Onstage This Week: Tulsa Ballet's NYC Tour, Pennsylvania Ballet's "Swan Lake" Premiere and More
From tours to premieres to full-length classics, this is an exciting week in ballet. We’ve rounded up programs by Tulsa Ballet, BalletNext, National Ballet of Canada, Pennsylvania Ballet, Charlotte Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet, as well as an evening of dance and music curated by Damian Woetzel and featuring some of ballet’s biggest stars, to give you a sense of what’s happening on ballet stages this week.
Tulsa Ballet
This Oklahoma-based company is heading east for a five-day run at The Joyce Theater in New York City, opening March 6. Their first time at the Joyce in 9 years, the company is bringing a world premiere by resident choreographer Ma Cong as well as works by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Helen Pickett. Check out a preview below.
BalletNext
Former American Ballet Theatre principal dancer Michele Wiles’s company BalletNext returns to New York Live Arts on March 6 after a year-long hiatus as Wiles welcomed the birth of her first child. The program features four new works choreographed by Wiles (one co-choreographed by and performed with deaf dancer Bailey Anne Vincent). The company has been posting lots of behind-the-scenes rehearsal footage on Instagram, as well as glamorous shots by dance photographer Nisian Hughes.
DEMO by Damian Woetzel: Now
On March 7 Damian Woetzel presents an evening of recent dance commissions at The Kennedy Center in Washington, DC. Ballet stars Sara Mearns and Patricia Delgado will perform alongside a number of modern dance artists; Mearns will dance Alexei Ratmansky’s solo Fandago and Delgado will perform in two works by postmodern choreographer Pam Tanowitz. Catch a glimpse of Mearns’ fiery solo in the video below (skip to 2:27).
National Ballet of Canada
From March 8-18, National Ballet of Canada presents the classic Sleeping Beauty. Their version was choreographed by Rudolf Nureyev in 1966 and was first performed by NBoC in 1972. Need a quick refresher on the story? The company put together this fun animated synopsis.
Pennsylvania Ballet
Pennsylvania Ballet is following the story ballet trend this week with the company premiere of Marius Petipa’s Swan Lake, running from March 8-18 at the Academy of Music. While the company has performed shortened or re-imagined versions in the past, this is their first time presenting the full-length original, re-staged by artistic director Angel Corella. Check out those turns!
Charlotte Ballet
On March 9 Charlotte Ballet is presenting the American premiere of The Most Incredible Thing, the fairytale pop ballet choreographed by Javier de Frutos to music by the Pet Shop Boys. Running through March 18 in Charlotte’s Knight Theater, this retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fable is sure to thrill audiences. Check out the compilation of rehearsal footage below, or this full length video of the production performed in London in 2011.
The Joffrey Ballet
This is certainly the season for Romeo and Juliet, and The Joffrey Ballet is no exception. On March 9 the Chicago-based company is bringing their production, choreographed by Krzysztof Pastor, to The Music Center’s Dorothy Chandler Pavilion in Los Angeles. The following day they’ll also open their production of Orpheus and Eurydice, directed and choreographed by John Neumeier, in collaboration with the L.A. Opera. They’ll be in L.A. through March 25.
