American Repertory Ballet, New Jersey's preeminent ballet company, voted NJ's Favorite Dance Company in the Jersey Arts People's Choice awards, is delighted to announce its 2013-2014 Season of performances around the state. Season highlights include three major productions: the premiere of Artistic Director Douglas Martin's Romeo and Juliet at State Theatre in New Brunswick, with live music played by the Rutgers Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of Kynan Johns; ARB's 50th Annual Nutcracker Season, which will span five weekends at theaters across NJ and include a “Celebrate the Legacy” reception; and Night of Fire, a program featuring the premiere of Martin's Firebird and the company premiere of Kirk Peterson's Afternoon of a Faun, at McCarter Theatre in Princeton. The 2013-2014 season will also include brand new works by American choreographers Mary Barton, Trinette Singleton, and Kirk Peterson and revivals of works by Ann Marie DeAngelo, Patrick Corbin, and the late Gerald Arpino, Joffrey Ballet co-founder and choreographer.
American Ballet Theatre News
Every year, Princeton Ballet School hosts international talent at its studios in Princeton through its summer intensive program. Scroll down for photos from the program's culminating performance, An Evening of Dance, at the Berlind Theatre. Plus, see photos of the students in the studio and on Princeton University's campus, where they stayed in the dorms for the 5-week program.
New York City Center is celebrating the 10th Anniversary of the Fall for Dance Festival with a very special season, beginning with two free evenings of dance at the Delacorte Theater in Central Park, hosted by The Public Theater, on September 16 and 17 (rain date, September 18). The Festival will continue at City Center from September 25 - October 5 with performances by 20 acclaimed dance companies and artists from around the world, including three new works from today's most exciting young choreographers, commissioned by New York City Center in celebration of the tenth anniversary.
The Hartt School Community Division (HCD) presents Le Corsaire tonight, July 27, 2013 at 7:30 PM. The performance takes place in Millard Auditorium on the University of Hartford Campus, 200 Bloomfield Avenue, West Hartford.
To kick off its 20th Anniversary Season, Smuin Ballet will head to Montana, the home state of late founder Michael Smuin, to present a tour that includes Smuin's much-loved Sinatra ballet Fly Me to the Moon, as well as the acclaimed Dear Miss Cline from company Choreographer-in-Residence Amy Seiwert and Jazzin', a saucy and seductive work by Darrell Grand Moultrie. Smuin Ballet's Montana tour will play September 8 - 9 in Michael Smuin's hometown of Missoula at the Montana Repertory Theatre and September 13 at the Mansfield Theatre, Great Falls. Tickets are available by calling each venue's box office (see info at the end of the release). The Great Falls performance will benefit McLaughlin Research Institute for Biomedical Sciences, with which Smuin Ballet shares a close connection.
Final performances for American Ballet Theatre's New York Summer Intensive Program are scheduled for today, July 26, 2013 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 18th annual New York Summer Intensive, a five-week training program for dancers ages 12 to 22.
Company C Contemporary Ballet founder and Artistic Director Charles Anderson has announced details of the Company's 2014 season of two programs plus a benefit gala in San Francisco and Walnut Creek with performances January 30 through May 11, 2014, at Yerba Buena Center for the Arts and ODC Theater in San Francisco and the Lesher Center for the Arts in Walnut Creek. The 12th season will feature a wide range of the kinds of ballets that have set the barre high for this 14-member Bay Area Company, which will return to New York for its third season there at the Joyce Theater August 9 and 10. Theatricality, precision technique, bravura performance, wit and a flair for the off-beat and innovative will be embodied in world premieres by Anderson, Susan Jaffe, Maurice Causey and Charles Moulton, as well as in the return of repertory favorites by Anderson, Patrick Corbin, Alexandre Proia, Charles Moulton and Yuri Zhukov. The complete 2014 season schedule may be found below. For more details about Company C and the 2014 season, visitwww.companycballet.org.
Due to overwhelming demand, the Barrymore Theatre box office (243 West 47th Street) will open early, for one week only, on Monday, July 29 at 10:00 am through Sunday, August 4 at 6:00 pm, for tickets to Harold Pinter's BETRAYAL, starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, and Rafe Spall, and directed by ten-time Tony Award-winner Mike Nichols. The box office will be open July 29-August 3 from 10:00 am to 8:00 pm, and August 4 from Noon to 6:00 pm. After August 4, the box office at the Barrymore will reopen on Tuesday, September 3.
American Repertory Ballet's Nutcracker production is celebrating 50 consecutive years this coming holiday season. It is one of the longest-running Nutcracker productions in the United States, and is the longest-running in New Jersey. On November 30, 2013, directly following the 4:30pm performance at McCarter Theatre, American Repertory Ballet will hold a celebratory reception at The Nassau Club in Princeton.
INTERMEZZO Dance Company, a new ballet company founded by American Ballet Theatre soloist Craig Salstein, announces its debut performance season. Performances will take place from October 18-20, 2013 at 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center, 1395 Lexington Avenue (between 91st and 92nd Streets), NYC. Tickets are $25 and can be purchased at www.92Y.org/dance or 212.415.5500. Performance schedule: Friday at 8pm,Saturday at 8pm, and Sunday at 3pm. In addition, Intermezzo will show excerpts of new works and participate in a Q&A as part of 92Y's informal Fridays at Noon program on the 18th ($5).
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, beloved as one of the world's most popular dance companies and New York City Center's Principal Dance Company, will return to the New York City Center stage for the 42nd consecutive year from December 4, 2013 - January 5, 2014with exciting performances that have become a joyous holiday tradition.
The New York Dance and Performance Awards (The Bessies), NYC's premier dance awards honoring outstanding creative work in the field, announced today the 40 nominees for the 2012-13 season. Announced at a press conference by members of The Bessies Selection Committee, the nominations (listed below) were made by an independent committee of 38 dance industry professionals. Produced in partnership with Dance/NYC, Bessie Award categories include Outstanding Production, Outstanding Performer, Outstanding Visual Design, Outstanding Composition or Sound Design and Outstanding Revived Work.
Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, beloved as one of the world's most popular dance companies and New York City Center's Principal Dance Company, will return to the New York City Center stage for the 42nd consecutive year from December 4, 2013 - January 5, 2014 with exciting performances that have become a joyous holiday tradition.
MDT welcomes Charles Askegard home to the Twin Cities in the position of Associate Artistic Director. Recently retired from a celebrated career with New York City Ballet, Mr. Askegard will bring the breadth of his experience to the organization where he began his dance training.
Alina Cojocaru, one of the world's greatest ballerinas, is to join English National Ballet.
Pacific Ballet Dance Theatre (PBDT), formerly known as the Media City Ballet Company, brings The British Beat to the Ford Theatres on Saturday, August 24, 2013, at 8:00 p.m. The British Beat presents dances to iconic works by British artists such as Sir Edward Elgar, The Beatles, Sir Elton John, Sting, The Rolling Stones, David Bowie, and Adele, among others. This exciting production shows how British music influenced and inspired generations of musicians and dancers. Known for its Ballet Russes heritage, PBDT branches out from their traditional roots to pay homage to the British musical experience with an explosive dance and music retrospective. Scroll down for a sneak peek at the dancers in rehearsal!
Picture it: a young man from Pennsylvania trains in ballet, moves to New York, and then finds success as a musical theatre dancer. It sounds like the stuff of fairy tales, doesn't it? Well, for 22-year-old Michael McIlwee, it was reality. This young dancer from Scranton is currently serving as the dance captain for the Harbor Lights Theatre Company production of Oliver, which runs July 12-28 at Snug Harbor Music Hall in Staten Island, New York. Mr. McIlwee was kind enough to talk with me this week about his passion for dance, his dream roles, and how Harbor Lights' production of Oliver is using dance to tell the story of the Charles Dickens orphan.
Tickets for Harold Pinter's BETRAYAL, starring Daniel Craig, Rachel Weisz, and Rafe Spall, and directed by ten-time Tony Award-winner Mike Nichols, are set to go on sale tonight at 12:01 AM. Tickets will be available at www.telecharge.com or by calling Telecharge.com at 212-239-6200.
In my next life, I'm returning as the world's foremost dance historian to write the ultimate chronicle of Tchailovsky's Sleeping Beauty from 1890 to 2013. It's going to be a huge tome, one that encompasses every move, scene shift and cast change that was ever seen. Actually, by the time I finish my epic work, it will be superseded by an even larger tome, but that's life. What led me to this decision was American Ballet Theater's production of Sleeping Beauty that I saw on the July 6, 2012, the closing night of the season. This sent me back to my books, DVDs, CDs, balletomane friends and YouTube to decide just what Sleeping Beauty is all about, or should be about.
Final performances for American Ballet Theatre's New York Summer Intensive Program are scheduled for Friday, July 26, 2013 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 18th annual New York Summer Intensive, a five-week training program for dancers ages 12 to 22.
