Edward Villella News

Miami City Ballet has announced its 33rd season, showcasing the company's world-class artistry and rising prestige described by The New York Times as 'an exceptional troupe, by Balanchine standards, anywhere in the world.' Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez has curated a new season that includes the company premiere of Brahms/Handel, a unique choreographic collaboration between Twyla Tharp and Jerome Robbins; Paul Taylor's audience favorite Company B, set to the 1940s sounds of The Andrews Sisters; Jerome Robbins masterwork Dances at a Gathering; Justin Peck's Heatscape, inspired by the vibrant streets of Miami's Wynwood Arts District; and the highly anticipated return of George Balanchine's full-length A Midsummer Night's Dream.

Jacob's Pillow announces the participants of the 2018 National Dance Presenters' Forum, a three-day dance leadership development intensive held on its site in Western Massachusetts, July 12-14. Reinstated after over a decade and developed in collaboration with key partners from across the U.S., the immersive experience is framed as a catalytic opportunity for emerging dance presenters. The Forum will provide a learning environment for participants to discuss critical issues, strengthen curatorial practice, grow professional networks, and bolster support for the field of dance. The 2018 Forum planning committee selected 17 emerging dance presenters with diverse backgrounds as curators, cultural organizers, and service providers to artists and audiences, from a pool of over 71 applicants from 25 states and the District of Columbia.

Miami City Ballet today announced the appointment of Tania Castroverde Moskalenko as the ballet company's new Executive Director. The appointment was made after an extensive, six-month international search. Castroverde Moskalenko, who returns to the city where she immigrated with her family 30 years ago as a political refugee from Cuba, will assume the leadership role alongside City Ballet Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez on August 7, 2018. As Executive Director, she will lead the company's institutional strategy, fundraising, and operations, building upon City Ballet's achievements as it advances its vision for the future.

Choreographer Jerome Robbins was born in New York City in 1918. On this, the occasion of what would be his 100th birthday, the New York City Ballet, for whom he choreographed and became Associate Artistic Director, presents Jerome Robbins 100 with five different programs. On Friday, May 18, 2018, I was in the David Koch Theater to see program #5.

Dance We Must: Treasures from Jacob's Pillow, 1906-1940 explores the contributions of Jacob's Pillow founder Ted Shawn and the iconic Ruth St. Denis to American modern dance. Gathering over 350 materials, including more than 30 costumes and accessories, over 200 photographs, five original antique costume trunks, and a dozen original artworks from both the Jacob's Pillow Archives and Williams College Special Collections, the exhibition contextualizes the pioneering work of Shawn and St. Denis within the scope of American art history through artifacts that have never been seen before. Dance We Must will be on view at Williams College Museum of Art (WCMA) from June 29 through November 11, 2018. The opening celebration will take place on July 2, featuring performances by Adam H. Weinert and Williams College Artist-in-Residence in Dance Erica Dankmeyer.

Boston Ballet presents Classic Balanchine, an array of iconic and diverse works by esteemed choreographer George Balanchine. The program opens with Balanchine's allegorical Prodigal Son, a powerful tale of sin and redemption, followed by the return of Stravinsky Violin Concerto, a tribute to his friendship and frequent collaborations with the celebrated composer. The Company premiere of Balanchine's dreamlikeChaconne concludes the program. Classic Balanchine runs May 17–June 9, 2018, at the Boston Opera House.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Ephrat Asherie Dance: Odeon on Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents Ephrat Asherie Dance: Odeon on Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presentsEphrat Asherie Dance: Odeon on Sunday, May 6, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Faye Driscoll, hailed as “a postmillenium postmodern wild woman” (Deborah Jowitt, The Village Voice) for her work that is a “tour de force of performance and direction” (Brian Seibert, The New York Times), receives the 12th Annual Jacob's Pillow Dance Award. The Bessie Award-winning choreographer, director, and alumnus of The School at Jacob's Pillow joins a group of honorees that includes Annie-B Parson and Paul Lazar of Big Dance Theater, Kyle Abraham of Abraham.in.Motion, Michelle Dorrance of Dorrance Dance, Camille A. Brown of Camille A. Brown & Dancers, and Liz Lerman of Dance Exchange. The Award will be formally presented as part of the Jacob's Pillow Season Opening Gala on June 16, 2018 followed by the presentation of Driscoll's work at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival for the second consecutive summer, August 1–5.

Miami City Ballet's Program Four features the company premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's acclaimed Concerto DSCH. In addition, the Program presents two of George Balanchine's classic ballets, including his first great masterwork, Apollo, as well as the haunting La Valse. In the wake of his triumphant The Fairy's Kiss, comes the company premiere of Alexei Ratmansky's Concerto DSCH, the amazingly inventive ballet, set to a seething Dmitri Shostakovich piano concerto.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents 'Breaking Bread with Balanchine'on Sunday and Monday, April 8 and 9, 2018 at 7:30pm.

Miami City Ballet is proud to announce its 33rd season, showcasing the company's world-class artistry and rising prestige described by The New York Times as 'an exceptional troupe, by Balanchine standards, anywhere in the world.'

Ephrat "Bounce" Asherie, Artistic Director of Ephrat Asherie Dance, is awarded the inaugural Jacob's Pillow Fellowship at Tilles Center for the Performing Arts at LIU Post. The fellowship includes a $15,000 grant, a one-week residency at Jacob's Pillow's new Pillow Lab, and a residency at LIU Tilles Center. Executive Vice Chairman Roger Tilles was integral in making this new partnership between Jacob's Pillow and Long Island University possible.

Miami City Ballet, one of the country's premier ballet companies, has received an Art Works grant of $50,000 from the National Endowment for the Arts, as part of the NEA's first major funding announcement for fiscal year 2018. The Art Works category is the NEA's largest funding category and supports projects that focus on the creation of art that meets the highest standards of excellence, public engagement with diverse and excellent art, lifelong learning in the arts, and/or the strengthening of communities through the arts. Miami City Ballet received the Art Works grant to support the presentation of a centennial celebration of American Choreographer Jerome Robbins.

Damian Woetzel continues his innovative interdisciplinary series uniting artists from across fields in a special one-night only performance, March 7 in the Terrace Theater. Part of the inaugural DIRECT CURRENT, the Kennedy Center's two-week celebration of contemporary culture, this installment of the multi-genre series will present recently commissioned works, including a world premiere, and Washington, D.C. premieres by some of today's most creative and groundbreaking voices in dance and music.

Jacob's Pillow invites dance artists across all genres to participate in the Inside/Out: Chance to Dance viewers' choice contest.

Miami City Ballet's Program Three features the highly anticipated world premiere of One Line Drawn commissioned exclusively for the company by the Harris Theater of Music and Dance in Chicago with choreography by Brian Brooks. In addition to Brook's premiere, the Program also juxtaposes the old and the new, featuring George Balanchine's classic masterpiece Theme and Variations, with soaring music by Tchaikovsky, as well as Jerome Robbins' lighthearted The Concert (or, the Perils of Everybody), universally acclaimed as the funniest of all comic ballets.

Miami City Ballet, one of the country's premier ballet companies, is proudly looking ahead to upcoming performances with two world-class cultural festivals. In May, the company will open Charleston's 42nd Spoleto Festival USA before traveling to Paris for performances with the prestigious Les Etes de la Danse Festival.

Jacob's Pillow announces the return of The National Dance Presenters Forum at Jacob's Pillow, organized with key partners in response to field-wide demand and in support of the Pillow's commitment to facilitate and host discourses in dance development as outlined in its five-year strategic plan, Vision '22. The National Dance Presenters Forum was first established at Jacob's Pillow in August 1996 and was held annually through 2006. The forum was widely recognized for its lasting impact on the professional development of performing arts presenters and the national growth and interest in the presentation and touring of dance.