American Ballet Theatre News

Few dancers reach the elite level of ballet; of that already small number only a fraction are black women. Misty Copeland shattered those barriers in 2015, making history as the first African American principal dancer with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre (ABT).

CHICAGO – The Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago present four World Premieres in the sixth annual “Winning Works” program, the culmination of Joffrey's 2016 Winning Works Choreographic Competition. This year's Competition winners - Jeffrey Cirio, Christian Denice and Mariana Oliveira each choreographed a work, along with a fourth by Joffrey Academy Artistic Director Alexei Kremnev, titled Coco + Igor. All four works are performed by dancers from the Joffrey Studio Company and the Joffrey Academy Trainee Program. The Joffrey Academy of Dance's “Winning Works” program is presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's Edlis Neeson Theater, 220 E. Chicago Avenue, over three performances only: Saturday, March 5, at 3:00 PM and 7:30 PM and Sunday, March 6 at 3:00 PM. 

The Joffrey Academy of Dance, Official School of The Joffrey Ballet, and the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago present four World Premieres in the sixth annual "Winning Works" program, the culmination of Joffrey's 2016 Winning Works Choreographic Competition. This year's Competition winners - Jeffrey Cirio, Christian Denice and Mariana Oliveira each choreographed a work, along with a fourth by Joffrey Academy Artistic Director Alexei Kremnev, titled Coco + Igor. All four works are performed by dancers from the Joffrey Studio Company and the Joffrey Academy Trainee Program. The Joffrey Academy of Dance's "Winning Works" program is presented at the Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago's Edlis Neeson Theater, 220 E. Chicago Avenue, over three performances only: Saturday, March 5, at 3:00 PM and 7:30 PM and Sunday, March 6 at 3:00 PM.

The New York Choral Society (NYChoral) and NYChoral Orchestra under the baton of Music Director David Hayes will perform celebrated Estonian composer Arvo Part's 1985 composition Te Deum in conjunction with Beethoven's Mass in C today evening, February 5, 2016, 8 p.m. at Stern Hall at Carnegie Hall.

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) is thrilled to present world-renowned dancers Alessandra Ferri and Herman Cornejo, accompanied by internationally acclaimed concert pianist, Bruce Levingston, in the U.S. premiere of TRIO ConcertDance.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.

New York Theatre Ballet will perform at New York Live Arts from February 24-27, 2016. New York Live Arts is located at 219 W. 19th Street, NYC. Performances: Wednesday, Thursday and Friday at 7:30pm; and Saturday at 2pm and 7:30pm.

Baryshnikov Arts Center (BAC) presents the U.S. Premiere of the solo theater work BRODSKY / BARYSHNIKOV, based on poems by the late Nobel laureate Joseph Brodsky, and performed by actor and BAC artistic director Mikhail Baryshnikov. The one-man show was created for Baryshnikov in collaboration with Alvis Hermanis, noted Latvian director of The New Riga Theatre.

BroadwayWorld.com announces that effective February 1st 2016, Barnett Serchuk has stepped down as Editor-in-Chief of BWW Dance World, and Sondra Forsyth has assumed the position.  

The fifth South African International Ballet Competition (SAIBC) will take place from 23 to 28 February 2016 at the Artscape Opera House in Cape Town. Approximately fifteen dancers are from Gauteng.

Sascha Radetsky, a former Soloist at American Ballet Theatre, has been named Director of the ABT/NYU Master's Degree Program in Ballet Pedagogy.  Radetsky's appointment, effective immediately, was announced today by ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. The New York University Master of Arts Program in Teaching Dance in the Professions with a concentration in ABT Ballet Pedagogy, established in Fall 2008, emphasizes the study of ballet technique combined with discipline-based inquiries and scholarly research.

With a professional theater season full of premieres and award winning women playwrights, Centenary Stage Company keeps the ball rolling with Gina Gionfriddo's hilarious Becky Shaw running February 19 through March 6 in the Lackland Center.  A Pulitzer Prize finalist, Off-Broadway smash hit and now NJ Premiere, Becky Shaw is a comedy from Obie Award-winner Gina Gionfriddo.

While pre-professional dancers have been integrated into professional productions ever since the early days of the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, it is unusual for ballet students to have ballets especially choreographed for them.

Dance/NYC, New York City's leading organization dedicated to promoting the knowledge, appreciation, practice, and performance of dance in the metropolitan area, today announced its seventh annual 2016 Symposium happening Sunday, February 28, 2016, at Gibney Dance Center's newly renovated downtown location, as well as a Disability. Dance. Artistry. Pre-Symposium on February 27. This Symposium is the only full-day gathering of dance leaders and supporters in the metropolitan New York City area. Four of today's leaders in the arts serve as the convening's keynote speakers: Misty Copeland of American Ballet Theatre, Virginia Johnson of Dance Theatre of Harlem, Edwin Torres, the Acting Commissioner of New York City's Department of Cultural Affairs, and Darren Walker of the Ford Foundation.

The Vail International Dance Festival announces its 2016 season (July 30- August 13) and celebrates the10th Anniversary of its Artistic Director, former New York City Ballet star Damian Woetzel. In celebration of his 10th year, the season will feature Isabella Boylston as Artist-in-Residence, Company-in-Residence BalletX, and other companies appearing will include Dance Theatre of Harlem, Dorrance Dance, and Paul Taylor's American Modern Dance. Under Woetzel's direction the Festival has presented over 45 new works, and 2016 will add at least ten world premieres to that list with new pieces by choreographers Jodie Gates, Rashaun Mitchell + Silas Riener, Matthew Neenan, Claudia Schreier, Shantala Shivalingappa, Jodi Melnick and more. This year's special UpClose performance (Aug. 3) will feature artists who regularly make Vail their creative summer home under Woetzel's direction, including Carla Körbes, Tiler Peck, Lil Buck, and Robert Fairchild.

January 19, 2016—(Boston, MA) Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen has announced three promotions from within the Company: Paul Craig (USA) and Irlan Silva (Brazil) have been promoted to soloist, and Alexander Maryianowski (USA) has been promoted to the corps de ballet from Boston Ballet II (BBII), Boston Ballet's second company. The Company is comprised of 68 dancers—including nine dancers in Boston Ballet II (BBII)—representing 20 nationalities. Nissinen continues Boston Ballet's tradition of developing a strong, versatile company by cultivating talent from within the Company and Boston Ballet School and recruiting from all over the world.

The WICKED tour is thrilled to welcome Emily Koch as Elphaba, Amanda Jane Cooper as Glinda, Megan Masako Haley as Nessarose and Sam Seferian as Boq at Segerstrom Center for the Arts in Costa Mesa February 17 - March 6, 2016.

Segerstrom Center's annual Off Center Festival returns today, January 16, through January 30, 2016 with an all-new line-up of creative, contemporary and sometimes controversial artists and shows.

Celebrated singer and songwriter, Jackson Browne, makes his Segerstrom Center for the Arts debut in a special one-night-only concert on Friday, May 6 in Segerstrom Hall as part of his U.S. acoustical solo tour.

To honor Arvo Part, one of the world's most remarkable and frequently performed composers alive today, the New York Choral Society, the Mannes School of Music at the New School, and the Arvo Part Project have designated Sunday, January 24, 2016 as Arvo Part Day.