Kathleen Breen News

Ballet RI announces the appointment of Sarah Lane, a former principal dancer with American Ballet Theater, as the Director of the School of Ballet RI. Lane's extensive experience as a dancer, teacher, and coach makes her the ideal candidate for this role. Find out more about her appointment and the impact she will have on dance education.

What did our critic think of PURE DANCE at FESTIVAL BALLET PROVIDENCE?

The Festival Ballet Providence is bringing two back-to-back Black Box series to their theater this February.

In 2021, Festival Ballet Providence announced a brand new version of the holiday staple, THE NUTCRACKER, fully reimagined by the company's Artistic Curator, Yury Yanowsky, and Company Director Kathleen Breen Combs. Moving the show away from the Providence Performing Arts Center to the Veteran's Memorial Auditorium, audiences were treated to new sets, new costumes, new choreography, and, as usual, spectacular dancing.

For the first time ever, Festival Ballet Providence presents its first program of the 2022-2023 Season, Off The Wall, a unique collaboration with the RISD Museum.

Festival Ballet Providence has announced additions to its Board of Trustees, leadership changes on the governing body, and several noteworthy departures of dedicated, long-serving trustees.

Festival Ballet Providence (FBP) is thrilled to announce its colorfully creative 45th Anniversary Season. The season, running October 2022 through April 2023 includes collaborative world premieres alongside beloved classics. Performances will be held in three unique venues in Providence, with subscription tickets for most performances going on sale July 7, 2022. 

Festival Ballet Providence popular series, Up Close on Hope returns with an exciting new program February 11-20, 2022 in the company’s acclaimed Black Box Theatre, 825 Hope Street on the East Side of Providence. This innovative series provides audiences with a unique perspective on dance—a visual feast of movement, athleticism, and creativity. The show features two world premieres along with classical and contemporary works.

Festival Ballet Providence’s new version of THE NUTCRACKER contains new sets, new costumes, new roles, new choreography, and even a new venue, but retains its charm while being exactly the shake-up this Rhode Island tradition needed.

​​​​​​​Festival Ballet Providence (FBP) is excited to present an all-new version of its annual holiday classic, The Nutcracker, featuring new sets, costumes, choreography in a new venue. For the first time, the ballet will be performed at Veterans Memorial Auditorium (“The Vets”) offering twice as many performances as in years past, giving audiences more opportunities to enjoy the show, one that has delighted generations of audiences in Providence since 1978.

Festival Ballet Providence will present an exciting program that includes three contemporary works along with classical ballet in Continuing Points, October 20-24, 2021, in the Woodman Performing Arts Center at Moses Brown School, 250 Lloyd Avenue, Providence, RI.

Festival Ballet Providence has announced a brand-new version of its annual production of The Nutcracker, featuring new sets, costumes and choreography. The ballet will be performed for the first time at Veterans Memorial Auditorium ('The Vets'), signaling a monumental next chapter in the Company's 44-year history.

The board of trustees of Festival Ballet Providence (FBP) is pleased to announce that Alan Weiss of East Greenwich has been elected as its new president.  The unanimous vote took place at a meeting on August 1, 2019. Festival Ballet's board is the governing body for New England's second largest professional ballet company with a resident company of 30 dancers, a pre-professional school with more than 300 enrolled students, and extensive educational and community initiatives reaching more than 13,000 youth annually, making it one of the leading arts organizations in the region.

Festival Ballet Providence (FBP) is pleased to announce it has appointed a new Executive Director, Kathleen Breen Combes.

After 16 years with Boston Ballet, Principal Dancer Kathleen Breen Combes is retiring from Boston Ballet to accept a position as the executive director of Festival Ballet Providence. Breen Combes' final performance will be in Paulo Arrais' ELA, Rhapsody in Blue as part of the Rhapsody program on June 9 at 1:30 pm at the Citizens Bank Opera House.

The Nutcracker is a holiday season tradition for countless young dancers whose annual turn in the Christmas fantasy marks a celebrated rite of passage. The chance to take part in the enchanting production, full of pageantry and splendor, engages the starry-eyed child dancer, while more advanced ballerinas relish opportunities to be cast in progressively more challenging roles.

Boston Ballet releases inspiring new work by Principal Dancer John Lam featuring 22 Boston Ballet dancers sharing what dance means to them.

Boston Ballet Principal Dancer Misa Kuranaga has been nominated for the prestigious Benois de la Danse award for her portrayal of Tatiana in John Cranko's Onegin and Medora in Ivan Liška's Le Corsaire.

Boston Ballet presents Mirrors: a diverse selection of thought-provoking works that reflect the many facets of contemporary ballet, featuring two eagerly anticipated world premieres by Karole Armitage and Yury Yanowsky.

Boston Ballet's 51st season continues with the return of Val Caniparoli's transfixing ballet, Lady of the Camellias: a tragic love story that has stood the test of time. The production is set to the brilliant music of Chopin, and will be performed by the Boston Ballet Orchestra. Lady of the Camellias will run from tonight, February 26 - March 8th at the Boston Opera House.