Onstage in July: Paris Opéra Ballet Tours to Los Angeles, Jacob’s Pillow Celebrates 90 Years, and More
July is full of outdoor performances, long-awaited returns to the theater, and tours across North America. Read and discover dance events in a city near you.
Joffrey Ballet/Miami City Ballet Collaboration Premieres in Chicago
The Joffrey Ballet presents the world premiere of Rita Finds Home at the Navy Pier Lake Stage July 9–10. The children’s ballet, commissioned in collaboration with Miami City Ballet, was developed by choreographer Amy Hall Garner, Chicago-based author Karla Estela Rivera and award-winning children’s book author Elisa Chavarri. The production explores a young girl’s artistic journey to redefine home for herself.
The family-friendly ballet, performed by the Joffrey Ballet Studio Company and the Joffrey Academy Trainees, is free to the public and will be presented throughout the city as part of the Chicago Park District’s Night Out in the Parks series. After the Chicago debut, Miami City Ballet will announce a South Florida tour.
BalletX Summer Series and Saratoga Springs Tour
BalletX returns to Philadelphia’s Wilma Theater for the first time since December 2019 with its weeklong Summer Series from July 13–17. The performances will feature world premieres from Gustavo Ramirez Sansano, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater resident choreographer Jamar Roberts and New York City Ballet principal Tiler Peck.
The company will then perform Peck’s work at New York’s Saratoga Performing Arts Center on July 27, marking their first collaboration with the Philadelphia Orchestra. The evening will feature composer Valerie Coleman’s Umoja, Anthem for Unity and will culminate in a fireworks display.
Pacific Northwest Ballet Returns to The Music Center
Pacific Northwest Ballet returns to The Music Center in Los Angeles from July 15–17. The program will feature PNB resident choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo’s Little mortal jump, Crystal Pite’s Plot Point and Twyla Tharp’s Waiting at the Station. Tickets start at $34 and can be purchased online.
Additional events include the free PNB Dance Film Festival in association with Dance Camera West, along with therapeutic dance classes for people with Parkinson’s disease and their care partners.
Jacob’s Pillow’s 90th-Anniversary Season
Jacob’s Pillow’s Festival continues throughout July. Modern and contemporary dance companies take center stage at the Ted Shawn Theater, including Kyle Abraham’s A.I.M (July 13–17), the Limón Dance Company (July 20–24) and Black Grace (July 27–31). New York City–based company Ballet Nepantla, which fuses contemporary ballet with traditional Mexican folk dance, will perform July 13 on the Henry J. Leir Outdoor Stage as part of the Pillow’s one-night-only series. The company will present Valentina, a series of stories that speak to the strength and resilience of women in Revolutionary Mexico.
Another festival highlight includes Dichotomous Being: An Evening of Taylor Stanley, which runs from July 27–31 on the Leir Stage. The performances feature the New York City Ballet principal’s collaborations with choreographers Jodi Melnick and Shamel Pitts, an adaptation of Andrea Miller’s sky to hold, Talley Beatty’s Mourner’s Bench and a commissioned solo by William Forsythe.
And stay tuned for next month, when Jacob’s Pillow presents Alonzo King LINES Ballet (August 3–7) and Miami City Ballet (August 24–28).
The Paris Opéra Ballet Tours to Los Angeles
The Paris Opéra Ballet will debut at the Hollywood Bowl to celebrate the amphitheater’s 100th- anniversary season on July 21 and 22. Gustavo Dudamel, who serves as both the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s music and artistic director and the Paris Opéra’s new music director, invited stars from the company to perform a selection of repertoire on the outdoor stage.
The program includes Sae Eun Park and Paul Marque in the Swan Lake Act II pas de deux, Ludmila Pagliero and Florian Magnenet in Trois Gnossiennes and Dorothée Gilbert in The Dying Swan. Dudamel will conduct live accompaniment from the Los Angeles Philharmonic and solo keyboard from Jean-Yves Thibaudet.
City Ballet of San Diego Kicks Off 30th-Anniversary Season
July 21–23, City Ballet of San Diego’s On the Move 2022 program will present world premieres by resident choreographer Geoffrey Gonzalez at the new Torrey Pines Performing Art Center. The performances will feature seven contemporary, reimagined excerpts of classical ballets, including Swan Lake, Giselle and Grand Pas Classique, plus the world premiere Boudoir.
“There is a change in the wind,” Gonzalez says in a release. “Across the dance world, traditional ballets are being re-imagined and revived with new choreography.”
Ballet Stars Descend on Montreal
Montreal’s Festival des Arts de Saint-Sauveur kicks off on July 28 and continues through August 7. The fest, which is directed by National Ballet of Canada principal Guillaume Côté and principal character artist Etienne Levigne, presents a wide range of live and virtual dance events.
Ballet lovers won’t want to miss the festival’s Night with the Stars program July 28–29. The performances will showcase top international dancers performing classical, neoclassical and contemporary pas de deux. Artists include The Royal Ballet’s Cesar Corrales and Francesca Hayward, New York City Ballet’s Sara Mearns, NBoC’s Côté, American Ballet Theatre’s Thomas Forster and Cassandra Trenary, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens’ Melih Mertel and Maude Sabourin, Pacific Northwest Ballet’s Angelica Generosa, The Royal Danish Ballet’s Lazaro Corrales, Paris Opéra Ballet’s Maeva Marcolini-Bowes, and independent dancer Sebastián Vinet.
Other highlights include Côté Danse (August 4), Ballets Jazz Montréal (August 6) and Cuba’s Malpaso Dance Company (August 7).
