George Balanchine News

Carlos Lopez, a former Soloist with American Ballet Theatre, has been named to the position of Ballet Master with the Company effective August 1, 2016. It was announced today by Kevin McKenzie, ABT Artistic Director.

Andrew Lloyd Webber and Tim Rice's flashy musical gets a different take.

Returning to Atlanta for two public performances, Dance Theatre of Harlem (DTH) will grace the stage at the Cobb Energy Centre on Oct. 22 at 8 p.m. and Oct. 23 at 3 p.m. Tickets go on sale to the general public Friday, July 8 at 10 a.m. Tickets will be priced from $79, $59, $49 and $29, plus applicable fees, and will be available online at www.Ticketmaster.com, by calling 800-735-3000 or at the Cobb Energy Centre Box Office. There is also a student field trip performance on Friday, October 21 at 11 a.m. Reservations for this performance can be made at ArtsBridge.org.

?On Saturday evening, July 23, CHITA RIVERA brings her solo concert to The John Drew Theater in the Dina Merrill Pavilion at Guild Hall, 158 Main Street, East Hampton, New York, for one show at 8:00 PM. Tickets are $40-$150 ($38-$145 for Members) and are available online http://www.guildhall.org/events/?id=961&mode=id or via the box office 631.324.4050. Free Saunders Student Rush tickets available.

Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen and Executive Director Meredith (Max) Hodges announce the success of the 2015-2016 season, which enjoyed the highest attendance in more than a decade and the most ticket revenue in Boston Ballet's 53-year history. At $13.8 million net, it is the best box office year by a margin of $1.4 million. With fuller houses, the organization also hit a best-ever milestone in capacity sold at 75 percent and a record number of 33 sold out shows (35 percent of this season's performances). An especially mission-critical achievement, the two mixed repertory programs, entitled Kaleidoscope and Mirrors, saw record-breaking revenue and high attendance. Both programs finished in the top five for attendance of mixed repertory programs. Mirrors is the highest-grossing mixed repertory program in Boston Ballet's history.

Jeffrey Cirio has been promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Blaine Hoven has been promoted to Soloist.  The promotions, announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie, become effective August 1, 2016.

Korea National University of the Arts (K Arts), a high- level artistic dance institution to cultivate professionalism and excellence in students, will present 24 of their top ballet dances, ages 17-22, for the premier performance of Rising Stars of Korea Gala on July 11 and 12 at New York's Symphony Space.

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival presents the world premiere engagement of And Still You Must Swing with three of the world's most celebrated tap dance luminaries—Dormeshia Sumbry-Edwards, Jason Samuels Smith, and Derick K. Grant—July    6-10 in the intimate Doris Duke Theatre. The program embraces masterful technique, musicality, and improvisation including a live onstage band and a star-studded cast with critically-acclaimed guest artist and 2016 Jacob's Pillow Dance Award recipient Camille A. Brown.

?Global Sports Brand PUMA announced today that it will partner with New York City Ballet (NYCB), one of the foremost dance companies in the world, as their official off-stage active wear partner.

Miami City Ballet School, the official school of Miami City Ballet, adds to its roster of esteemed faculty members by welcoming Kathryn Moriarty, who begins her tenure by teaching at the MCB Summer Intensive that began on June 20. Moriarty will serve as principal faculty for Levels IV and V in the Student Division beginning in September.

This summer New York City Ballet will return to Paris, France for the first time since 2008, for three weeks of performances at the Theatre du Chatelet -- today, June 28, through July 16, 2016.

LA Ballet's upcoming 2016/2017 Season launches their second decade and embraces the full-length classical ballets, the Balanchine repertoire that so revolutionized the dance world, and the commitment to identify, nurture and present both emerging and world-renowned choreographers. Co-Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary have announced the next season includes two full-length story ballets, the family-friendly comic ballet "Coppelia" and the holiday favorite "The Nutcracker" and two mixed bill programs, "Modernists /Directors' Choice" and "Balanchine/Master of the Dance." The upcoming season will also reintroduce pre-performance discussions, hosted by Christensen and Neary and their guests (at select performances).

The Tony Awards Administration Committee announced today the Nominating Committee for the 2016-17 Broadway season. The Tony Awards are presented by The Broadway League and the American Theatre Wing. 

Segerstrom Center for the Arts begins its 30th Anniversary celebration with another one-night-only star-studded evening of dance: Tour de Force III. The performance will be the first event to represent the array and diversity of the Center's artistic programming, in this case, 30 years of presenting the greatest ballet companies and the world's most celebrated dancers. Tour de Force III will be on Saturday, August 27 in Segerstrom Hall. Produced in collaboration with Ardani Artists, the program will include four Center premieres: Clay by Vladimir Varnava, Zeitgeist by Alastair Marriott, Tristesse by Marcelo Gomes and Le Divertissement du Roi by Maxim Petrov. The international cast includes Diana Vishneva, Joaquin de Luz, Marcelo Gomes, Denis Matvienko, Marcelino Sambe?, Friedemann Vogel and Edward Watson, as well as members of the The Royal Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet and the National Ballet of Canada.

Lincoln Center at the Movies: Great American Dance continues its collaboration with Fathom Events this summer with encore screenings of three of its inaugural dance presentations: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Hispanico, and San Francisco Ballet.  The three presentations will be shown in approximately 115 theaters nationwide.  Lincoln Center at the Movies was launched in fall of 2015 with Great American Dance, a series presenting performances by four of American's leading dance companies (New York City Ballet's George Balanchine's The Nutcracker was the fourth event in the series).

"Balanchine and Beyond," the Pennsylvania Ballet's strangely named program that I saw Saturday, June 11, 2016 at the Merriam Theater in Philadelphia, was a very satisfying evening. Of course, beyond can mean anything, so the choice of Trisha Brown, Hans van Manen and Jean-Pierre Frohlich was a very strange, or very apt, combination, depending on how you view and take your ballet. So I decided, if this is what they are presenting, I'll sit down and enjoy myself. And, for the most part, I did.

We all know that Eliot Feld – who might be New York City's most accomplished man in dance – has a love for calisthenics, vernacular twists and grooves, and folklore. But since closing his ballet company in 2003, his work has been primarily with students who cannot understand the dry wit inherent to his choreography. The effect is decidedly discombobulating. One wishes that Mr. Feld would either up the ante in his work – there were no pirouettes or turns, though there was plenty of batterie, which tends to be more difficult – or further develop the artistry of his charges.

Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival 2016 opens its 84th annual season with exciting contemporary dance company Aspen Santa Fe Ballet presenting a diverse program, June 22-26 in the Ted Shawn Theatre. Aspen Santa Fe Ballet is dually-based in New Mexico and Colorado and led by Artistic Director Tom Mossbrucker and Executive Director Jean-Philippe Malaty. Exhibiting masterful technique and powerful performances, the company brings stirring works by a roster of esteemed choreographers including Alejandro Cerrudo's Silent Ghost, Fernando Melo's Re:play, and Cayetano Soto's Huma Rojo.

Before the concert event, BroadwayWorld sat down with Megan Fairchild, who will return to the Broadway world after her run in ON THE TOWN last year. Fairchild chats with us about ballet vs. theatre, returning to theatre for one-night only and much more!