Frederick Ashton News

The National Ballet of Canada returns to the Kennedy Center following its highly regarded 2013 engagement of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with the United States premiere of The Winter's Tale from January 19-24, 2016 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Based on William Shakespeare's classic play of the same name, the production is co-produced with The Royal Ballet and choreographed by the renowned British choreographer and Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon, choreographer of the Tony Award-winning musical An American in Paris, and his acclaimed creative team. The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra will accompany this production.

American Ballet Theatre's 2015 Fall season at the David H. Koch Theater opens tonight, October 21 with the annual opening night Gala at 6:30 P.M. Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co., the evening will feature the New York City Premiere of AFTER YOU by choreographer Mark Morris, the Company Premiere of Frederick Ashton's MONOTONES I and II and the Revival Premiere of Twyla Tharp's THE BRAHMS-HAYDN VARIATIONS.

To celebrate the 25th anniversary of their move to Birmingham, the Birmingham Royal Ballet presents a triple bill of contrasting works at the Birmingham Hippodrome. As a relatively small company, the dancers have to be flexible and adapt to a whole range of dance styles. This triple bill, Theme and Variations, is the perfect showcase for the dancers, ranging from American Balanchine, to classic Ashton, and cutting edge contemporary work.

Premiered by Los Angeles Ballet in 2011, GISELLE is a haunting and ethereal masterwork; the perfect embodiment of the Romantic ideal to kick off its tenth season. Continuing its mission to offer world-class professional ballet to greater Los Angeles, the season will include four full-length story ballets including new productions of Don Quixote and Romeo and Juliet and the return of the company's critically-acclaimed productions of Giselle and The Nutcracker.

New York Theatre Ballet will perform Legends & Visionaries 2015 this weekend, October 1-3, 2015 at Danspace Project, 131 E. 10th Street, NYC.

American Ballet Theatre's 2015 Fall season at the David H. Koch Theater opens Wednesday, October 21 with the annual opening night Gala at 6:30 P.M. Sponsored by JPMorgan Chase & Co., the evening will feature the New York City Premiere of AFTER YOU by choreographer Mark Morris, the Company Premiere of Frederick Ashton's MONOTONES I and II and the Revival Premiere of Twyla Tharp's THE BRAHMS-HAYDN VARIATIONS.

New York Theatre Ballet will perform Legends & Visionaries 2015 from October 1-3, 2015 at Danspace Project, 131 E. 10th Street, NYC. Performances: Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8pm. A Season Opening Event will take place on Thursday at 7pm in the garden. Tickets are $20 ($15 for Danspace members), and are available online at www.danspaceproject.org or by calling OvationTix/TheaterMania at 866.811.4111. To attend the Season Opening Event, email admin@nytb.org or call 212-679-0401.

The Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2015/16 is the most ambitious to date. Six ballets and six operas, including five new productions, will be screened in over 1,000 cinemas across 45 countries allowing audiences in the US to experience more opera and ballet from the Royal Opera House than ever before.

DeNada Dance Theatre, headed by artistic director and choreographer Carlos Pons Guerra, will tour its dance triple bill Ham and Passion between 2 October 2015 and 26 February 2016 (tour schedule included).

From tonight, September 10, through September 20, 2015, Houston Ballet launches its 46th season with a revival of the epic love story Manon, choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan and featuring scenery and costumes by the acclaimed British designer Peter Farmer.

Retired principal ballet dancer of American Ballet Theater, Julie Kent, will begin as artistic director of the summer intensive programs for young dancers with the company.  She will also be a teacher and coach for the Ballet Theater, its studio company, and at its Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, as reported by the NY Times.

From September 10 - 20, 2015, Houston Ballet launches its 46th season with a revival of the epic love story Manon, choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan and featuring scenery and costumes by the acclaimed British designer Peter Farmer. Houston Ballet will give six performances of Manon at Wortham Theater Center in downtown Houston. Tickets may be purchased by calling 713 227 2787 or by visiting www.houstonballet.org.

Houston, Texas – From September 10 – 20, 2015, Houston Ballet launches its 46th season with a revival of the epic love story Manon, choreographed by Sir Kenneth MacMillan and featuring scenery and costumes by the acclaimed British designer Peter Farmer. Houston Ballet will give six performances of Manon at Wortham Theater Center in downtown Houston. Tickets may be purchased by calling 713 227 2787 or by visiting www.houstonballet.org.

The Royal Opera House Live Cinema Season 2015/16 is the most ambitious to date. Six ballets and six operas, including five new productions, will be screened in over 1,000 cinemas across 45 countries allowing audiences in the US to experience more opera and ballet from the Royal Opera House than ever before.

No other ballet dancer has received more publicity than Misty Copeland during the last five years. Her promotion to principal dancer of American Ballet Theatre was announced on June 30, 2015, and picked up immediately by most newspapers and television news shows, including the front page of the New York Times. This long awaited announcement eclipsed the simultaneous promotion of ABT soloist Stella Abrera, another great talent, to principal, who has been waiting longer than Copeland for her promotion.

Programming for American Ballet Theatre's 2015 Fall season at the David H. Koch Theater was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. Highlighting the season will be the New York City Premiere of a new work by Mark Morris and the Company Premieres of Frederick Ashton's Monotones I and II, George Balanchine's Valse-Fantaisie and AfterEffect by Marcelo Gomes. The 2015 Fall season at the David H. Koch Theater, October 21 through November 1, marks the conclusion of ABT's 75th Anniversary celebration.

The Autumn / Winter 2015 Season at Sadler's Wells launches tonight.

When the Sadler's Wells (now the Royal Ballet) first performed "Cinderella" on its triumphant 1949 debut performance at the old Metropolitan Opera, John Martin, the eminent New York Times dance critic, was not engrossed. He wrote that it was difficult to be enthusiastic about it, but "if it were stripped of all its dead wood, both musical and choreographic, it would run considerably less than the two and a half hours it now undertakes to fill."

New York Theatre Ballet will celebrate their first season in their new home, and honor longtime friends Richard Alston and Valda Setterfield at a Garden Party tonight, June 18, 2015 at 6pm at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 E. 10th Street, New York City.

Casting for the seventh and eighth weeks of American Ballet Theatre's 2015 Spring Season at the Metropolitan Opera House was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.