George Balanchine News

Following the critical acclaim and record-breaking attendance of Festival 2014, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival opens its 2015 season in June.

May 26, 2015 - (Becket, MA) Following the critical acclaim and record-breaking attendance of Festival 2014, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival opens its 2015 season in June. Highlights of Festival 2015 include Three Acts, Two Dancers, One Radio Host, a special dance and radio stage production starring Ira Glass, host of This American Life; the return of Nederlands Dans Theater 2; the world premiere of American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Daniil Simkin's INTENSIO; Cuban contemporary ensemble Malpaso Dance Company, performing with GRAMMY Award-winning pianist and composer Arturo O'Farrill and the Afro Latin Jazz Ensemble; and the launch of Martha Graham Dance Company's 90th Anniversary, including a world premiere by eminent choreographer Mats Ek. 

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. is thrilled to present the New York debut of the Polish National Ballet, Poland's leading ballet company based in Warsaw, from June 16-21. The company, under the artistic direction of Krzysztof Pastor, will present a program of three works: two by Pastor (Adagio & Scherzo, a US Premiere and Moving Rooms, a New York Premiere) and Emanuel Gat's acclaimed Rite of Spring.  Tickets range in price from $10-$49 ($26-$37 for Joyce Theater members), and can be purchased through JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800 or via the internet at www.joyce.org.  The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street.

The Juilliard School will confer honorary doctorates on five remarkable artists during its 110th Commencement Ceremony today, May 22, 2015 at 11 a.m. in Alice Tully Hall, Lincoln Center (Broadway at 65th Street, New York City). Suzanne Farrell, Nicholas Hytner (pictured, left), Murray Perahia, Dianne Reeves, and Peter Sellars will be honored at Juilliard's May 2015 Commencement Ceremony.

ABT's 75th Anniversary Gala, a balletomane's dream of a performance on May 18th 2015 at the Metropolitan Opera House in Lincoln Center, treated the nearly sold-out audience to a joyous celebration in dance and archival images of the American Ballet Theatre's seven-and-a-half decade reign as 'America's National Ballet Company'. That designation became official with an act of Congress on April 27th 2006, but the troupe founded by Richard Pleasant with Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith as Co-Directors in 1940 had embraced the ethos of this country right from the start.

The School of American Ballet announces the Workshop Performance Benefit 2015 on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. The evening begins with cocktails at 5:30pm in Juilliard's Morse Hall, followed by the performance at 7pm in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Lincoln Center. A seated dinner at 9pm at the Mandarin Oriental will conclude the evening. For more information, please contact the special events office at SAB at

Centenary Stage Company's Young Performers work tirelessly to perfect their dance moves, learn all of their lines, and get their vocal harmonies just right for the culmination of their training session and this spring is no exception! These talented young thespians between the ages of 8 and 18 will fill the Little Theater with a variety of shows and musicals to entertain audiences of all ages May 29th - June 7th with their annual Spring Festival of Shows. The Young Performers Workshop (YPW) has been hailed as a "state treasure" by Peter Filichia of the Star Ledger and brings in youth from Morris, Warren, Hunterdon and Sussex counties. This spring, the festival will feature How to Succeed in Business without Really Trying, Gypsy, and American Sampler: 100 Years of Broadway Dance.  Performances will be held on select dates in the Little Theatre on the campus of Centenary College at 400 Jefferson Street in Hackettstown. 

Vienna Festival Ballet is currently in the midst of its 35th Anniversary Gala UK tour which celebrates their extensive repertoire and wonderful performers. I had the privilege of speaking to the company's principal female dancer, Emily-Joy Smith, who is presently enjoying performing some of her favourite characters all in one show!

BROADWAY GYPSY TEA DANCE recently gathered at the rooftop bar Top of the Strand at the Strand Hotel (33 West 37th Street) to celebrate Chita Rivera's 2015 Tony Award nomination, enlisting dancers from most of Broadway's shows. Those represented included The King & I, Aladdin, Kinky Boots, Something Rotten, Wicked, American in Paris, The Lion King and gypsies who danced with Rivera in her last Broadway show A Dancer's Life. Check out a look back below!

Nominated for the Pulitzer Prize in classical music, he has won Oscar, Golden Globe and World Soundtrack Awards

Southern California's premiere professional ballet company, Inland Pacific Ballet (IPB), celebrating its 20th season, presents Beauty and the Beast, a breathtaking full-length ballet based on the time honored fairy tale with 10 performances taking place from April 25 through May 16, 2015 in theaters within the San Gabriel Valley and the Inland Empire. A creative interpretation of this universal story of inner beauty, IPB's encore presentation promises a visual feast full of romance and drama. Stunning sets, brilliant dancing, gorgeous costumes and a stirring musical score that will transport audiences to an enchanted fairy tale world filled with fanciful characters, a charming village, an enchanted forest and the Beast's magnificent castle, all vividly illustrating the drama and romance of this beloved story and the transformative power of love.

BalletCollective's 2015 season will include its first performance at the Vail International Dance Festival, a residency at the Millbrook School, a residency at the Palm Theater in Telluride, and performances in New York City that will feature two world premiere ballets that showcase the company's commitment to artistic collaboration, today announced company director Troy Schumacher.

The Group Rep presents the world premiere musical Love Again, book by Doug Haverty, music by Adryan Russ, lyrics by Russ and Haverty, directed by Kay Cole, produced by Richard Alan Woody and Jon Cortez for The Group Rep, with musical direction by Richard Berent.

Manhattan Youth Ballet presents WITH REGARD... In Practice & Performance from May 29 & 30, 2015 at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center. In Practice & Performancewill feature world premieres by Brian Reeder, Marina Stavitskaya, Daniel Ulbricht, Frederick Earl Mosley and Natalia Boesch as well as George Balanchine's Valse Fantaisie. Performance times are Friday, May 29 at 7pm and Saturday, May 30 at 3pm and 7pm. Tickets are $25 for adults and $15 for students.

Chester Theatre Company Artistic Director Byam Stevens has been engaged by American Ballet Theatre to conceive, direct and produce, in partnership with ABT Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie, the company's 75th Anniversary Gala celebration. The Gala will take place at the Metropolitan Opera House on Monday, May 18. 

Suzanne Farrell, one of the greatest ballerinas of her generation, proved herself to be a charming and thoroughly engaging raconteur when she appeared on the evening of May 12th 2015 as a guest of LIVE from NYPL. The event at the New York Public Library on Fifth Avenue and 42nd Street in NYC was ably hosted by LIVE founder Paul Holdengraber and co-presented with Jennifer Homans' Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University as well as the Friends of the Jerome Robbins Dance Division at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts.

Ballet NY will present the world premiere of What Ever, choreographed by Medhi Bahiri, as well as works by John Butler, William Forsythe and Stanton Welch, July 9 - 11 at Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 West 55th Street (at 9th Avenue).