George Balanchine News

SEATTLE, WA – Pacific Northwest Ballet opens its 2015-2016 season with SEE THE MUSIC, a terrific triple-bill of repertory works. After an eight-year hiatus, PNB welcomes the return of George Balanchine's Prodigal Son, choreographed by the ballet master at the age of 25 for Diaghilev's Ballets Russes. Another relative youngster, Christopher Wheeldon (recent Tony Award-winner for An American in Paris), shares the bill with Mr. B., represented by his dramatic Tide Harmonic, created for PNB in 2013. The program comes to a comic close with Jerome Robbins' hilarious The Concert (or, The Perils of Everybody). SEE THE MUSIC runs for seven performances only, September 25 through October 4 at Seattle Center's Marion Oliver McCaw Hall. Tickets start at $30 and may be purchased by calling 206.441.2424, in person at the PNB Box Office at 301 Mercer Street, or online at PNB.org.

American Repertory Ballet, New Jersey's preeminent classical and contemporary ballet company, will perform throughout New Jersey - in Princeton, New Brunswick, Lawrenceville, Branchburg, Rahway, Manasquan, South Orange, and Trenton - and at the Joyce Theater in New York City from September 2015 through April 2016. The performance season will open tonight, September 24, at Rider University Bart Luedeke Center with an open rehearsal and State of the Art Address, celebrating 5 years of Artistic Director Douglas Martin's artistic leadership.

Lincoln Center at the Movies, the new cinema series recently announced by Lincoln Center in partnership with Fathom Events, will open in fall 2015 with Great American Dance presenting performances by four of America's leading companies: Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Hispanico, New York City Ballet, and San Francisco Ballet. Each event will be shown in select cinemas nationwide at nearly 400 locations.

The Australian Ballet announces an explosive new season, blending timeless classics and contemporary works, including the Australian premiere of the Nijinsky masterpiece, the return of much-loved classics Coppélia, Swan Lake, Romeo and Juliet, and world premiere works by rising ballet stars.

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.

New York City Ballet will open its 2015-16 Season at Lincoln Center tonight, September 22 with eight performances of Peter Martins' production of Tschaikovsky's Swan Lake, through Tuesday, September 29, to launch the Company's 2015 Fall Season, which will continue for four weeks through Sunday, October 18.

Festival Ballet Providence's (FBP) 2015-2016 Season, which was formally announced in June, opens in October 2015 with electrifying choreography, stunning staging, live music, and thrilling premieres. The company's thirty-eighth season of contemporary and classical dance includes Ballet Russes Reinvented, Up Close on Hope series, The Nutcracker, Hansel and Gretel, and Swan Lake.

Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts announces dates and subscription tickets for the 2015 - 2016 Season Artistic Advisor master classes and events -- Suzanne Farrell, former Principal Dancer in George Balanchine's New York City Ballet and founder of Suzanne Farrell Ballet at the Kennedy Center (January 24, 2016); Judith Jamison, dancer, choreographer and Artistic Director Emerita of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (April 5, 2016); Patti LuPone, Grammy, Olivier and Tony Award-winning actor and singer (March 31, 2016); Arturo Sandoval, Grammy Award-winning jazz trumpeter, pianist, composer and recipient of the Presidential Medal of Freedom (October 27, 2015); and Denzel Washington, Academy, Golden Globe and Tony Award-winning actor (September 17, 2015). 

The Old Globe opens its 2015-2016 Season with IN YOUR ARMS, a World Premiere dance-theatre musical featuring direction and choreography by Tony Award winner Christopher Gattelli (Newsies, Godspell, Lincoln Center Theater's The King and I and South Pacific) and original music by Tony Award winner Stephen Flaherty (Ragtime, Once on This Island; two-time Oscar nominee for Anastasia). The production begins tonight, September 16, with an opening slated for September 24, and runs through October 25, 2015.

Philadelphia, PA (September 15, 2015) – Pennsylvania Ballet and Artistic Director Angel Corella are pleased to announce that Charles Askegard, former Principal Dancer at New York City Ballet and American Ballet Theater, will be joining the Company as Ballet Master. Kyra Nichols, former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer, will also expand her role by becoming a Ballet Master and five new dancers have joined the Company for the 2015-2016 Season.

ANAIS CHALENDARD, first soloist of the Boston Ballet, and LASHA KHOZASHVILI, principal dancer of the Boston Ballet, will appear as guest artists in the Bay Pointe Ballet's Gala at the Oshman Community Center Palo Alto, Albert & Janet Schultz Cultural Arts Hall in Palo Alto, California on October 1, 2015. Ms. Chalendard and Mr. Khozashvili will dance the White Swan Pas de Deux from Swan Lake, and Don Quixote Pas de Deux.

With not a tutu or tiara in sight, the best dance of the 20th century and the freshest of the 21st combine in The Australian Ballet's 20:21, emerging in Melbourne next month. This electrifying triple bill plays at Arts Centre Melbourne from 27 August to 5 September, before touring to Sydney Opera House from 5 to 21 November.

Sukhishvili, one of the most acclaimed dance companies in the world, returns to New York to celebrate a triumphant 70 years of world-wide success for its performances before 50 million viewers in 100 countries in five continents.

MIDDLESEX and MERCER COUNTIES, NJ - This September, American Repertory Ballet and Princeton Ballet School will be participating in community events throughout Central Jersey: Cranbury Day in Cranbury, Septemberfest in Hamilton, the Hub City Sounds Festival in New Brunswick, and Highland Park's Arts in the Park. 

With not a tutu or tiara in sight, the best dance of the 20th century and the freshest of the 21st combine in The Australian Ballet's 20:21, emerging in Melbourne next month. This electrifying triple bill plays at Arts Centre Melbourne from tonight 27 August to 5 September, before touring to Sydney Opera House from 5 to 21 November.

Pearl (www.PearlTheShow.com), a new American-Chinese dance-theatre spectacular, inspired by the life of Pearl S. Buck, the first woman to win both the Nobel and the Pulitzer Prizes, will have its world premiere at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center for 4 performances only, August 27-30th. The story, focusing on the substantial influence Pearl had on both Chinese and Western cultures, will be brought to life through new choreography by Daniel Ezralow (Ezralow Dance Company, MOMIX, Sochi Olympics Opening Ceremony, Academy Awards), a new score composed by Jun Miyake (collaborations with Robert Wilson, Pina Bausch, David Byrne and Oliver Stone) dazzling visuals and a company of 30 American and Chinese dancers.

From JOE INK and celebrated Vancouver Choreographer Joe Laughlin comes the world premiere 4OUR, on stage at the Scotiabank Dance Centre October 1 - 3, 2015 at 8pm, with a preview performance September 30. Brought to life by the exquisite talents of dance artists Gioconda Barbuto, Heather Dotto, Kevin Tookey, and Laughlin, this deeply personal and visually striking new creation will explore family dynamics, cross-generational relationships, and the singular moments that shape our lives.

American Repertory Ballet's performance season will open at Rider University in Lawrenceville, NJ with a week of events, presentations, and performances celebrating 5 years of Artistic Director Douglas Martin's artistic leadership.

The Chicago Dancing Festival, the nation's largest dance festival, presents its 9th annual series with George Balanchine's Allegro Brilliante (performed by Miami City Ballet in its Chicago Dancing Festival debut), Mark Morris' Sandpaper Ballet (Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, 2015 Festival debut), Justin Peck's In Creases (Chicago's The Joffrey Ballet), Gustavo Ramírez Sansano's El Beso (Ballet Hispanico, 2015 Festival debut) and Twyla Tharp's Sweet Fields (Miami City Ballet) among program highlights. This year's event will take place at Chicago's top downtown venues - the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park - this week, August 25-29, 2015.

Los Angeles is in for a treat next month! Tony and Grammy-winner Audra McDonald comes to the Hollywood Bowl to sing classics from Broadway and the American Songbook with the Los Angeles Philharmonic under the direction of Bramwell Tovey, Tuesday and Thursday, September 1 and 3, at 8 pm. Audiences on both nights will be entertained by McDonald singing famous tunes by Rodgers and Hammerstein, Mancini and Mercer, and others. The evenings also feature gifted American Ballet Theatre dancers on stage to bring Bernstein's Fancy Free to life performing Jerome Robbins' 1944 choreography.