ABT ACROSS AMERICA to Conclude Tour at Rockefeller Center

America's National Ballet Company will take to the road this summer, traveling by bus and truck to 8 U.S. cities and arriving in New York on Wednesday, July 21, 2021. The tour concludes with two performances on the plaza at Rockefeller Center, the site where Ballet Theatre offered its first public performances in 1940. The performances at 6:00 P.M. and 8:30 P.M. are free to the public with registration on Rockefeller Center's website.

ABT Across America builds on ABT's history of cross-country tours in the 1940s and 1950s.

20 ABT dancers and 28 support crew will travel across 15 states, for a total of 3,100 miles, performing outdoors for socially distanced audiences. The unique final performances in New York will take place with 21 dancers on a custom-built 40' x 40' stage on the South Plaza at Rockefeller Center between 48th and 49th Streets.

Each show will be performed without an intermission. Repertory for ABT Across America at Rockefeller Center will feature James Whiteside's New American Romance, a work for eight dancers set to music by Claude Debussy, an excerpt from Alexei Ratmansky's Seven Sonatas, Jessica Lang's pas de deux Let Me Sing Forevermore set to songs recorded by Tony Bennett, and Darrell Grand Moultrie's Indestructible Light, a celebration of American jazz music. Dancers scheduled to perform at Rockefeller Center include Joo Won Ahn, Aran Bell, Skylar Brandt, Thomas Forster, Calvin Royal III, Christine

Shevchenko, Cory Stearns, Devon Teuscher, Catherine Hurlin, Katherine Williams, Sierra Armstrong, Jacob Clerico, Michael de la Nuez, Anabel Katsnelson, Kanon Kimura, Erica Lall, Melvin Lawovi, Hannah Marshall, Duncan McIlwaine, Betsy McBride, and Stephanie Petersen.

"As necessity is the mother of invention, I am delighted to announce ABT Across America," said ABT Artistic Director Kevin Mckenzie. "With most indoor performing arts centers still closed, these outdoor settings will allow ABT's dancers to share their artistry, excellence, and optimism."

American Ballet Theatre is one of the great dance companies in the world. Few ballet companies equal ABT for its combination of size, scope, and outreach. Recognized as a living national treasure since

its founding in 1940, ABT annually tours the United States, performing for more than 300,000 people, and is the only major cultural institution to do so. For over 80 years, the Company has appeared in a total of 45 countries and has performed in all 50 states of the United States. ABT has recently enjoyed triumphant successes with engagements in Paris, Singapore, and Hong Kong. On April 27, 2006, by an act of Congress, American Ballet Theatre was designated America's National Ballet Company®.

For tickets and information, please visit https://www.rockefellercenter.com/events/abt-across-america-/.