William Forsythe News

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.

Hubbard Street 2, the young second company of the world-renowned Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, will present Mariko's Magical Mix: A Dance Adventure for their Jacob's Pillow debut, in the Doris Duke Theatre, July 13-17.

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.

?The Chicago Dancing Festival proudly celebrates its 10th anniversary of free programming featuring performances by leading ballet, modern and contemporary dancers from across the country, August 23-27, 2016. Just as the Festival draws from top dance companies, this year's program will once again be presented in Chicago's top downtown venues including the Harris Theater for Music and Dance, the Museum of Contemporary Art and the Jay Pritzker Pavilion at Millennium Park plus the highly anticipated return to Chicago's Landmark Stage, the Auditorium Theatre.

This summer, JACK presents the premiere of Toshiki Okada's Quiet, Comfort, commissioned by Hoi Polloi and directed by Alec Duffy, a duo of singer/performer Helga Davis and choreographer/dancer Ji?i Bartovanec (of the Sasha Waltz Dance Company), the premiere of the play The Animals, by Amina Henry, a new piece by choreographer Biba Bell, the second annual Brooklyn Experimental Song Carnival, curated by Valerie Kuehne, plus several concerts throughout the season.

Distinguished American choreographer William Forsythe has selected Houston Ballet to perform in Los Angeles at The Music Center's Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Oct. 21-23, as part of "Celebrate Forsythe", a program with a never-before-seen approach that salutes his works.  Houston Ballet will perform Artifact Suite, after its September premiere in Houston, a piece that both deconstructs and reconstructs the rules of traditional ballet. As the third Forsythe piece added to Houston Ballet's diverse repertoire, the visit to Los Angeles adds exciting momentum to a growing relationship with Mr. Forsythe's iconic works.

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.

The Royal Swedish Ballet, one of Europe's first and most revered ballet companies, returns to Segerstrom Center for the Arts June 10 - 12 with the West Coast debut of Juliet and Romeo by choreographer Mats Ek.

New York City Ballet will open its 2016-17 Season at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, September 20, and will continue for 21-weeks of performances, through Sunday, May 28, and feature a total of 77 ballets created by 24 different choreographers.

On the evening of Thursday, February 25th 2016 at the Eisenhower Theater in Washington, DC, Director's Cut began with a standing ovation for Artistic Director Septime Webre who just announced his departure from the Washington Ballet after a seventeen-year tenure. Webre has transformed the Ballet from a sleepy little troupe into a respected regional company. Director's Cut shows off Webre's ambition and many of The Washington Ballet company's strengths. The evening featured three works by Webre, William Forsythe, and Annabelle Lopez Ochoa that were tied together by athleticism and physicality.

Following a worldwide search for the most outstanding young talents in dance, literature, theatre and visual arts, Rolex recently announced the finalists who will be introduced to the respective mentors - Ohad Naharin (dance), Mia Couto (literature), Robert Lepage (theatre) and Joan Jonas (visual arts) - in the 2016-2017 Rolex Mentor and Protege Arts Initiative.

Boston Ballet Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen announces the programming for the 2016-2017 season at the Boston Opera House, to begin in October. The 53rd season will launch with Le Corsaire, a historically significant work in the world of ballet that originally premiered in Paris in 1856, followed by Mikko Nissinen's "dazzling, dreamy" The Nutcracker (Karen Campbell, The Boston Globe). The season continues with the North American Company premiere of William Forsythe's ARTIFACT, "a work that definitely shows this choreographer as the most influential practitioner of the art form since Balanchine" (Roslyn Sulcas, The New York Times). In April 2017, Marius Petipa's quintessential The Sleeping Beauty will return with soaring music by Tchaikovsky. The season will also include two mixed repertory programs with works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Ji?i Kylian, and Alexander Ekman, as well as a world premiere by Resident Choreographer Jorma Elo. Additionally, Le Corsaire, The Nutcracker, and The Sleeping Beauty will offer Boston Ballet School students the unique opportunity to appear in Company productions.

Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo Celebrates it's 30th Anniversary with Jean-Christophe Maillot's CINDERELLA, February 18th to 20th, 2016, at New York City Center. Here he talks about his training, his performing career, and his choreography.

The Australian Ballet's contemporary triple bill Vitesse is ballet at full voltage. Three stripped-back abstract works by three of the world's leading choreographers show the men and women of the Company at their strongest and fastest, shaking the artform to its foundations. Vitesse runs at Arts Centre Melbourne from11-21 March, and Sydney Opera House from 26 April-16 May.

The Australian Ballet's contemporary triple bill Vitesse is ballet at full voltage. Three stripped-back abstract works by three of the world's leading choreographers show the men and women of the Company at their strongest and fastest, shaking the artform to its foundations. Vitesse runs at Arts Centre Melbourne from 11-21 March, and Sydney Opera House from 26 April-16 May.

Previously only available as part of a 2016 subscription, individual tickets for all productions in The Australian Ballet's 2016 season will go on sale at 9am AEDT on Thursday 28 January 2016. This year the national company performs in Sydney, Melbourne, Brisbane and Adelaide, and each season is accompanied by unique behind-the-scenes events to perfectly complement the mainstage productions.

'JUPITER (a play about power)' by Superhero Clubhouse and Kaimera Productions is an argument of soaring irony and logic between humanity and a dude with one-time magic who has made all fossil fuels disappear permanently from the Earth. That's not such an unbelievable premise, when you think about it, because in terms of our global history, we are on the brink of an energy systems overhaul. Some 'man at the switch' could at any time begin shutting our industrial civilization down. Oh, we'll be indignant then. Now imagine a philosophical debate between this overlord and a woman who represents all of humankind. That is the one-act 'dream play' that will be offered to us by playwright Jeremy Pickard, director Simon Adinia Hanukai and musician/energy policy specialist Jonathan Camuzeaux, presented by La Mama from February 11-28, 2016.

The National Ballet of Canada returns to the Kennedy Center following its highly regarded 2013 engagement of Alice's Adventures in Wonderland with the United States premiere of The Winter's Tale from January 19-24, 2016 in the Kennedy Center Opera House. Based on William Shakespeare's classic play of the same name, the production is co-produced with The Royal Ballet and choreographed by the renowned British choreographer and Tony Award winner Christopher Wheeldon, choreographer of the Tony Award-winning musical An American in Paris, and his acclaimed creative team. The Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra will accompany this production.

Following the critical acclaim and record-breaking ticket sales and attendance of Festival 2015, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival announces a new season of exciting programming featuring international artists, world premieres, and an impressive number of live music engagements. This season signals an exciting new era in Pillow history, as the Board of Directors plans to name a new Jacob's Pillow Director in early 2016. Former Executive and Artistic Director Ella Baff stepped down from her role in September of 2015, following a successful 17-year tenure.

A solitary tree, withered and skeletal, lit by a spotlight and ominous percussion. Suddenly, she appeared, crawling rapidly in a storm and fervently circling said tree over and over again. This arresting display is how Life in Progress commenced opening night at the lush New York City Center, kicking off Sylvie Guillem's final world tour after a celebrated 39-year dance career.