American Ballet Theatre News

Despite my eternal love for SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE, last week I expressed a bit of audition fatigue. Though I appreciate seeing the beginning of each competitors' journeys, the vast majority of 30-second solos seem like unsatisfying appetizers, when all I want is a fully-formed emotional and artistic meal. This week's episode didn't do much to change my audition opinion, as many of the routines were just technical exhibitions, but for the first time this season, I started to see some potential winners. It also doesn't hurt when Executive Producer and Judge Nigel Lythgoe welcomes a Tony-winner to the judging panel.

Coming to Manhattan's Cabrini Rep this June - Soul of a Blue Butterfly; the true story of a young Swedish woman en route to Jerusalem to discover her roots, finds unexpected love. Upon being asked to marry, the Synagogue Rabbi declares the bride not Jewish enough for an Orthodox wedding. As despair ensues, the struggle of a lifetime begins.

On Saturday, May 18, 2014, 350 Princeton Ballet School students performed in the school's annual spring production 2014,The Sleeping Beauty, at Patriots Theater at the War Memorial in Trenton. The production featured dancers ranging in age from 5 years to adult, with the lead roles performed by members of American Repertory Ballet Workshop (ARBW), the pre-professional performance wing of Princeton Ballet School.

American Ballet Theatre sent its audience on a thrill ride of joy, sorrow, and surprises in Manon. With Julie Kent and Roberto Bolle in the lead roles, choreography and direction by Sir Kenneth MacMillian, and music from the opera of the same name by Jules Massenet, the audience was treated to a passion-filled evening underlined by grace, merriment, tragedy, and pure artistry.

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, beloved as one of the world's most popular dance companies, will return to Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts with four different programs for a 15-performance engagement at the David H. Koch Theater June 11 - 22, 2014.

On June 14 at 5:00pm, Jazz at Lincoln Center will partner with The Harlem Children's Zone to present Uptown Family Swing, a free community concert featuring the Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra with Wynton Marsalis and Mr. Aubrey's Show Kids.

Today, June 3rd, Metropolitan Ballet Academy will begin its annual master class series, The Bridge. The series gives intermediate and advanced level students the opportunity to study with some of the region's most celebrated professional teachers and dancers. This year's series features ballet instruction led by three acclaimed dance artists and teachers: Abi Stafford, Olga Kostritzky, and John Selya.

After collaborations in 2012 and 2013 with an all-male cast, Tina Croll and Jamie Cunningham's The Men Dancers: From the Horse's Mouth make their return to New York today, May 30 through June 1 in honor of ballet great Frederic Franklin (1914-2013) in what would have been his centenary year. This celebration will take place at the Michael Schimmel Center for the Arts (3 Spruce Street, between Park Row and Gold Street) and is presented by Pace University.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts welcomes the return of dance superstars Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev in just four performances from July 25 - 27. The program, titled Solo for Two, includes a world premiere commissioned for them by the Center and two works new to their repertoires and never seen before in the United States. Osipova and Vasiliev have enthralled audiences with their incomparable talent and irresistible personalities, capturing the admiration and imaginations of dance audiences around the world. At the Center, they have appeared in Don Quixote with the Bolshoi Ballet in 2010, in the 2009 Tour de Force dance gala and Reflections in 2011. In 2012, Osipova returned to the Center, starring in the world premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's production of Firebird for American Ballet Theatre. In 2011, Vasiliev danced in the second Kings of the Dance.

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, one of the world's premier dance organizations, together with event chair Richard L. Rodesand Meg Siegler Callahan, chair of Hubbard Street's board of directors, hosted the Season 36 Spotlight Ball on Monday, May 19 at theFairmont Chicago Millennium Park.

On Tuesday, June 3rd, Metropolitan Ballet Academy will begin its annual master class series, The Bridge. The series gives intermediate and advanced level students the opportunity to study with some of the region's most celebrated professional teachers and dancers. This year's series features ballet instruction led by three acclaimed dance artists and teachers: Abi Stafford, Olga Kostritzky, and John Selya.

Carmen de Lavallade's career as a dancer, choreographer, and stage and film actress spans more than six decades working with luminaries such as Lena Horne, Josephine Baker, Harry Belafonte, Alvin Ailey, and many others. She already holds the distinction of the longest Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival performing career on record, having made her Pillow debut with Lester Horton Dance Theatre in 1953 and performing at the Festival as recently as 2004 (with Paradigm), and she now extends that record by another decade. In the world premiere of her new solo show, As I Remember It, de Lavallade combines powerful movement and poignant storytelling to weave a theatrical memoir about her venerable life on stage. This exclusive engagement opens the 2014 Festival in the Doris Duke Theatre with a limited three-show run, June 20-22.

Eight remarkable artists and philanthropists will be hooded and handed their degrees in person when The Juilliard School confers honorary doctorates during its 109th Commencement Ceremony today, May 23, 2014 at 11 AM in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center (Broadway at 65th Street, NYC).

Tony Yazbeck (Gypsy, A Chorus Line), Jay Armstrong Johnson (New York Philharmonic's Sweeney Todd, Hands On A Hardbody, Hair), and Clyde Alves (Bullets Over Broadway, Nice Work If You Can Get It) will play the roles of 'Gabey,' 'Chip,' and 'Ozzie' - the sailors on 24-hour shore leave who take on the Big Apple in the critically-acclaimed Broadway revival of ON THE TOWN, directed by John Rando (Tony Award for Urinetown) and choreographed by Joshua Bergasse (Emmy Award winner for 'Smash'). Yazbeck, Johnson, and Alves will reprise their performances from last summer's acclaimed Barrington Stage production. Yazbeck first thrilled audiences with his portrayal of 'Gabey' in John Rando's presentation of ON THE TOWN at City Center Encores in 2008.

Coleman Lemieux & Compagnie (CLC) proudly presents Elvis and the Man in Black, a double bill featuring James Kudelka'sacclaimed The Man in Black and the world premiere of Looking for Elvis, choreographed by CLC Co-Artistic Director Laurence Lemieux. Elvis & The Man in Black runs at the Mimi Herrndorf Studio Theatre at The Citadel, Wednesdays through Saturdays at 8pm from today, May 21-31.

Following the record-breaking attendance of Festival 2013, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival announces the full 2014 Festival free and ticketed event schedule. Jacob's Pillow is a National Historic Landmark, home to America's longest-running dance festival, and a recipient of the National Medal of Arts. Noted dance writer Jennifer Dunning has called the Pillow "the dance center of the nation, possibly the world."

Parsons Dance, under the artistic direction of acclaimed choreographer David Parsons, will play a special one night only benefit engagement at Joe's Pub to launch the Company's new Generation NOW Choreographic Fellowship.

New York Theatre Ballet presented, by arrangement with The Estate of Antony Tudor and The Antony Tudor Trust, an A. Tudor Celebration. The night was a treasure trove of ballets by the great English choreographer Antony Tudor: three of his masterpieces from the 1930s, originally staged in London and an unearthed gem from 1952.

Parsons Dance, under the artistic direction of acclaimed choreographer David Parsons, will play a special one night only benefit engagement at Joe's Pub to launch the Company's new Generation NOW Choreographic Fellowship. Tickets, priced from $100 - $275, can be purchased by calling The Public Theater box office at 212-697-7555 or via the internet at www.joespub.com. Joe's Pub at the Public Theater is located at 425 Lafayette Street (at Astor Place) in the East Village. For more information, please visit http://www.parsonsdance.org.

ABTKids, a unique hour-long program designed for children and families, will present a performance of highlights from American Ballet Theatre's 2014 Spring Season today, May 17 at 11:30 A.M. at the Metropolitan Opera House.