Benjamin Millepied News

Sascha Radetsky has been named Artistic Director of ABT Studio Company. It was announced today by American Ballet Theatre Artistic Director Kevin McKenzie. Radetsky succeeds Kate Lydon, who joins St. Paul's School as the director of dance at the start of the 2018-19 academic year. Lydon has served as ABT Studio Company Artistic Director since 2013.

Margaret Selby, President of Selby Artists Management, announced today that Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) will join her roster of internationally acclaimed dance companies.  Selby said, “I have long admired Peter Boal for the artistic vision he has brought to Pacific Northwest Ballet and for his ability to train dancers to develop their technique and the passion necessary to perform at the highest level.  This company deserves to be seen by more audiences who are certain to embrace the diversity of its repertoire and the skill of its exceptional dancers.”

The Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University (CBA), the first international institute devoted to the creation and academic study of ballet, today announced the 27 artists and scholars who will serve as CBA Fellows in the 2018-19 academic year. The group - which represents The Center's largest and most far-reaching cohort yet - features distinguished individuals in a range of disciplines, including scholar Cecile Feza Bushidi, lighting designer Brandon Stirling Baker, choreographer Chase Brock, choreographer, filmmaker, and dancer Pontus Lidberg, and scholar Janice Ross, among others.

This spring, the French Institute Alliance Francaise (FIAF), New York's premiere French cultural center, and the American Friends of the Paris Opera & Ballet are thrilled to announce a new series presenting HD screenings of opera and ballet performances from the Paris Opera & Ballet for the first time in New York City.

While the most recent show of TITAS Presents may be over, the dance scene at the AT&T Performing Arts Center is far from winding down.

Imagine Ballet Theatre, an Ogden-based ballet company, is bringing spring to the stage of Peery's Egyptian Theatre, with their whimsical  production of Fairyopolis, Mad Rush, Bartok Dances and a special  performance by PALS on April 27and 28, 2018. Choreography by Artistic Director Raymond Van Mason and the magical score composed by Felix Mendelssohn will have live accompaniment by Chamber Orchestra Ogden under the direction of Gabriel Gordon, The story is loosely based off the books How to find Flower Fairies by Cicely Mary Barker.

San Francisco Ballet has announced its 2018-19 Season program and schedule. This summer, SF Ballet will return to Festival Napa Valley for one performance only on Friday, July 27, 2018, accompanied by members of the SF Ballet Orchestra. In addition, the Company will also return to the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, D.C., from October 23-28, 2018, where they will perform two mixed-bill programs of selected works from Unbound: A Festival of New Works.

American Ballet Theatre Studio Company will appear at Ailey Citigroup Theater at The Joan Weill Center for Dance in New York City, April 17-18, 2018. The Studio Company will give two performances, Tuesday, April 17 and Wednesday, April 18, at 7:00PM.

The Joyce Theater Foundation, Inc. (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) is pleased to welcome back onto its stage one of Europe's most glorious companies, Ballet du Grand Theatre de Geneve, performing the U.S. premiere of Bessie Award-nominee Pontus Lidberg's acclaimed evening-length work Une Autre Passion, from April 24-29. Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$56, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street. For more information, please visit www.Joyce.org.

The Cabrillo Festival of Contemporary Music, America's longest running festival of new orchestral music, celebrates its 56th season and the second season of its esteemed Music Director and Conductor, Cristian M?celaru, July 29 - August 12, 2018. This year's festival takes audiences around the globe with a series of new works by composers from the US, UK, Canada, Macedonia, Romania, China, Korea, and Sweden.

Stephen Petronio Company will honor fashion visionary Patricia Field and lifelong patron of dance Sylvia Drulie Mazzola at the company's 2018 Benefit on March 21. The evening will feature the fourth season of Bloodlines, a five-year autobiographical project that not only honors the lineage of American postmodern dance, but also traces the influences and impulses that have shaped choreographer Stephen Petronio.

Legendary ballet costume designer HOLLY HYNES and costume and scenic designer ZACK BROWN are among the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Award recipients which were just announced by TDF, the not-for-profit service organization for the performing arts. Ms. Hynes was selected to receive the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Lifetime Achievement Award for costume design and Mr. Brown will receive the Robert L. B. Tobin Award for Sustained Excellence in Theatrical Design. The awards are presented through TDF's Costume Collection. The awards will be presented at a ceremony on Friday, April 20, at 6:30pm, at the Edison Ballroom (240 West 47th Street).

Los Angeles Philharmonic Music & Artistic DirectorGustavo Dudamel and CEO Simon Woods announce the 2018/19 season at Walt Disney Concert Hall and beyond. The centerpiece of LA Phil 100, the Centennial program forges an exciting future for the orchestra, its music, its city, and audiences around the world with a forward-looking roster of globe-spanning artistic programs, educational and social-impact initiatives and public celebrations for all of L.A., from September 2018 through October 2019.

The American Ballet Theatre's current program at the Kennedy Center, featuring works by Ratmansky, Robbins, Millepied, and Wheeldon (as well as the full-length Whipped Cream, not covered in this review), is extremely well done but a little uninspiring. It's hard to fault the fantastic ABT dancers, but I was merely appreciative, not enthralled, by most of the pieces on offer.

Opera Vlaanderen Royal Ballet Flanders is excited to announce two major projects that will have their world premiere next season. Opera Vlaanderen will create a new opera Les Bienveillantes based on the international bestseller by Jonathan Littell and none other than Benjamin Millepied will create his first full length ballet for Royal Ballet Flanders. Both projects are shortlisted for a Fedora-prize. It will be announced later this afternoon in Paris.

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents an encore of choreographer Jodi Melnick's sold-out 2016 commission, NEW BODIES. This Works & Process commissioned work weaves together dance, spoken text, and moderated discussion with live music, featuring New York City Ballet dancers Jared Angle, Sara Mearns, and Taylor Stanley in a role originated by Gretchen Smith, with harpsichord by composer Gy rgy Ligeti, violin by composer Heinrich Biber, and commissioned music by Robert Boston.Also, Melnick, who enjoyed a performance career with Twyla Tharp (among many others), will perform One of Sixty-Five Thousand Gestures, a solo work created in collaboration with the late Trisha Brown.

January 2018 events have been announced at the Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts. See the full lineup below!

Works & Process, the performing arts series at the Guggenheim, presents an encore of choreographer Jodi Melnick's sold-out 2016 commission, NEW BODIES. This Works & Process commissioned work weaves together dance, spoken text, and moderated discussion with live music, featuring New York City Ballet dancers Jared Angle, Sara Mearns, and Taylor Stanley in a role originated by Gretchen Smith, with harpsichord by composer Gy rgy Ligeti, violin by composer Heinrich Biber, and commissioned music by Robert Boston.

Returning for its annual Kennedy Center engagement, American Ballet Theatre (ABT) brings two different programs to the Opera House stage,January 30 February 4. Whipped Cream, the acclaimed all-new, evening-length work from world-renowned choreographer and ABT Artist-in-Residence Alexei Ratmansky, makes its D.C. premiere February 1 4, while a program of repertory works, January 30 and 31, includes the D.C. premieres of Ratmansky's Serenade after Plato's Symposium and Benjamin Millepied's I Feel the Earth Move.

Guest pianist Natasha Paremski joins the Columbus Symphony and Music Director Rossen Milanov as they celebrate the passion and exoticism of the Russian masters in the first installment of the Russian Winter Festival. The full program includes Mussorgsky's Night on Bald Mountain, Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2, Prokofiev's Symphony No. 1 ( Classical ), and Tchaikovsky's Romeo and Juliet Overture-Fantasy.