The Center for Ballet Arts Announces Fall 2016 Events

The Center for Ballet Arts has announced their schedule of fall 2016 events

In collaboration with NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet presents a staging-in-process of the second movement of the rarely seen ballet Gounod Symphony, choreographed by George Balanchine. This piece premieres in its entirety at The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. this October. The brief performance is followed by a conversation with Jennifer Homans, Founder and Director of the Center for Ballet and the Arts and Suzanne Farrell, Artistic Director of The Suzanne Farrell Ballet, where they discuss Farrell's staging of Gounod Symphony and her work with the company.

To purchase tickets visit the NYU Skirball Center for the Performing Arts website.

See the full fall line-up below:

*Dis-tanz:* Distance and Dance in Nietzsche and Heidegger

A Talk on Ballet featuring Avital Ronell

Tuesday, September 13
6:00 PM
The Center for Ballet and the Arts, 16 Cooper Square

Noted philosopher Avital Ronell delivers a talk on ballet centering on philosophy's largely disavowed dependency on dance. Beginning with Kant's "pink ballet slippers," and encompassing the work of Nietzsche, Heidegger, and others, Ronell examines the significance of dance moves on various conceptual grids. This event is free but seating is limited. RSVP here.

Inside Nijinsky's Diaries

Featuring Paul Giamatti
With Joan Acocella, Jennifer Homans, Darryl Pinckney and Larry Wolff

Monday, October 24
7:00 PM
The Center for Ballet and the Arts, 16 Cooper Square

Co-presented with the Brooklyn Academy Of Music (BAM)

Emmy-Award winning actor Paul Giamatti performs a reading of excerpts from Vaslav Nijinsky's diaries, chronicling his profound alienation and descent into madness, as performed by Mikhail Baryshnikov in Letter to a Man, directed by Robert Wilson as part of BAM's Next Wave Festival. Afterwards, leading thinkers in the field engage in a discussion on dance, madness, and sexuality. Panelists include The New Yorkercontributor Joan Acocella, novelist/playwright/essayist Darryl Pinckney, and historian Larry Wolff with CBA Director Jennifer Homans as moderator. This event is free but seating is limited. RSVP here.

Diversity and Dance:
A Discussion on Race, Equity, and Other-ness in Ballet and Society

Featuring Ta-Nehisi Coates, Jennifer Homans and Benjamin Millepied

Sunday, November 6
5:30 PM
Albertine, 972 Fifth Avenue

Co-presented with the Cultural Services of the French Embassy as part of Festival Albertine 2016

Recently, ballet companies have been denounced for uncritically perpetuating traditions at odds with contemporary society and notions of racial diversity, equality, and social justice. In France, Benjamin Millepied is actively trying to push back against racial stereotyping in the ballet; meanwhile, in the United States, the recent rise of Misty Copeland as the first black female principal dancer at American Ballet Theatre has thrust this decades-old debate into the spotlight. However, in both societies, ballet traditions run deep and those who may have the most to gain from reevaluating ballet's traditions and labels --minorities and dancers of color--are some of its staunchest supporters.

Ta-Nehisi Coates, Benjamin Millepied, and historian Jennifer Homans discuss race, equity, and other-ness in ballet, against a larger backdrop of identity politics in American and French society today. This event is free but seating is limited and on a first-come, first-serve basis.

Made possible by Michele and Timothy Barakett and Cheryl and Blair Effron

Lincoln Kirstein Lecture

Featuring Ian Bostridge

Tuesday, December 6
6:00 PM
Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center, 129 West 67th Street

This year marks the second annual Lincoln Kirstein Lecture, featuring internationally renowned tenor, Ian Bostridge. In honor of Lincoln Kirstein, one of the most significant influences in 20th Century American culture, the series pays tribute to Kirstein's significant leadership and wide-ranging contributions to New York City's cultural life. In this spirit Mr. Bostridge, an Oxford scholar of political science and history, as well as an opera and lieder singer, will deliver an original lecture on the subject of song and dance. This event is free. RSVP here.

Sponsored by the American Express Foundation