Onstage This Week: ABT's Met Season Opens with "Giselle," Ballet West's National Choreographic Festival Celebrates Women Leaders, And More
Wonder what’s going on in ballet this week? We’ve pulled together some highlights.
ABT Met Opera Season Opens with Giselle
This week American Ballet Theatre moves into the Metropolitan Opera House for their annual 8-week season. From Alexei Ratmansky’s new Harlequinade to the world premiere of AFTERITE by Wayne McGregor, this season is packed. But week one opens with a classic: Giselle. Though a number of ABT’s most celebrated dancers will have their turn in the lead roles this week, the May 18th performance will be danced by guest star Natalia Osipova in the title role opposite ABT principal David Hallberg as Albrecht.
Ballet West National Choreographic Festival Celebrates Women in Ballet Leadership Roles
Last year, Ballet West debuted their National Choreographic Festival. This year, the festival is back, but with a new twist: All of the pieces are by female choreographers and all of the invited companies are run by female directors. Starting on May 17, the festival runs over two consecutive weekends and features four companies alongside Ballet West: Richmond Ballet, The Washington Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet and Charlotte Ballet. The first weekend includes Richmond Ballet in Akwarium by Katarzyna Skarpetowska, The Washington Ballet in Gemma Bond’s MYRIAD, and Ballet West in Natalie Weir’s Jabula. Catch a sneak peek in the below video.
World Premiere by Ib Andersen at Ballet Arizona
From May 15-June 2, audiences can catch Ballet Arizona in Eroica, a new work by artistic director Ib Andersen to Beethoven’s Third Symphony. Performances are held outdoors at the Desert Botanical Garden, with striking views of the night sky and Arizona desert as a background.
Indianapolis Ballet Closes Its Debut Season
Indianapolis Ballet’s debut season closes May 18-20 with three works: Don Quixote Grand Pas de Deux, artistic director Victoria Lyras’ A Midsummer Night’s Dream and Éclat!, a new ballet by Lyras to Sergei Prokofiev’s Piano Concerto No. 3 in C Major.
World Premiere by Tom Gold for New York Theatre Ballet at Boston’s Gardner Museum
On May 17, New York Theatre Ballet will head to Boston to perform a program titled The Classical World in Modern Choreography at the Gardner Museum. The performance takes place in conjuncture with the exhibition of the antiquarian marble Farnese Sarcophagus (see it here) which includes imagery referencing the myth of Dionysus and Ariadne. NYTB will perform Vaslav Nijinsky’s Afternoon of a Faun, Jerome Robbins Antique Epigraphs and a world premiere by Tom Gold titled Blind Revelry. Gold’s work places the tale of Dionysus and Ariadne in modern times, set to music by Stephen Sondheim.
