NYCB's Emma Portner Premiere Rescheduled

New York City Ballet announced today that a new work by choreographer Emma Portner, previously scheduled to premiere on Thursday, January 31 as part of the Company's annual New Combinations evening, will now premiere at NYCB's 2019 Spring Gala performance on Thursday, May 2.

The premiere was rescheduled at Portner's request as she will be undergoing treatment for a medical condition during the next few months when she was scheduled to begin working on the new ballet.

With the premiere now taking place during NYCB's 2019 Spring Season, Portner will begin rehearsals next March.

"While I wish I could begin sooner, I am very excited to begin the new work in the spring and want to thank everyone on the City Ballet team for their understanding," said Portner. "The willingness to prioritize this healing time while continuing to move forward with what will undoubtedly be a beautiful and memorable process is deeply moving to me."

The score for Portner's new work for NYCB, her first-ever for a ballet company, will be announced at a later date.

In addition to the new work by Portner, NYCB's 2019 Spring Gala will also feature a previously announced World Premiere by NYCB Resident Choreographer Justin Peck (music to be announced) and George Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3. Following their Spring Gala premieres, the new works by Portner and Peck will receive additional performances on Saturday, May 4 at 8 p.m.; Thursday, May 9 at 7:30 p.m.; Saturday, May 11 at 2 p.m.; and Sunday, May 12 at 3 p.m. on a program that will also include Balanchine's Valse Fantaisie and Western Symphony, as well as Jerome Robbins' A Suite of Dances.

The New Combinations Program on January 31 will now feature a previously announced world premiere by Justin Peck, set to a commissioned score for full orchestra by frequent Peck collaborator Sufjan Stevens, with orchestrations by composer and pianist Timo Andres; and scenic design by Mimi Lien, the acclaimed designer of sets and environments for theater, dance, and opera, who won a 2017 Tony Award for her designs for Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812, and was also a 2015 MacArthur Fellow. The program will also include William Forsythe's Herman Schmerman, which NYCB has not performed in its entirety since 1994; and Kyle Abraham's The Runaway, which premiered during NYCB's 2018 Fall Season. In addition to the first performance on January 31 at 7:30p.m., the New Combinations Program will also be performed on Sunday, February 3 at 3 p.m.; Saturday, February 9 at 2 p.m.; Sunday February 10 at 3 p.m.; Wednesday, February 27 at 7:30 p.m.; and Saturday, March 2 at 8 p.m.

Portner is a boundary-breaking choreographer and dancer who has created a unique repertory of works for multiple disciplines including live performances, film, and social media platforms. She is also the youngest woman in history to a choreograph a musical for the West End, with her work on Bat Out of Hell - The Musical, which Portner choreographed in 2017 at the age of 22, and is currently running at London's Dominion Theater. Portner most recently collaborated on a new work with dance artists Jon Boogz and Lil Buck for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, which premiered on September 27.

Born in Ottawa, Canada where she began training at Leeming Danceworks, she also trained with Canada's National Ballet School summer programs and graduated from Ottawa's Canterbury High School of the Performing Arts. At the age of 16 Portner moved to New York City to train at The Ailey School, the official school of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.

Portner's 2012 video Dancing In the Dark, which she created with Los Angeles-based dancer Matt Luck, went viral on social media and led to Portner being asked to choreograph a music video for Justin Bieber's 2015 music video project "PURPOSE: The Movement." Her piece for the project, set to Bieber's Life is Worth Living, features Portner in a duet she choreographed under the direction of Parris Goebel for herself and dancer Patrick Cook, which has now been viewed more than 50 million times. Portner also created choreography for Bieber's Purpose World Tour.

All performances will take place at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, which is located at West 63rd Street and Columbus Avenue, and tickets are available online at nycballet.com, by phone at 212-496-0600, or in person at the David H. Koch Theater Box Office.