Frederick Ashton News

The Washington Ballet (TWB) is excited to announce the return of Dance for All, our community engagement program that brings the joy and artistry of dance to the greater Washington, DC Metropolitan area. Our fall 2019 Dance for All festival features over 30 free dance events from September 14 to October 19 with free dance classes for all ages, lecture demonstrations, and ballet performances at festivals and community events.

The Washington Ballet is excited to announce its Fall Touring Schedule that will spotlight new works by 21st century ballet choreographers Dana Genshaft, John Heginbotham, Jessica Lang and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa during New York City Center's Fall for Dance Festival and the Guggenheim's Works & Process program.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents The National Ballet of Canada: Orpheus Alive by Robert Binet and Missy Mazzoli, moderated by Wendy Whelan on Sunday, September 15, 2019 at 3pm.

Internationally lauded dance troupe BalletBoyz will present the premiere of Them/Us, an innovative double bill and a brand new collaboration from the company's own critically acclaimed dancers and the Olivier award winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon. A co-production with Sadler's Wells, Them/Us will arrive at Theatre Royal Brighton on Wednesday 18 September.

Acclaimed ballerina, Julia Farron, has died on July 3 at the age of 96. Her death has been confirmed, but it is unknown where she passed, according to The New York Times.

A group of leading West End performers will be taking the stage at the stunning Susie Sainsbury Theatre in the Royal Academy of Music on Thursday July 18th for a very special evening of ballet, opera, dance, classical music and show songs to raise funds for the Marine Conservation Society and awareness of the issue of plastic in the ocean.

The Joyce Theater Foundation (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) is thrilled to announce the extraordinary line-up for its 2019 Ballet Festival, curated by Kevin O'Hare, director of The Royal Ballet, and other artists associated with the esteemed company from August 6-18 at The Joyce Theater. The celebration of classical dance will feature four distinct programs over two weeks starring such world-renowned ballet artists as Lauren Cuthbertson, Robert Fairchild, Joseph Gordon, David Hallberg, Sarah Lamb, Edward Watson, Maria Kowroski and more.

Today the Merce Cunningham Trust announces Summer & Fall 2019 programming for the worldwide Merce Cunningham Centennial, which unites artists, companies, and cultural and educational institutions in a celebration of Cunningham's vital impact. Launched in the fall of 2018 and continuing throughout all of 2019, the Centennial honors Cunningham's legacy across continents and artistic disciplines. The diversity of activities and participating partners demonstrate the profound, enduring resonance of the choreographer's work and his approach to how the body moves in time and space.

Ballet Arizona continues to excite and inspire audiences with its artistic blend of classical and contemporary dance. As Arizona's only professional ballet company approaches its 2019-2020 season, internationally-recognized Artistic Director Ib Andersen and the company promise to deliver a season not to be missed. The season will honor Andersen's artistic career as he marks his 20th year with the ballet company, celebrating his beginnings, masterpieces and vision for the future of Ballet Arizona.

Director of The Royal Ballet Kevin O'Hare today announces that Marcelino Sambe has been promoted to Principal dancer, the highest rank in the Company. O'Hare comments: "I'm thrilled to announce that Marcelino Sambe will become a Principal dancer from the start of the 2019/20 Season. He has had a fantastic year with some notable debuts, including a dazzling Basilio in Carlos Acosta's Don Quixote, and a heartfelt Romeo in Kenneth MacMillan's Romeo and Juliet. The impressive range of his artistry has also been displayed in his performances this Season in Crystal Pite's Flight Pattern, Frederick Ashton's Les Patineurs and Wayne McGregor's Infra. He has the most wonderful personality that endears him to audiences and fellow Company members alike. I know everyone will be delighted with the news of his promotion. He has accomplished so much since joining the Company from The Royal Ballet School, and I'm very excited to see him progress to the next phase of his career."

After a 24-year absence from Los Angeles, Great Britain's most prestigious ballet company The Royal Ballet returns to The Music Center for two back-to-back-weekends this July at The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. From July 5-7, 2019, The Royal Ballet performs its masterpiece, Mayerling, a three-act work depicting scandal and murder in the 19th century Austro-Hungarian Empire.

FORCE OF NATURE NATALIA is a thrilling new film documentary about Royal Ballet Principal NATALIA OSIPOVA directed by the BAFTA, Prix Italia and Grierson award-winning British arts documentary filmmaker GERALD FOX.

The Royal Opera House today launches its 2019/20 Season, unveiling an exciting range of new commissions, world premieres and much-loved revivals, supported by a diverse range of ticketed and free daytime events, activities and festivals for people of all ages.

Asolo Repertory Theatre and The Sarasota Ballet proudly announce the installation of brand new seating in the Harold and Esther Mertz Theatre, the main performing space for Asolo Repertory Theatre and the home of The Sarasota Ballet. Located in the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, which is also home to the FSU/Asolo Conservatory for Actor Training, the exquisite Mertz Theatre is one of Sarasota's most populated and significant cultural venues.

The Washington Ballet (TWB) is pleased to announce the dancers taking part in this season's exchange program with The Royal Danish Ballet. TWB's Alexandros Pappajohn traveled to Copenhagen, Denmark on April 8 for two months and has been cast in Lady of the Camellias. Tobias Praetorius a member of The Royal Danish Ballet Corps de Ballet performed with TWB in the company's Three World Premieres at The Harman Center April 3-7, 2019. He had a lead role in Trey McIntyre's Teeming Waltzes.

Boston Ballet presents Sir Frederick Ashton's Cinderella, an enchanting full-length classic fairytale ballet. The production is set to the highly-acclaimed soaring score by Sergei Prokofiev, performed by the Boston Ballet Orchestra under Music Director Mischa Santora. Cinderella runs May 10-June 8 at the Citizens Bank Opera House. 

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents The Washington Ballet: Julie Kent with Dana Genshaft and Ethan Stiefel on Sunday, March 10 and Monday, March 11, 2019 at 7:30pm.

The Sleeping Beauty Soiree - a fundraiser hosted by the Women's Committee of The Washington Ballet - raised $140,000 the evening of Friday, February 8 to benefit the company's artistic programs. Over 250 guests were transported through a magical forest and into Princess Aurora's 16th birthday celebration at the Homer Building in downtown Washington, D.C. The enchanted world of The Sleeping Beauty complete with heralding trumpeters, dueling knights, courtiers, singers from the Washington Revels and costumed dancers from The Washington Ballet provided a medieval backdrop that paired with a gourmet buffet, signature cocktails, and dancing.

New York Theatre Ballet (Diana Byer, Founder and Artistic Director) announces its return to Danspace Project for their fifth season with their REP program (March 14-16), this year featuring Sir Richard Alston's The Seasons, Matthew Nash's The Elements of Style, and Merce Cunningham's Scramble (1967). As the "small but mighty" (The New York Times) company gears up to celebrate its 40th Anniversary, they are also pleased to announce that Sir Richard Alston-a choreographer who has spent "half century in the rigorous pursuit of purity in movement" (The Guardian), and who was knighted in this New Year's Honours-has accepted the post of Resident Choreographer for the next two seasons.

This March, The Royal Ballet, in association with The Linbury Trust and the Motor Neurone Disease (MND) Association, presents a celebration of the life of Annette Page in the Linbury Theatre. Featuring interviews, archive films and dancers of The Royal Ballet performing a programme of divertissements, this celebration of Page's life will also include the world premiere of a pas de deux created by choreographer Andrew McNicol, commissioned by The Linbury Trust and performed by Royal Ballet Soloists Olivia Cowley and Nicol Edmonds.