Frederick Ashton News

The Royal Ballet brings its celebrations of 70 years at the Royal Opera House to a close with a mixed program of works by its Founder Choreographer Frederick Ashton. This special performance will be presented at the River Street Theatre in Jaffrey on Sunday, June 25 and Monday, June 26. It will be shown as it was produced in London two weeks ago and captured in high definition for cinema.

Sisters Grimm are delighted that Nathalie Harrison, First Artist at The Royal Ballet will join the cast of VOICES OF THE AMAZON, with kind permission from Kevin O'Hare, Artistic Director of The Royal Ballet.

The Sarasota Ballet's Director Iain Webb announces a new addition to the upcoming 2017 - 2018 Season with the Company premiere of George Balanchine's Bugaku.

After recent performances of new choreography from Crystal Pite, Wayne McGregor and Liam Scarlett, one could be forgiven for believing the Royal Ballet has dragged itself reluctantly into the 21st Century. Perhaps it's an overly emotional response, there is something wonderfully reassuring and warm in this Ashton triple bill that closes the current season. It's a return to what the Royal do best in these delicate works shine in their artistry and finesse.

San Francisco Ballet announces ten promotions, eight new Company members, and six apprentices for the 2017-18 Season. Soloist Jennifer Stahl has been promoted to principal dancer, and Isabella DeVivo, Jahna Frantziskonis, Esteban Hernandez, and Steven Morse have been promoted to soloist. In addition, SF Ballet Apprentices Alexandre Cagnat, Shene Lazarus, Davide Occhipinti, Nathaniel Remez, and Isabella Walsh have been promoted to the corps de ballet. Ulrik Birkkjaer and Ana Sophia Scheller join the Company as principal dancers and Solomon Golding, Gabriela Gonzalez, Blake Johnston, Madison Keesler, Wona Park, and Joseph Warton have joined SF Ballet as corps de ballet members. Ethan Chudnow, Anatalia Hordov, Carmela Mayo, Swane Messaoudi, Larisa Nugent, and Benjamin Pearson of San Francisco Ballet School have been promoted to the rank of apprentice.

The Sarasota Ballet announces the 2017 - 2018 Executive Officers for the Board of Directors: Hillary Steele, Chair; Judy Cahn, Vice Chair; Pat Kenny, Treasurer; Dick Johnson, Secretary; Rich Segall, Governance Officer; Jean Weidner Goldstein, Chair Emeritus; and Sydney Goldstein, Chair Emerita.

Reviewing George Balanchine 'A Midsummer Night's Dream' on Wednesday, May 24 was like visiting an old friend. My father took me to see it as a child soon after it opened in 1962, and while the memory fades as we grow older, Gloria Govrin in the role of Hippolyta bounding around the stage remains steadfast, never diminishing. Thank you, New York City Ballet, for the recollection and for a wonderful theatrical evening.

Winter is sure to be warmer with The Fugard Bioscope's screenings of the best of world theatre and ballet from the National Theatre, the Royal Ballet and the Globe this June. Next month, ballet, Shakespeare and Shaw will be screened in the Fugard's state-of-the-art bioscope.

Under the leadership of Principal Jessica Wheeler and Artistic Director Robert Parker, Elmhurst Ballet School, the associate school of Birmingham Royal Ballet, announces details of Summer Variations, its summer show programme for 2017. The shows take place at Elmhurst's studio theatre in the school's Birmingham home from Friday 7 to Friday 14 July 2017.

The Sarasota Ballet's Director Iain Webb announces the Company's 2017 - 2018 Season, with seven programs, including 12 ballets by some of the most celebrated and prestigious choreographers and composers of the ballet world.

WARNER BROS. presents BUGS BUNNY AT THE SYMPHONY II -a spectacular fusion of classical music and classic animation that celebrates the world's most famous and beloved cartoons and their equally famous music-with the New Jersey Symphony Orchestra, June 3-4 in Newark and New Brunswick. Conducted by Emmy Award-winner George Daugherty, and created and produced by Daugherty and Emmy Award-winning producer David Ka Lik Wong, the production is a celebration of the world's favorite Warner Bros. Looney Tunes characters on-screen with live full symphony orchestra accompaniment.

De Valois, Balanchine & Robbins, The Sarasota Ballet's final program of the Season, will open at the Sarasota Opera House on April 28 and features four works by three of the great masters of the dance world. These performances mark the Company premieres of George Balanchine's Valse-Fantaisie and Jerome Robbin's Fancy Free and is the first time The Sarasota Ballet will perform a ballet by Jerome Robbins. The program will be accompanied with live music by the Sarasota Orchestra, conducted by Ormsby Wilkins-Music Director of American Ballet Theatre.

The Washington Ballet (TWB) presents the world premiere of Ethan Stiefel's Frontier next month, a ballet inspired by President Kennedy and his space travel aspirations for America.

Jaffrey's River Street Theatre (RST), a project of The Park Theatre, announced today their premiere schedule of The Royal Opera & Ballet which is being added to their expanding Stage to Screen series. The River Street Theatre is currently the exclusive venue presenting the Royal Opera House HD screenings in northern New England.

With 12 titles, the Royal Opera House Cinema Season 2017/18 is set to thrill audiences in more than 1500 cinemas in over 40 countries. Including some of The Royal Opera and The Royal Ballet's much-loved classical repertory, the world's top ballet and opera stars, and four brand new productions, over 50 cinemas throughout the United States will show the recorded performances from Covent Garden on dates to be announced from October 2017 through July 2018.

Details of The Royal Ballet's 2017/18 Season have been announced. The full production list is as follows:

If Matthew Bourne had set out to produce a dance show to express the sentiments of Brexit, he couldn't have done it more effectively than this. The fact that Early Adventures is a mixed bag of pieces he made almost 30 years ago is by the by: two thirds of the evening is a fond and gently satirical examination of British ideas of what it means to be British; the other third is about the British notion of foreign-ness, specifically that alien species just across the Channel. To be sure, the original intention was far from political, but the resonance these pieces have acquired, post-Article 50, is striking. 

DEVON CARNEY, artistic director of the Kansas City Ballet, will be teaching a master class for the Classical Ballet Theatre in Herndon, Virginia on April 23, 2017 from 10 A.M. – 12 Noon. For more information contact Classical Ballet Theatre at www.ctnva.org

Boston Ballet presents the coming-of-age fairytale The Sleeping Beauty by Marius Petipa with additional choreography by Sir Frederick Ashton. Hailed as one of the Company's trademark works, this quintessential production features soaring music by Peter Ilych Tchaikovsky and sumptuous sets and costumes by Emmy Award-winning designer David Walker. 

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) is pleased to present the New York debut of Scotland's national dance company, Scottish Ballet, from April 11 – 16, featuring a mixed bill including the U.S. premieres of Motion of Displacement and Ten Poems. Tickets range from $10-$56 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.