George Balanchine News

LA Ballet's upcoming 2016/2017 Season launches their second decade and embraces the full-length classical ballets, the Balanchine repertoire that so revolutionized the dance world, and the commitment to identify, nurture and present both emerging and world-renowned choreographers. Co-Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary have announced the next season includes two full-length story ballets, the family-friendly comic ballet "Coppelia" and the holiday favorite "The Nutcracker" and two mixed bill programs, "Modernists /Directors' Choice" and "Balanchine/Master of the Dance." The upcoming season will also reintroduce pre-performance discussions, hosted by Christensen and Neary and their guests (at select performances).

The Tony Awards Administration Committee announced today the Nominating Committee for the 2016-17 Broadway season. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. 

Segerstrom Center for the Arts begins its 30th Anniversary celebration with another one-night-only star-studded evening of dance: Tour de Force III. The performance will be the first event to represent the array and diversity of the Center's artistic programming, in this case, 30 years of presenting the greatest ballet companies and the world's most celebrated dancers. Tour de Force III will be on Saturday, August 27 in Segerstrom Hall. Produced in collaboration with Ardani Artists, the program will include four Center premieres: Clay by Vladimir Varnava, Zeitgeist by Alastair Marriott, Tristesse by Marcelo Gomes and Le Divertissement du Roi by Maxim Petrov. The international cast includes Diana Vishneva, Joaquin de Luz, Marcelo Gomes, Denis Matvienko, Marcelino Sambe?, Friedemann Vogel and Edward Watson, as well as members of the The Royal Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada.

Lincoln Center at the Movies: Great American Dance continues its collaboration with Fathom Events this summer with encore screenings of three of its inaugural dance presentations: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Hispanico, and San Francisco Ballet.  The three presentations will be shown in approximately 115 theaters nationwide.  Lincoln Center at the Movies was launched in fall of 2015 with Great American Dance, a series presenting performances by four of American's leading dance companies (New York City Ballet's George Balanchine's The Nutcracker was the fourth event in the series).

"Balanchine and Beyond," the Pennsylvania Ballet's strangely named program that I saw Saturday, June 11, 2016 at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia, was a very satisfying evening. Of course, beyond can mean anything, so the choice of Trisha Brown, Hans van Manen and Jean-Pierre Frohlich was a very strange, or very apt, combination, depending on how you view and take your ballet. So I decided, if this is what they are presenting, I'll sit down and enjoy myself. And, for the most part, I did.

We all know that Eliot Feld – who might be New York City's most accomplished man in dance – has a love for calisthenics, vernacular twists and grooves, and folklore. But since closing his ballet company in 2003, his work has been primarily with students who cannot understand the dry wit inherent to his choreography. The effect is decidedly discombobulating. One wishes that Mr. Feld would either up the ante in his work – there were no pirouettes or turns, though there was plenty of batterie, which tends to be more difficult – or further develop the artistry of his charges.

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival 2016 opens its 84th annual season with exciting contemporary dance company Aspen Santa Fe Ballet presenting a diverse program, June 22-26 in the Ted Shawn Theatre. Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is dually-based in New Mexico and Colorado and led by Artistic Director Tom Mossbrucker and Executive Director Jean-Philippe Malaty. Exhibiting masterful technique and powerful performances, the company brings stirring works by a roster of esteemed choreographers including Alejandro Cerrudo's Silent Ghost, Fernando Melo's Re:play, and Cayetano Soto's Huma Rojo.

CHICAGO —The Chicago Dancing Festival proudly celebrates its 10th anniversary of free programming featuring performances by leading ballet, modern and contemporary dancers from across the country, August 23-27, 2016. Just as the Festival draws from top dance companies, this year's program will once again be presented in Chicago's top downtown venues including the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park plus the highly anticipated return to Chicago's Landmark Stage, the Auditorium Theatre. 

The School Of American Ballet (SAB) is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the school of George Balanchine's New York City Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional vocational ballet training for students aged 11-18.

Before the concert event, BroadwayWorld sat down with Megan Fairchild, who will return to the Broadway world after her run in ON THE TOWN last year. Fairchild chats with us about ballet vs. theatre, returning to theatre for one-night only and much more!

?The Chicago Dancing Festival proudly celebrates its 10th anniversary of free programming featuring performances by leading ballet, modern and contemporary dancers from across the country, August 23-27, 2016. Just as the Festival draws from top dance companies, this year's program will once again be presented in Chicago's top downtown venues including the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park plus the highly anticipated return to Chicago's Landmark Stage, the Auditorium Theatre.

The afternoon performance on Saturday May 28, 2016 of the New York City Ballet (NYCB) was bubbling with children and balletomanes in anticipation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. This playful ballet, which was based upon the Shakespearean play, was delightfully displayed with the combination of music by Felix Mendelssohn and choreography by the company's co-founder, George Balanchine.

Charlotte Ballet announces Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux's twenty-first and final season of programming as president and artistic director. Bonnefoux, who has led Charlotte Ballet since 1996, will retire at the end of the season.

Houston Ballet's 2016 Spring Mixed Repertory Program reprises Balanchine's SERENADE and Sir Kenneth Macmillan's GLORIA and presents the Houston Ballet premiere of Alexander Ekman's self-aware comedic contemporary work CACTI. We talk to company principal dancer Ian Casady ('Gloria' and 'Cacti') about the joys and challenges of appearing in the program.

?Metropolitan Ballet Academy & Company (MBA/MBC), recognized by Pointe magazine as one of “seven local studios in America cultivating top talent” (Oct/Nov 2011), will celebrate its 20th Anniversary year with a Gala Performance on Saturday, June 4, 2016 at 4:00 pm. Alumni from Metropolitan's two decades of training will return from their professional engagements with dance companies across America to perform in the Gala, which also features pre-professional Metropolitan Ballet Company dancers in classical and contemporary works. The Gala Performance will be held at the Josephine Muller Auditorium of Abington Friends School, 575 Washington Lane, Jenkintown, PA 19046. Tickets are $50 each and available at 215-663-1665 or online at www.metropolitanballetcompany.org.

May 26, 2016 (BOSTON, MA)—Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director of Boston Ballet, has announced six promotions from within the company for the 2016–2017 season. Soloists Anaïs Chalendard and Seo Hye Han have been promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer, Second Soloist Junxiong Zhao to Soloist, and Corina Gill to Second Soloist. Samivel Evans and Desean Taber, two dancers from Boston Ballet II—Boston Ballet's second company—will join the Company as Corps de Ballet dancers. All promotions are effective August 15, 2016. The full 2016–2017 roster of dancers will be announced at a later date.

The School Of American Ballet (SAB) is one of the most famous classical ballet schools in the world and is the school of George Balanchine's New York City Ballet, a leading international ballet company based at the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in New York City. The school trains students from the age of six, with professional vocational ballet training for students aged 11-18.

The Joffrey Ballet Concert Group, under the artistic direction of Davis Robertson, is performing at New York Live Arts, where I saw them on Friday, May 27, 2016. Robertson introduced the not-for-profit company as good dancers who are currently unemployed.

May 12th 2016 - May 15th 2016 By Balanchine, Neenan, & Scarlett, music by Tchaikovsky, Poulenc & Herion May 12, 2016 to May 15, 2016 - Academy of Music