New York City Ballet Board Of Directors Appoints Interim Team to Oversee Artistic Management

The New York City Ballet Board of Directors announced today that an interim team has been appointed to oversee the artistic management of NYCB during Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins' current leave of absence.

The team will be led by Jonathan Stafford, a current Ballet Master and former Principal Dancer with NYCB. Joining Stafford on the interim artistic team will be NYCB Resident Choreographer and Soloist Justin Peck, as well as NYCB Ballet Masters Craig Hall and Rebecca Krohn. Together this team will work closely with the Company's current artistic staff to oversee the day-to-day artistic life of the company, which includes such matters as casting, scheduling and conducting rehearsals, providing notes and other feedback to the Company's artists, as well as addressing any other artistic concerns that may arise.

In making the announcement, Charles W. Scharf, the Chairman of the NYCB Board of Directors, said "in putting this interim artistic team in place it was the board's absolute priority to provide ongoing support and stability for the Company's extraordinary artists. We are very fortunate to have an exceptional artistic staff already in place, who will now work closely with Jonathan, Justin, Craig, and Rebecca to ensure that our dancers and musicians will continue to give the remarkable performances that they present night after night. We are confident that with this interim team, working in collaboration with Executive Director Katherine Brown and the Company's entire staff of artistic and administrative personnel, NYCB will have the leadership, guidance, and resources it needs to continue to create the unparalleled artistic product that our audiences expect."

On Thursday of this week NYCB Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins requested, and was granted by the Board of Directors, a temporary leave of absence from the Company so that his presence would not be a distraction while an independent internal investigation into recent allegations against him is under way.

Jonathan Stafford is a Ballet Master and a former Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet, and a permanent faculty member at the School of American Ballet. Born in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, Stafford studied at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and SAB, and danced with NYCB from 1999 to 2014. During his career with the Company, he performed an extensive repertory of featured roles in numerous ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, and Christopher Wheeldon, and also originated featured roles in works by Martins, Mauro Bigonzetti, and Alexei Ratmansky. Stafford served as a member of SAB's guest faculty during the 2006-07 school year and joined the School's permanent faculty in 2007. In 2015 he was named SAB's first Professional Placement Manager, a role created to assist students with the transition into their professional careers.

Justin Peck is a Soloist and the Resident Choreographer 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; and visual artists John Baldessari, Jules de Balincourt, Marcel Dzama, Shepard Fairey, Karl Jensen, and Sterling Ruby. He has created more than 30 works for a range of institutions including New York City Ballet, the Paris Opéra Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and L.A. Dance Project, and his works have also been performed by Dutch National Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Houston Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet, among other companies. Peck is also choreographing the upcoming Broadway revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein's Carousel, scheduled to open in April 2018. A native of San Diego, California, Peck studied at California Ballet and the School of American Ballet. He has danced with NYCB since 2007, where he performs a variety of repertory by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon, among others. Peck participated in the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of NYCB, in 2009, and was named NYCB's Resident Choreographer, the second in the Company's history, in July 2014.

Craig Hall is a Ballet Master and a former Soloist with New York City Ballet. Born in Maywood, Illinois, he studied at the Chicago Academy of the Arts and the School of American Ballet, and performed with NYCB from 2000 to 2016. During his career with NYCB, Hall performed featured roles in numerous ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Kim Brandstrup, Angelin Preljocaj, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon, and also originated featured roles in works by Martins, Jiri Bubení?ek, Jorma Elo, Robert La Fosse, Douglas Lee, Wayne McGregor, Justin Peck, Benjamin Millepied, Ratmansky, Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Myles Thatcher, and Wheeldon.
Rebecca Krohn is a Ballet Master and a former Principal Dancer with New York City Ballet. Born in Vestal, New York, Krohn studied locally and at the School of American Ballet, and performed with the Company from 1999 to 2017. During her career with NYCB, Krohn performed an extensive repertory of featured roles in ballets by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, as well as in works by Peter Martins, August Bournonville, Ulysses Dove, Jorma Elo, Justin Peck, Angelin Preljocaj, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon. She also originated featured roles in ballets by Martins, Robert Binet, Pontus Lidberg, Benjamin Millepied, Peck, and Liam Scarlett.

New York City Ballet is one of the foremost dance companies in the world, with a roster of more than 90 dancers and an unparalleled repertory of modern masterpieces. The Company was founded in 1948 by the legendary choreographer George Balanchine and arts patron Lincoln Kirstein, and quickly became world-renowned for its athletic, contemporary style, and a repertory of original ballets that has forever changed the face of classical dance.