The Corps de Ballet News

New York City Ballet's 'Swan Lake', which opened the 2015 fall season with performances from September 22nd to 29th, is a testament to the old adage that goes 'If it ain't broke, don't fix it.' In creating this iteration of one of the most beloved staples in ballet's classical canon, Artistic Director Peter Martins and his colleagues tinkered mercilessly with everything from the choreography to the costumes and sets. The dancing on the evening of Friday, September 25th when I saw the production was gorgeous and the story line was suitably moving, but those positive aspects didn't make up for the other glaring flaws. Not only that, but the orchestra was definitely not in fine fettle. Tchaikovsky's glorious score deserves better.

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.

Amongst a royal palace, magical fairy tale gardens and an opulent Louis XIV's masked ball, the world's most extravagant ballet is awakened to new life by The Australian Ballet's Artistic Director David McAllister, when The Sleeping Beauty has its world premiere tonight 15 September 2015. The long-awaited production makes its debut in Melbourne before touring to Perth from 7-10 October and Sydney from 27 November-16 December.

Welcome to BWW's exclusive talk show, BACKSTAGE WITH Richard Ridge. Follow Richard as he visits the theater's best and brightest in their dressing rooms, on their stages and favorite hang outs to talk about their lives, careers and all of the things you don't know, but want to know. In the special interview below, Richard welcomes 2015 Tony nominee Robert Fairchild. Watch as they discuss how things are going at the Palace Theatre, how he made the switch from dance to theatre, and so much more!

Linda Shelton, Executive Director of The Joyce Theater Foundation, announced today that due to altitude sickness that also caused her to cancel scheduled performances at the recent Vail International Dance Festival, Sara Mearns will be unable to appear in the August 13 and 14 performances of The Joyce's current Ballet Festival. American Ballet Theatre dancer Stephanie Williams will take her place in the work, Partita No. 2 in C Minor, by choreographer Emery LeCrone.

Amongst a royal palace, magical fairy tale gardens and an opulent Louis XIV's masked ball, the world's most extravagant ballet is awakened to new life by The Australian Ballet's Artistic Director David McAllister, when The Sleeping Beauty has its world premiere on 15 September 2015. The long-awaited production makes its debut in Melbourne before touring to Perth from 7-10 October and Sydney from 27 November-16 December.

Boston, MA—Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen has announced the 2015-2016 season roster, featuring 11 new dancers and six promotions from within the Company. The Company will be comprised of 68 dancers—including 10 dancers in Boston Ballet II (BBII)—representing 20 nationalities. The full company has returned to its 19 Clarendon Street studios in preparation for the 2015-2016 season.

Amongst a royal palace, magical fairy tale gardens and an opulent Louis XIV's masked ball, the world's most extravagant ballet is awakened to new life by The Australian Ballet's Artistic Director David McAllister, when The Sleeping Beauty has its world premiere on 15 September 2015. The long-awaited production makes its debut in Melbourne before touring to Perth from 7-10 October and Sydney from 27 November-16 December.

Following last season's popular BALLET 2014 engagement, New York City Ballet principal dancer Daniel Ulbricht returns with a topflight ensemble in remarkable works by a variety of acclaimed choreographers, performed to live music, this weekend, July 29-August 2 in the Ted Shawn Theatre.

Following last season's popular BALLET 2014 engagement, New York City Ballet principal dancer Daniel Ulbricht returns with a topflight ensemble in remarkable works by a variety of acclaimed choreographers, performed to live music, July 29-August 2 in the Ted Shawn Theatre. Principals, soloists, and corps de ballet members of New York City Ballet and Boston Ballet perform works by prominent artists including iconic American choreographer Jerome Robbins; New York City Ballet's current resident choreographer Justin Peck; Danish dancer, director, and choreographer Johan Kobborg; and Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, who achieved both his choreographic start and widespread acclaim at New York City Ballet.

New York City Ballet announced today that Principal Dancer Jennie Somogyi will retire during the Company's 2015 Fall Season, after a 21-year career with New York City Ballet. Her final performance will take place on Sunday, October 11 at 3 pm at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center. She will perform George Balanchine's Liebeslieder Walzer.

Fire Island Dance Festival returned for its 21st edition July 17-19, 2015, with some of the most talked-about world-class dance companies, raising a record-breaking $544,555 for Dancers Responding to AIDS, a program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. The festival, performed outdoors on the picture-perfect shores of the Great South Bay in Fire Island Pines, included the world premieres of five works. Scroll down for photos from the performances!

Presented by the Lincoln Center Festival, on July 8, 2015, at the David H. Koch Theater, The National Ballet of China opened their 5-day run with The Peony Pavilion, considered one of the most famous love stories in Chinese literature. The modern production by the National Ballet of China (NBC) is an adaptation of the 1598 play of the same name, written by Tang Xianzu, which is often compared to Romeo & Juliet, published in nearly the same year.

In its on-going effort to share the joy of dance with a wider audience, the 2015 Summer Intensive Program at American Repertory Ballet's Princeton Ballet School is pleased to announce that its Master Classes will be open to observers. Leading Master Classes will be Broadway dancer Michael Mindlin, New York City Ballet dancer Unity Phelan, and Sarah Hay, a soloist with Semperoper Dresden Ballet. All three received their early training at Princeton Ballet School.

At the matinee performance of Swan Lake on Wednesday, June 24, 2015, Misty Copeland spread her wings, giving her first New York City performance of Odette-Odile in ABT's Swan Lake, choreography by Kevin McKenzie after Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov, to the glorious music of Peter Ilyitch Tchaikovsky. Costumes and extraordinary sets by Zach Brown and lighting by Duane Schuler embellished the ambiance.

Stella Abrera and Misty Copeland have been promoted to the rank of Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre and Skylar Brandt, Thomas Forster, Arron Scott and Cassandra Trenary have been promoted to Soloist effective August 1, 2015.   In addition, Maria Kochetkova, a principal dancer with San Francisco Ballet and Alban Lendorf, a principal dancer with Royal Danish Ballet will join the Company as Principal Dancers and Jeffrey Cirio, a principal dancer with Boston Ballet, will join ABT as a Soloist, it was announced today by Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie.

Heightening its role as a powerful commissioning force, Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center - The Music Center's acclaimed dance series - is introducing an exciting new chapter in dance with the world premiere of BalletNow, an original three-performance program for which American Ballet Theatre Principals Roberto Bolle and Herman Cornejo are serving as artistic directors. Bolle and Cornejo have formed an international ensemble of 18 major dancers from 12 foreign countries for three distinctive performances, with many of the dancers performing at The Music Center and in Southern California for the first time.

Spectacle wins out in Cameron Mackintosh's latest tour of Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre. Less reinvented than it is repackaged, the crowning glory of this production is its lavish costumes and sets (by Paul Brown and Maria Bjornson respectively), and the lush sounds of its 17-member orchestra (under the direction of Richard Carsey).

Cameron Mackintosh's spectacular new production of Andrew Lloyd Webber's THE PHANTOM OF THE OPERA makes its Los Angeles premiere at the Hollywood Pantages Theatre beginning Thursday, June 11, 2015 for an 8-week engagement through Sunday, August 2, 2015.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts has announced the faculty for its American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School that begins its full 36-week school year on September 14, 2015 and runs through June 11, 2016. The Center has added classes to accommodate the growing enrollment.