American Ballet Theatre News

On The Town choreographer Joshua Bergasse choreographed a performance of the show's iconic opening number, 'New York, New York,' featuring the Top 20 finalists.

This week's SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE had a very Broadway feel to it with Josh Bergasse, the choreographer of the upcoming ON THE TOWN revival, staging a Top-20 routine to the show's anthem 'New York, New York' (the one by Bernstein, Comden, and Green, not Kander and Ebb). As we learned last week, this season's winner will earn a spot in the musical's ensemble. While some people, including @Actor_Friend, don't like this idea, remember, the last network show to give away roles on Broadway brought us Laura Osnes, so let's reserve judgment, just in case a reality show brings us more Broadway royalty this time.

The Festival Ballet Theatre will host its 2014 Gala of the Stars on Friday, August 15, 2014 at 7pm.

Final performances for American Ballet Theatre's New York Summer Intensive Program are scheduled for Friday, July 25, 2014 at 12 P.M. and 4 P.M. at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, New York. The performances mark the conclusion of ABT's 19th annual New York Summer Intensive, a five-week training program for dancers ages 12 to 22.

Critically acclaimed choreographers Larry Keigwin and Jerry Mitchell will host the 20th Anniversary of Fire Island Dance Festival (#fidance), the most anticipated cultural event of the season on Fire Island. Some of the most-talked-about dancers and dance companies will perform an exciting mix of Broadway, ballet, Hawaiian and modern dance July 18-20.

Daniel Ulbricht/BALLET 2014 offers an exclusive opportunity for audiences to experience some of today's most remarkable ballet dancers in the intimate Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, July 16-20. New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Daniel Ulbricht directs and performs with a select ensemble of top stars including Tyler Angle, Craig Hall, Robert Fairchild, Russell Janzen, Emily Kikta, Rebecca Krohn, Tiler Peck, Georgina Pazcoguin, and Teresa Reichlen.

Daniel Ulbricht/BALLET 2014 offers an exclusive opportunity for audiences to experience some of today's most remarkable ballet dancers in the intimate Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, July 16-20. New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Daniel Ulbricht directs and performs with a select ensemble of top stars including Tyler Angle, Craig Hall, Robert Fairchild, Russell Janzen, Emily Kikta, Rebecca Krohn, Tiler Peck, Georgina Pazcoguin, and Teresa Reichlen. The program is equally impressive, including Christopher Wheeldon's Liturgy, danced to Arvo Pärt's ”Fratres;” Two Hearts, a collaboration between Benjamin Millepied and composer Nico Muhly; Furiant, created by NYCB Soloist Justin Peck; Sunshine, a solo for Ulbricht by Larry Keigwin; the world premiere of Opus 19. Andante, a duet by critically acclaimed young choreographer Emery LeCrone; and the classic Fancy Free, the first ballet created by Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein in 1944, which subsequently inspired the full-length musical On the Town. Cast subject to change.

American Ballet Theatre's Shakespeare Celebration on July 2nd delved into magical mishaps while bidding adieu to dancer Yuriko Kajiya. The evening began in a lush wonderland of Frederick Ashton's The Dream and ended with the choppy waters of Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky's The Tempest. Driven by patriarchy, both ballets presented hierarchy and tradition as precariously shifting power schemes.

Yuriko Kajiya and Jared Matthews, both Soloists with American Ballet Theatre since 2007, will give their farewell performances with the Company today, July 5 at the Metropolitan Opera House. Kajiya will debut in the role of Swanilda in Coppelia at the matinee, opposite Joseph Gorak as Franz, and Matthews will dance the role of Franz at the evening performance, opposite Paloma Herrera as Swanilda.

The Hartt School Community Division (HCD) presents the ballet Don Quixote, staged by guest director Angel Corella, on Saturday, July 26, at 7:30 p.m. The performance will take place in Millard Auditorium on the University of Hartford campus, 200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford. Please call the University Box Office at 860.768.4228 or 800.274.8587, or visit hcd.hartford.edu, to purchase tickets. Admission is $10. University of Hartford discount rates are not available for this production. Group rates may be available to organizations. Contact Amanda Kilpatrick, Hartt Community Division Dance Department, at 860.768.6000, for more group rate information.

Sascha Radetsky, a Soloist with American Ballet Theatre since 2003, will give his farewell performance with the Company tonight, July 3 at the Metropolitan Opera House in the role of Franz inCoppelia. Radetsky will dance opposite Xiomara Reyes in the role of Swanilda.

On June 23rd, Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes were scheduled to dance the lead roles of Odette-Odile and Prince Siegfried in American Ballet Theatre's Swan Lake. Unfortunately, after an exquisitely musical and technically proficient first act, it was announced that Ms. Murphy would not dance in the second act due to an injury, sparking a collective gasp from the audience, especially since the first act was danced so well.

Isabella Boylston has been promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Joseph Gorak, Christine Shevchenko, Devon Teuscher and Roman Zhurbin have been promoted to Soloists. The promotions, which become effective August 1, were announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

Principal casting has been announced for the upcoming world premiere production of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. The cast will include Robert Fairchild as Jerry Mulligan, Leanne Cope as Lise Dassin, Veanne Cox as Madame Baurel, Jill Paice as Milo Davenport, Brandon Uranowitz as Adam Hochberg, and Max Von Essen as Henri Baurel.

Dance legend Desmond Richardson, one of the seven dancers who performed at the first Fire Island Dance Festival in 1995, returns to the festival stage for the 20th anniversary July 18-20, 2014, on the shores of the Great South Bay.

On Monday, June 23, ballet students from around the world started their first day of training at Princeton Ballet School's studios in the Princeton Shopping Center. This is Princeton Ballet School's 32nd year of offering their Summer Intensive course, making it one of the oldest programs in the United States.

I was privileged to see American Ballet Theatre performing Giselle twice this season.

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, this weekend, June 20-22.

The producers of ON THE TOWN announced today that Megan Fairchild(New York City Ballet Principal Dancer), Alysha Umphress (American Idiot) and Elizabeth Stanley (Company) will join 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'). Fairchild, a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet, will make her Broadway debut playing 'Ivy Smith'. Umphress will play 'Hildy' and Stanley will play 'Claire', both reprising their performances from last summer's acclaimed Barrington Stage production.

The American Ballet Theatre (ABT) has confirmed that its full company of dancers will travel to the Queensland Performing Arts Centre (QPAC) to perform in the exclusive Brisbane season which runs from 28 August to 7 September 2014.