The Corps de Ballet News

Halfway through the bedroom scene (Act III, Scene I) I thought to myself, 'They're playing the music too quickly!' I was wrong. The tempo was fine; it simply felt faster than normal because the dancing was so wonderful. It's to be expected. Alessandra Ferri was guest starring in American Ballet Theatre's production of Kenneth MacMillan's 'Romeo and Juliet' nine years after she'd retired from the company in the same role.

Corella's recent directive choices brought levity; Laura Bowman took her final bow and the program noted other retirements. Whatever the climate, Corella's choices substantially elevated the company's performance profile especially since their June 2014 performances, and even since the fall 2015 season.

At its best, classical ballet has the ability to utterly transfix, bending the boundaries of what we as human beings think is possible. With every gravity-defying grand jete and blossoming developpe, dancers transform into otherworldly beings, physicalizing that which can't be believed. At the 2016 Spring Season premiere of American Ballet Theatre's Le Corsaire, the company did just this, mesmerizing the audience and showcasing their ability to create a unique world of beauty, unto its own.

Mikko Nissinen, Artistic Director of Boston Ballet, has announced six promotions from within the company for the 2016–2017 season. Soloists Anaïs Chalendard and Seo Hye Han have been promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer, Second Soloist Junxiong Zhao to Soloist, and Corina Gill to Second Soloist. Samivel Evans and Desean Taber, two dancers from Boston Ballet II—Boston Ballet's second company—will join the Company as Corps de Ballet dancers. All promotions are effective August 15, 2016. The full 2016–2017 roster of dancers will be announced at a later date.

Effective immediately, San Francisco Ballet announces six promotions, five new Company members, and five apprentices for the 2017 Season. Soloist Carlo Di Lanno has been promoted to principal dancer and Francisco Mungamba, Julia Rowe, Wei Wang, and WanTing Zhao have been promoted to soloist. In addition, former SF Ballet Apprentice Blake Kessler has been appointed a member of the corps de ballet. New members of the Company's corps de ballet include Ludmila Bizalion, Elizabeth Mateer, and Natasha Sheehan; Angelo Greco joins as a soloist and Aaron Robison as a principal dancer. Alexandre Cagnat, Shene Lazarus, Davide Occhipinti, Nathaniel Remez, and Isabella Walsh of the SF Ballet School Trainee Program have been promoted to the rank of apprentice.

MIAMI BEACH, Fla. – (May 16, 2016) – Miami City Ballet (MCB) has announced its 50-member roster for the 2016-17 season, which opens on October 23 in Miami, including the promotions of Nathalia Arja to principal soloist and both Chase Swatosh and Shimon Ito to soloists, and the addition of four new dancers: Lauren Fadeley, formerly a principal with Pennsylvania Ballet (PAB) who is joining MCB as a soloist; Amir Yogev, another dancer from PAB who began his career with MCB; and Alaina Andersen and Luiz Silva, both recent graduates of Miami City Ballet School.

Miami City Ballet (MCB) has announced its 50-member roster for the 2016-17 season, which opens on October 23 in Miami, including the promotions of Nathalia Arja to principal soloist and both Chase Swatosh and Shimon Ito to soloists, and the addition of four new dancers: Lauren Fadeley, formerly a principal with Pennsylvania Ballet (PAB) who is joining MCB as a soloist; Amir Yogev, another dancer from PAB who began his career with MCB; and Alaina Andersen and Luiz Silva, both recent graduates of Miami City Ballet School.

New York City Ballet announced today that Taylor Stanley has been promoted to principal dancer, effective immediately.

Cape Town City Ballet is nothing if not ambitious. SHADES OF LOVE sees the company's featured artists dancing superbly, but the production never coheres into a fully-realised evening of ballet.

Titled LIFE IN MOTION: AN UNLIKELY BALLERINA, the project is based on Copeland's biography of the same name. REMEMBER THE TITAN's Gregory Allen Howard will pen the film's script.

New York City Ballet, home to George Balanchine's vision of dance in America, is well known for commissioning new work. This devotion to innovation can result in work that runs the gamut from zestful to appalling. Case in point, the '21st Century Choreographers II' program on May 7th, 2016, which presented a hodgepodge of brilliant, ill conceived, entertaining, and 'not suited to house style'.

Boston Ballet's spring season kicks off with Mikko Nissinen's Swan Lake, back by popular demand after a record-breaking world premiere in October 2014.

April 12, 2016 (BOSTON, MA)—Boston Ballet's spring season kicks off with Mikko Nissinen's Swan Lake, back by popular demand after a record-breaking world premiere in October 2014. Described by Robert Greskovic of The Wall Street Journal as “artful” and “luminous,” the timeless classical masterpiece features choreography by Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov and costumes and sets by award-winning designer Robert Perdziola. Boston Ballet welcomes Gonzalo Garcia, principal dancer with New York City Ballet (NYCB), as a guest artist. He will perform Prince Siegfried with Boston Ballet principal dancer Misa Kuranaga on April 29 and 30. Mikko Nissinen's Swan Lake runs April 29–May 26 at The Boston Opera House. Due to the high-ticket demand, an additional performance has been added on May 25 at 7:30 pm.

Boston, MA – April 7, 2016 – Boston Lyric Opera closes its 2015/16 Season with composer Franz Lehár's classic comic operetta The Merry Widow, whose light-hearted fun within the fictional Pontevedrian Embassy in Paris plays out among international diplomats as the dark clouds of World War I gather on the horizon. This new BLO production of The Merry Widowopens April 29 for a five-performance run through May 8 at the Citi Performing Arts CenterSMShubert Theatre in Boston.

Clinton Luckett, Ballet Master and former dancer at American Ballet Theatre, has been appointed Assistant Artistic Director of the Company.

The Performing Arts School at bergenPAC wraps up its Ballet Master Class Series In Residence on Monday June 6, 2016 at 6:30 -8:30pm with Megan Fairchild, principal dancer with the New York City ballet.

April 12, 2016 (BOSTON, MA)—Boston Ballet's spring season kicks off with Mikko Nissinen's Swan Lake, back by popular demand after a record-breaking world premiere in October 2014. Described by Robert Greskovic of The Wall Street Journal as “artful” and “luminous,” the timeless classical masterpiece features choreography by Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov and costumes and sets by award-winning designer Robert Perdziola. Boston Ballet welcomes Gonzalo Garcia, principal dancer with New York City Ballet (NYCB), as a guest artist. He will perform Prince Siegfried with Boston Ballet principal dancer Misa Kuranaga on April 29 and 30. Mikko Nissinen's Swan Lake runs April 29–May 26 at The Boston Opera House. Due to the high-ticket demand, an additional performance has been added on May 25 at 7:30 pm.

Boston Ballet's spring season kicks off with Mikko Nissinen's Swan Lake, back by popular demand after a record-breaking world premiere in October 2014.

American Ballet Theatre Soloist Devon Teuscher has been awarded a 2016 Leonore Annenberg Arts Fellowship. The Fellowship, which recognizes young artists of extraordinary talent, provides additional resources to help them realize their full potential.

Reinforcing the role of The Music Center as a major hub for dance in Los Angeles, The Music Center's powerful new dance season will engage both dance lovers and those new to the art form by challenging preconceived notions of classical ballet and exploring the realm of contemporary expression. The 2016-2017 season of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center (Dance at The Music Center) will provide the platform for some of the finest U.S. dance companies and artists along with internationally renowned companies who are among the most requested by Music Center audiences. This coming season opens with Celebrate Forsythe (October 21-23, 2016) as three American ballet companies - San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet and Houston Ballet - perform in one program in a never-before-seen approach to salute one of America's top choreographers, William Forsythe. The season continues with the distinctive contemporary work of Jessica Lang Dance (February 17-19, 2017); the return of the much-in-demand Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (March 8-12, 2017); the west coast premiere of Scottish Ballet's A Streetcar Named Desire (May 19-21, 2017); Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg's exploration of the passions of Tchaikovsky (June 23-25, 2017); and an original program curated by New York City principal ballerina Tiler Peck with the return of The Music Center's BalletNow (July 28-30, 2017). A number of the engagements will be integrated with arts education programs including high school performances and teacher workshops. Center Dance Arts is the founding supporter of Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center.