American Ballet Theatre News

Critically acclaimed choreographers Larry Keigwin and Jerry Mitchell will host the 20th Anniversary of Fire Island Dance Festival (#fidance), the most anticipated cultural event of the season on Fire Island. Some of the most-talked-about dancers and dance companies will perform an exciting mix of Broadway, ballet, Hawaiian and modern dance July 18-20. Since its humble beginnings in 1995 with seven dancers on a makeshift stage, the festival has grown to become the charitable event of the summer in Fire Island Pines, raising more than $3.3 million. The festival is produced by and benefits Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS.

Princeton Ballet School's Summer Intensive Program will be hosting several guest teachers this year, including New York City Ballet dancer Unity Phelan. Phelan originally trained at Princeton Ballet School from 2000 to 2009, and then continued her training at the School of American Ballet, the official training academy of New York City Ballet. She became an apprentice of the company in December of 2012, and joined New York City Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in November of 2013.

As the National Ballet of Spain has suspended its international tour, performances scheduled April 24–26, 2015 at Segerstrom Center for the Arts have been cancelled.

On The Town choreographer Joshua Bergasse choreographed a performance of the show's iconic opening number, 'New York, New York,' featuring the Top 20 finalists.

This fall, one of America's classic musical comedies is back on Broadway - ON THE TOWN! Below, check out a promo for the show filmed throughout New York City.

This week's SO YOU THINK YOU CAN DANCE had a very Broadway feel to it with Josh Bergasse, the choreographer of the upcoming ON THE TOWN revival, staging a Top-20 routine to the show's anthem 'New York, New York' (the one by Bernstein, Comden, and Green, not Kander and Ebb). As we learned last week, this season's winner will earn a spot in the musical's ensemble. While some people, including @Actor_Friend, don't like this idea, remember, the last network show to give away roles on Broadway brought us Laura Osnes, so let's reserve judgment, just in case a reality show brings us more Broadway royalty this time.

The Festival Ballet Theatre will host its 2014 Gala of the Stars on Friday, August 15, 2014 at 7pm.

Final performances for American Ballet Theatre's New York Summer Intensive Program are scheduled for Friday, July 25, 2014 at 12 P.M. and 4 P.M. at Frank Sinatra School of the Arts in Astoria, New York. The performances mark the conclusion of ABT's 19th annual New York Summer Intensive, a five-week training program for dancers ages 12 to 22.

Critically acclaimed choreographers Larry Keigwin and Jerry Mitchell will host the 20th Anniversary of Fire Island Dance Festival (#fidance), the most anticipated cultural event of the season on Fire Island. Some of the most-talked-about dancers and dance companies will perform an exciting mix of Broadway, ballet, Hawaiian and modern dance July 18-20.

Daniel Ulbricht/BALLET 2014 offers an exclusive opportunity for audiences to experience some of today's most remarkable ballet dancers in the intimate Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, July 16-20. New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Daniel Ulbricht directs and performs with a select ensemble of top stars including Tyler Angle, Craig Hall, Robert Fairchild, Russell Janzen, Emily Kikta, Rebecca Krohn, Tiler Peck, Georgina Pazcoguin, and Teresa Reichlen.

Daniel Ulbricht/BALLET 2014 offers an exclusive opportunity for audiences to experience some of today's most remarkable ballet dancers in the intimate Ted Shawn Theatre at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, July 16-20. New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Daniel Ulbricht directs and performs with a select ensemble of top stars including Tyler Angle, Craig Hall, Robert Fairchild, Russell Janzen, Emily Kikta, Rebecca Krohn, Tiler Peck, Georgina Pazcoguin, and Teresa Reichlen. The program is equally impressive, including Christopher Wheeldon's Liturgy, danced to Arvo Pärt's ”Fratres;” Two Hearts, a collaboration between Benjamin Millepied and composer Nico Muhly; Furiant, created by NYCB Soloist Justin Peck; Sunshine, a solo for Ulbricht by Larry Keigwin; the world premiere of Opus 19. Andante, a duet by critically acclaimed young choreographer Emery LeCrone; and the classic Fancy Free, the first ballet created by Jerome Robbins and Leonard Bernstein in 1944, which subsequently inspired the full-length musical On the Town. Cast subject to change.

American Ballet Theatre's Shakespeare Celebration on July 2nd delved into magical mishaps while bidding adieu to dancer Yuriko Kajiya. The evening began in a lush wonderland of Frederick Ashton's The Dream and ended with the choppy waters of Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky's The Tempest. Driven by patriarchy, both ballets presented hierarchy and tradition as precariously shifting power schemes.

Yuriko Kajiya and Jared Matthews, both Soloists with American Ballet Theatre since 2007, will give their farewell performances with the Company today, July 5 at the Metropolitan Opera House. Kajiya will debut in the role of Swanilda in Coppelia at the matinee, opposite Joseph Gorak as Franz, and Matthews will dance the role of Franz at the evening performance, opposite Paloma Herrera as Swanilda.

The Hartt School Community Division (HCD) presents the ballet Don Quixote, staged by guest director Angel Corella, on Saturday, July 26, at 7:30 p.m. The performance will take place in Millard Auditorium on the University of Hartford campus, 200 Bloomfield Ave., West Hartford. Please call the University Box Office at 860.768.4228 or 800.274.8587, or visit hcd.hartford.edu, to purchase tickets. Admission is $10. University of Hartford discount rates are not available for this production. Group rates may be available to organizations. Contact Amanda Kilpatrick, Hartt Community Division Dance Department, at 860.768.6000, for more group rate information.

Sascha Radetsky, a Soloist with American Ballet Theatre since 2003, will give his farewell performance with the Company tonight, July 3 at the Metropolitan Opera House in the role of Franz inCoppelia. Radetsky will dance opposite Xiomara Reyes in the role of Swanilda.

On June 23rd, Gillian Murphy and Marcelo Gomes were scheduled to dance the lead roles of Odette-Odile and Prince Siegfried in American Ballet Theatre's Swan Lake. Unfortunately, after an exquisitely musical and technically proficient first act, it was announced that Ms. Murphy would not dance in the second act due to an injury, sparking a collective gasp from the audience, especially since the first act was danced so well.

Isabella Boylston has been promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Joseph Gorak, Christine Shevchenko, Devon Teuscher and Roman Zhurbin have been promoted to Soloists. The promotions, which become effective August 1, were announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

Principal casting has been announced for the upcoming world premiere production of AN AMERICAN IN PARIS. The cast will include Robert Fairchild as Jerry Mulligan, Leanne Cope as Lise Dassin, Veanne Cox as Madame Baurel, Jill Paice as Milo Davenport, Brandon Uranowitz as Adam Hochberg, and Max Von Essen as Henri Baurel.

Dance legend Desmond Richardson, one of the seven dancers who performed at the first Fire Island Dance Festival in 1995, returns to the festival stage for the 20th anniversary July 18-20, 2014, on the shores of the Great South Bay.

I was privileged to see American Ballet Theatre performing Giselle twice this season.