeed a treasure. Dancegoers in dazzling formal attire were treated to a Spring Gala that eschewed traditional staples and showcased instead an appetite-whetting smorgasbord of excerpts from the spring season as well as a world premiere and the one-act Firebird.

A review of ABT's performance of 'Sylvia' at the Met Opera House.

Titled LIFE IN MOTION: AN UNLIKELY BALLERINA, the project is based on Copeland's biography of the same name. REMEMBER THE TITAN's Gregory Allen Howard will pen the film's script.

The Music Center named 14 outstanding Southern California high school students as Grand Prize Finalists in the 28th annual The Music Center's Spotlight (Spotlight), a free nationally recognized scholarship and arts training program for teens.

Casting for the third and fourth weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2016 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

The newest edition of the weekly BLACK AMERICA television series with Emmy-winning host Carol Jenkins features an on- location interview with Misty Copeland, American Ballet Theatre's first female African-American Principal Dancer, who movingly shares her ambition and discipline to succeed as a role model for 'little brown girls,' particularly in classical dance roles that were considered off-limits to women African Americans.

On May 24, The Lorraine Hansberry Awards, presented by Goodman Theatre Resident Director Chuck Smith and Woodie King, Jr., New Federal Theatre Artistic Director, will honor five women: Micki Grant, Lynn Hamilton, Shauneille Perry, Dr. Glory Van Scott and Camille Yarbrough.

Founder and Artistic Director of The Black Iris Project, Jeremy McQueen is an award-winning emerging choreographer. A 2013 recipient of the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago's Choreographers of Color Award and two-time finalist of the Capezio Award for Choreographic Excellence, McQueen's work has appeared at Jacob's Pillow Dance's Inside/Out series (in 2012 & 2013), Dancers Responding to AIDS' Fire Island Dance Festival, the Young Choreographer's Festival, and more. McQueen has appeared in the Broadway National Tours of 'Wicked' and 'The Color Purple', in addition to the Metropolitan Opera's productions of 'Die Fledermaus', 'Aida', 'Les Contes d'Hoffmann', and 'Don Giovanni'. McQueen currently teaches ballet for ABT's and Ailey's educational outreach programs. A graduate of The Ailey School/Fordham University B.F.A Program, he's trained as a scholarship recipient with American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, and Alonzo King's LINES Ballet.

Now here's one headline you WON'T want to miss! As Disney's NEWSIES continues to carry the banner on its National Tour, cast member Nico DeJesus (Romeo) is seizing the day by offering a unique opportunity for dancers and musical theatre performers during the cast's Southern California stop.

The newest edition of the weekly BLACK AMERICA television series with Emmy-winning host Carol Jenkins features an on- location interview with Misty Copeland, American Ballet Theatre's first female African-American Principal Dancer, who movingly shares her ambition and discipline to succeed as a role model for 'little brown girls,' particularly in classical dance roles that were considered off-limits to women African Americans.

The New York Choral Society will present Handel's biblical oratorio Israel in Egypt under the baton of Music Director David Hayes, today evening, May 10th, 2016, 8pm at Carnegie Hall's Stern Auditorium. Composed entirely from selected passages from the Bible's Old Testament, Israel in Egypt relates the harshness of the Israelites' captivity in Egypt and their subsequent triumphant escape from the Pharaoh's oppressive regime. Israel in Egypt is atypical in Handel's choral output, as it contains little solo material and is dominated by large-scale virtuosic choruses that exhibit Handel's mastery as a musical storyteller.