New York City Ballet Announces Digital Fall 2020 Season

New York City Ballet announced today that the Company will launch a digital fall season on Monday, September 28 which will continue for five weeks through Saturday, October 31, 2020.

During the first four weeks of the digital season, programs consisting of previously recorded performance footage from the Company's unparalleled repertory will be released on Tuesdays at 8pm and will be available free-of-charge for one week only on NYCB's YouTube channel (YouTube.com/nycballet), Facebook page (Facebook.com/nycballet), and website (nycballet.com).

The first program, which will debut on Tuesday, September 29, will consist of choreography by NYCB Co-Founder George Balanchine including Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, "The Unanswered Question" from Ivesiana, and excerpts from Symphony in C, Liebeslieder Walzer, Episodes, and Stravinsky Violin Concerto.

Repertory for the remaining Tuesday evening programs, which will feature both full ballets and excerpts, will include additional works by Balanchine, as well as ballets by NYCB Co-Founding Choreographer Jerome Robbins, Resident Choreographer and Artistic Advisor Justin Peck, and choreographers Ulysses Dove, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon.

In addition to the Tuesday evening programs, the digital fall season will also include two Saturday Matinees for family audiences on October 10 and 24 at 2pm, each featuring repertory by Balanchine and Robbins specially selected for young audiences. The Saturday Matinees will also be available free-of-charge for one week only on NYCB's YouTube channel (YouTube.com/nycballet), Facebook page (Facebook.com/nycballet), and website (nycballet.com).

The final week of the digital fall season will be devoted to a festival of new choreography featuring five World Premiere ballets, one launching each night from Tuesday, October 27 through Saturday, October 31. The choreographers creating the new works, which will be filmed in various locations on the campus of Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts and throughout New York City, are Sidra Bell, Andrea Miller, Justin Peck, Jamar Roberts, and Pam Tanowitz. Bell, Miller, and Roberts will be working with NYCB for the first-time ever; Tanowitz will be making her second work for the Company; and Peck will provide the festival's finale with a premiere set to composer Chris Thile's Thank You, New York.

"We are extremely excited to present these new works during the digital fall season. Creating a new ballet repertory has been one of the hallmarks of NYCB since its inception in 1948, and with these five remarkable choreographers we will continue to build and expand that extraordinary body of work," said NYCB Associate Artistic Director Wendy Whelan, who spearheads the Company's artistic programming efforts. "I am also very proud and happy to welcome such a diverse roster of artists, including Sidra Bell who will be the first Black woman to create a work for NYCB."

Tanowitz and Roberts were previously scheduled to choreograph new work for NYCB's 2020 Spring Season at Lincoln Center, which was cancelled due to the COVID-19 pandemic, and Bell and Miller had been previously commissioned to create work for the 2020 Fall Season at Lincoln Center, which has also been cancelled.

"As the Company continues to work towards our ultimate goal of returning to the stage, I am very pleased that we can once again present a digital season that will showcase so many of the qualities that make NYCB such an extraordinary institution," said NYCB Artistic Director Jonathan Stafford. "From our remarkable dancers and musicians, to our incredible heritage repertory and innovative new works, we look forward to bringing the best of New York City Ballet into people's homes while we wait for the day that all of us can safely return to the theater to experience this wonderful artform together in person."

NYCB's 2020 Spring Season, which was also presented digitally due to the COVID-19 pandemic, generated nearly one million views from people around the world. "Connecting with so many audience members, both existing and new, has been a welcome silver lining during a very challenging time" said NYCB Executive Director Katherine Brown. "I am very grateful to everyone at the Company for all of their hard work in making another digital season possible, and enabling so many to have access to the artistry of NYCB."

The season will also include a series of all-new episodes of City Ballet The Podcast; four Ballet Essentials interactive repertory workshops for teens and adults; four Ballet Breaks movement workshops for children; four Signature Steps, one-hour ballet classes designed for intermediate and advanced level dancers; and six Access Workshops for people with disabilities-three for children and three for teens and adults.

Complete details, including ballets and casting for the performance programs, as well as hosts and participants for the interactive workshops and other content, will be released at a later date. For updates visit nycballet.com/digitalfall.

New York City Ballet - Digital Fall Season - Additional Content

City Ballet The Podcast

On Monday, September 28, NYCB will launch its latest season of City Ballet The Podcast with a reprise of a "See The Music" episode featuring NYCB Music Director Andrew Litton and Principal Oboist for the NYCB Orchestra Julia DeRosa in a discussion of Georges Bizet's score for Balanchine's Symphony In C. Additional episodes of City Ballet The Podcast, featuring conversations with current and former NYCB artists, will be released every Monday at podcast.nycballet.com and on all platforms where podcasts are available.

Ballet Breaks Workshops

NYCB's Education Department will once again present Ballet Breaks, four workshops for children ages 3 through 8, which will launch on Saturday, October 3 at 11am. Each of the four 30-minute workshops will be taught by a different NYCB dancer who will lead participants through a warm-up and movement combinations inspired by iconic works presented in NYCB's digital fall season. Live music accompanies all workshops, which are powered by Zoom. Suggested registration fees for Ballet Breaks online are $5 per workshop, which includes the live experience only, or $10 per workshop, which also includes a link to a digital recording of the workshop that will be active for one week following the live event. For those unable to pay a registration fee, participation in the live Ballet Breaks workshops will also be available free of charge. Visit nycballet.com/balletbreaks for more information.

Ballet Essentials Workshops

NYCB's Education Department will also present Ballet Essentials, four movement workshops for teens and adults that will launch Monday, October 5 at 6:30pm. The one-hour workshops are powered by Zoom and led by NYCB dancers and pianists who will take participants through a ballet warm-up and choreography inspired by iconic works presented in NYCB's digital fall season. Suggested registration fees for Ballet Essentials online are $8 per workshop, which includes the live experience only, or $15 per workshop, which also includes a link to a digital recording of the workshop that will be active for one week following the live event. For those unable to pay a registration fee, participation in the live Ballet Essentials workshops will also be available free of charge. Visit nycballet.com/balletessentialsonline for more information.

Signature Steps

NYCB's Education Department will also offer Signature Steps, virtual ballet classes for intermediate to advanced level dancers who have a minimum of five years of training, technical proficiency, and a comprehensive understanding of barre and center work. These classes will move at a quick pace and include complex exercises.

The hour-long sessions will be taught by a different NYCB dancer each week and will focus on the qualities that make New York City Ballet unique, including George Balanchine's signature aesthetic. Four classes will be offered on Wednesday evenings over the course of the digital fall season, launching on September 30 at 6:30pm, and powered by Zoom. All classes will feature live music and have a registration fee of $30 per class, which includes a link to a digital recording of the session that will be active for one week following the live event. For more information visit nycballet.com/signaturesteps.

Access Workshops for People with Disabilities

Online versions of the Company's Access Workshops, designed especially for people with disabilities, will also be offered by the NYCB Education Department this fall. In these interactive movement workshops, powered by Zoom, NYCB dancers will lead participants through a warm-up and choreography inspired by ballets presented in NYCB's digital fall season. Three one-hour Access Workshops for teens and adults will take place on Thursday evenings, launching on October 8 at 6pm; and three 45-minute Access Workshops for children ages 4 through 12 will take place on Saturdays, launching on October 10 at noon. Registration is free for all Access Workshops; visit nycballet.com/accessworkshops and nycballet.com/childrensaccessworkshops for more information.

Choreographers for Festival of New Work - Tuesday, October 27 through Saturday, October 31

Sidra Bell is the founder of Sidra Bell Dance New York and a choreographer and educator who is currently a Master Lecturer at the University of the Arts in Philadelphia, an Adjunct Professor at Marymount Manhattan College, a Lecturer at SUNY Purchase, and an Adjunct Professor at Ball State University in Indiana. She has been an artist in residence at Harvard University, and an Adjunct Professor at Georgian Court University and Barnard College. Bell received a BA in History from Yale University and an MFA in Choreography from Purchase College Conservatory of Dance. She is the founder and creative director of the award-winning MODULE Laboratory, a New York City-based immersive platform for movement and theater artists.

Bell has won several awards, notably a First Prize for Choreography at the Solo Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany and a National Dance Project Production Award from the New England Foundation for the Arts. Her work has been seen throughout the United States and in Denmark, France, Austria, Bulgaria, Turkey, Slovenia, Sweden, Germany, China, Canada, Aruba, Korea, Brazil, and Greece.

Bell has created over 100 works notably for BODYTRAFFIC, Ailey II, The Juilliard School, Whim W'Him, Boston Conservatory at Berklee College, River North Dance Chicago, NYU Tisch School of the Arts, Sacramento Ballet, Ballet Austin, Springboard Danse Montréal, and Alonzo King's LINES Ballet School, among others.

Andrea Miller is the Artistic Director, Choreographer, and Founder of Brooklyn-based company GALLIM. She creates movement-based works for stage, film, museums, and gallery spaces, and is currently working on a series of dance films and site-specific works.

Her highly acclaimed dances are performed by GALLIM as well as other leading dance companies around the world. Recent commissions include New York City Ballet, Works & Process at the Guggenheim, Martha Graham Dance Company, A.I.M., Ballet Hispánico, Ailey II, Rambert 2, and The Juilliard School, as well as Netherlands Dance Theater 2, Bern Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Grace Farms, and Noord Nederlands Dans.

From 2017-2018, Miller became the first choreographer to hold the distinction of being named Artist-in-Residence at the Metropolitan Museum of Art. She has been recognized with fellowships from the Guggenheim Foundation, Sadler's Wells, New York City Center, and the Princess Grace Foundation. In October 2018, she was featured in Forbes as a female entrepreneur and leader in the dance world.

Film credits include The Death and Life of John F. Donovan (2018), directed by Xavier Dolan; In This Life (2018) starring former NYCB Principal Dancer Robbie Fairchild; Sara (2020) starring NYCB Principal Dancer Sara Mearns and directed by Ariel Schulman and Henry Joost; Notes on Gathering (2020) directed by Miller and Ben Stamper; Orilla (2002) directed by Miller and Ben Stamper; and Shaping Absence (2020) directed by Miller and Ben Stamper.

Currently an adjunct professor at Marymount Manhattan College, Miller has also served as an adjunct professor at Barnard College, and has been invited to teach across the U.S., recently at Harvard University, The Juilliard School, New York University, Wesleyan University, and the University of California, Santa Barbara, among others.

Justin Peck is the Resident Choreographer and Artistic Advisor of New York City Ballet. He has worked with a range of artistic collaborators including composers Dan Deacon, Bryce Dessner, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Sufjan Stevens; visual artists John Baldessari, Jules de Balincourt, Marcel Dzama, Shepard Fairey, Karl Jensen, Stephen Powers, and Sterling Ruby; and fashion designers Tsumori Chisato, Prabal Gurung, Mary Katrantzou, Humberto Leon, and Dries Van Noten.

He has created more than 40 works for a range of institutions including New York City Ballet, the Paris Opéra Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Houston Ballet, and L.A. Dance Project, and his works have also been performed by Dutch National Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet, among other companies. A native of San Diego, California and a dancer with New York City Ballet from 2007 to 2019, Peck participated in the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of NYCB, in 2009, and received NYCI's first year-long choreographic residency in 2011. Peck was named NYCB's Resident Choreographer, the second in the Company's history, in July 2014.

Peck was the subject of the 2014 documentary Ballet 422, which followed him for two months as he created NYCB's 422nd original ballet, Paz de la Jolla. In 2015, his ballet Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes won the Bessie Award for Outstanding Production. Peck was the Tony Award-winning choreographer of the 2018 Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, and he is the choreographer of the upcoming film adaptation of West Side Story, directed by Academy Award-winning director Steven Spielberg.

Jamar Roberts is the Resident Choreographer of the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. A dancer with the company since 2002, Roberts' first full-length work for the company, Members Don't Get Weary, premiered at New York City Center in December of 2016 to critical acclaim. In December of 2019 he premiered his next work entitled Ode, also to great acclaim. Roberts has set his work entitled Gemeos on Ailey II.

Roberts is a graduate of the New World School of the Arts and The Ailey School and has danced for AAADT, Ailey II, and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. He won the 2016 Bessie Award for Outstanding Performer and has performed as a guest artist with The Royal Ballet in London and made multiple television performance appearances.

He has been commissioned by the Juilliard School Dance Division for both live and virtual works, the March on Washington Film Festival to create a dance on film tribute to the honorable John Lewis, and as a Works and Process Virtual Commissioned artist, where he created the acclaimed short work on film entitled Cooped.

Pam Tanowitz, New York-based choreographer and founder of Pam Tanowitz Dance, is known for her unflinchingly post-modern treatment of the classical dance vocabulary.

Tanowitz was recently named the first-ever Choreographer in Residence at the Richard B. Fisher Center for the Performing Arts at Bard College in Annandale-on-Hudson, New York. In 2019, she received the Herb Alpert Award in Dance. Other awards include Baryshnikov Arts Center's Cage Cunningham Fellowship (2017), City Center Choreography Fellowship (2016), Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University Fellowship (2016), Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University (2013), Guggenheim Fellowship (2011), and a Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artist Award (2010). She received Bessie Awards in 2009 & 2016.

In addition to Bartók Ballet (2019) created for NYCB, Tanowitz's recent works include commissions from The Royal Ballet, Paul Taylor American Modern Dance, the Kennedy Center's "Ballet Across America," Martha Graham Dance Company, The Joyce Theater, Bard Summerscape Festival, Vail International Dance Festival, and New York Live Arts, among numerous others. She has also created or set work for City Center's Fall for Dance Festival, The Juilliard School, Ballet Austin, New York Theater Ballet, and Saint Louis Ballet; and has been a guest choreographer at Barnard College and Princeton University.

Originally from New Rochelle, New York, Tanowitz holds degrees from The Ohio State University and Sarah Lawrence College, and is currently a visiting guest artist at Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University.