Melissa Hayden News

Chris Alloways-Ramsey began his early training with Barbara (Olewine) Wouters, later completing his classical training with Mira Popovich and Dame Sonia Arova. He attended summer programs on full merit scholarships at Kirov Academy, School of American Ballet, Houston Ballet Academy, and San Francisco Ballet. Her graduated from high school at North Carolina School of the Arts with a focus in Ballet and received his A.L.B, cum laude, from Harvard University in 2003.

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) is proud to present the New York premiere of Daniil Simkin's INTENSIO, a program of works featuring an exceptional company of dancers, including Simkiin's fellow American Ballet Theatre members Isabella Boylston, Alexandre Hammoudi, Blaine Hoven, Calvin Royal III, Hee Seo, Cassandra Trenary and James Whiteside and guest artist Céline Cassone. Featuring works by acclaimed choreographers Gregory Dolbashian, Alexander Ekman, Jorma Elo and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, this must-see event will take place from January 5-10 at The Joyce Theater. Tickets range in price from $10-$75 and can be purchased through JoyceCharge at www.Joyce.org, or by calling 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at 19th Street.

Programming for American Ballet Theatre's 2015 Fall season at the David H. Koch Theater was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. Highlighting the season will be the New York City Premiere of a new work by Mark Morris and the Company Premieres of Frederick Ashton's Monotones I and II, George Balanchine's Valse-Fantaisie and AfterEffect by Marcelo Gomes. The 2015 Fall season at the David H. Koch Theater, October 21 through November 1, marks the conclusion of ABT's 75th Anniversary celebration.

Calling all balletomanes, historians, Ph.D. candidates, sociologists, audience members, and just about everyone else interested in dance. Do you want to see Diana Adams, Allegra Kent, Violette Verdy, Jillana, Maria Tallchief, Tanaquil LeClercq, Andre Eglevsky, Suki Schorer, Patricia Neary, Carol Sumner, Todd Bolender, Arthur Mitchell, Francisco Moncion, Nicholas Magallanes and Jacques d'Amboise again in the intimate surrounding of your living room? No, this not a joke, but the first of many VAI DVD releases from Montreal's Radio-Canada archive, encompassing a televised history of Balanchine's many works from 1954 well into the 1970s.

Cornish Dance Theater, the performing ensemble of the Dance Department at Cornish College of the Arts, will feature choreography by Iyun Ashani Harrison, Jose Limon, Vivian Little, Michele Miller, and Amy O'Neal at its Fall 2014 Concert, which takes place at the Cornish Playhouse this weekend, Nov. 21 and 22. Many of the pieces, including one world premiere from Harrison, focus on issues relevant to the dancers and today's college students.

Cornish Dance Theater, the performing ensemble of the Dance Department at Cornish College of the Arts, will feature choreography by Iyun Ashani Harrison, Jose Limon, Vivian Little, Michele Miller, and Amy O'Neal at its Fall 2014 Concert, which takes place at the Cornish Playhouse on Nov. 21 and 22. Many of the pieces, including one world premiere from Harrison, focus on issues relevant to the dancers and today's college students.

Paola Hartley and Astrit Zejnati, principal dancers of Ballet Arizona, will be members of the faculty for the Shreveport Dance Academy's Summer Intensive from July 28-August 1, 2014 in Shreveport, Louisiana.

The world knows George Balanchine as the genius choreographer who transformed classical ballet, but what was he like as a friend? As a life coach? As a teacher? Very few knew him in these roles, but New York City Ballet soloist of twenty-two years, Frank Ohman, did. In his just-published memoir, Balanchine's Dancing Cowboy, Ohman reveals new, previously unexplored aspects of Mr. Balanchine's brilliance: as a master teacher, as a caring friend, and as a deeply philosophical man.

Just last week, Cameron Mackintosh and Andrew Lloyd Webber's Really Useful Group announced the casting and initial tour schedule for their spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's The Phantom of the Opera launching a major North American Tour in Providence, R.I. at the Providence Performing Arts Center. With newly reinvented staging and stunning scenic design, this new version of PHANTOM, the most successful musical of all-time, will be performed by a cast and orchestra of 52, making this one of the largest productions on tour in North America. Meet the rest of the cast below!

Degage, Coupe, Glissade, Croise... These are not only Steps in Ballet, but also Techniques of the Blade. Pointwork can be done with a Rapier as well as a Point Shoe. Translating the choreography of the duel to the language of ballet, this Benefit Performance for Salon/Sanctuary Concerts will feature the world premiere of a fiery and intimate pas de deux created for Jared Angle and Megan LeCrone, as well as a live presentation of the historically-based, fiercely beautiful sword fight (performed by a male and female fighter), upon which the ballet is based.

Degage, Coupe, Glissade, Croise... These are not only Steps in Ballet, but also Techniques of the Blade. Pointwork can be done with a Rapier as well as a Point Shoe. Translating the choreography of the duel to the language of ballet, this Benefit Performance for Salon/Sanctuary Concerts will feature the world premiere of a fiery and intimate pas de deux created for Jared Angle and Megan LeCrone, as well as a live presentation of the historically-based, fiercely beautiful sword fight (performed by a male and female fighter), upon which the ballet is based.

It wasn't until Frederick Ashton undertook a new creation of the ballet that it finally became an international hit. He referred to it as his 'poor man's Pastorale,' a lovely reference to Beethoven's symphony where things go from simplicity to thunderstorms and back to normalcy and contentment with the world. He commissioned The Royal Opera House conductor, John Lanchberry, to orchestrate a new score that, while recalling French culture and manners (it did begin as a French ballet after all), is firmly rooted in an English sensibility

Tanaquil LeClercq was one of Balanchine's most famous ballerinas from the late 1940s until 1956. Unfortunately we don't have much footage of her in full length ballets, so here's one that spotlights her immense gifts not only for dance, but comedy as well.

DONNA ROSS, former soloist of the Joffrey Ballet, will be on the faculty for Motion 41 Dance's Summer Intensive from June 10-15, 2013 in Omaha, Nebraska.

PAOLA HARTLEY and ASTRIT ZEJNATI, principal dancers of Ballet Arizona, will appear as guest artists in the Shreveport Metropolitan Ballet's production of The Nutcracker which will be performed on December 1 (Evening), and December 2 (Matinee), 2012 at the Riverview Theatre in Shreveport, Louisiana.

The COLUMN AWARDS Board of Directors and the Executive Director/Producer announced today that Tony Award winner and Kennedy Center Honoree Chita Rivera will be the Co-host for the 13th Annual COLUMN AWARDS Gala.

The COLUMN AWARDS Board of Directors and the Executive Director/Producer announced today that Tony Award winner and Kennedy Center Honoree Chita Rivera will be the Co-host for the 13th Annual COLUMN AWARDS Gala.

West Coast Ensemble's smash-hit critically-acclaimed production of GYPSY, with music by Jule Styne, lyrics by Stephen Sondheim, book by Arthur Laurents, musical direction by Johanna Kent, choreography by John Todd and directed by Richard Israel, will close on Sunday, July 31 at the Theatre of Arts Arena Stage, 1625 N. Las Palmas Avenue in Hollywood.