New York City Center to Launch Ann Reinking Encores! Choreography Fellowship

New York City Center has announced the Ann Reinking Encores! Choreography Fellowship. Launching as part of the upcoming 2023 - 2024 season, the Fellowship provides emerging choreographers with the opportunity to develop artistic skills and vision while working alongside the established theater professionals who choreograph the musical theater revivals of the Tony-honored Encores! series.

Expanding City Center's Administrative and Creative Apprenticeship programs, the Ann Reinking Encores! Choreography Fellowship will specifically support career pathways for women and artists of color underrepresented in the field. The Fellowship will provide an early-career dancer/choreographer a paid opportunity to work alongside the creative teams of a minimum of three musical theater productions each season as part of a full annual contract.

In 1996, the third season of the newly formed Encores! series, which celebrates the tradition of American musical theater with limited runs of staged concert revivals, presented Chicago starring Ann Reinking, Bebe Neuwirth, Joel Grey, James Naughton, and Marcia Lewis. The centerpiece of that landmark production, which cemented the series reputation as a place to rediscover the great works of the musical theater canon, was undeniably Reinking's stunning performance and choreography, resurrecting Bob Fosse's style with her own signature flair. A testament to Reinking's iconic style, Chicago is the longest running American musical in Broadway history. Thanks to the generosity of Peter Talbert, Bloomberg Philanthropies, Lee Gross, and the ongoing support of City Center's Board of Directors, Reinking's legacy will continue to inspire future generations of artists through the Fellowship.

The current Encores! season opened with a critically acclaimed production of Jerry Herman's Dear World starring Donna Murphy, followed by a special two-week run of Lionel Bart's Oliver! (May 3 - 14) and The Light in the Piazza (June 21 - 25).

NEW YORK CITY CENTER

(Michael S. Rosenberg, President & CEO) has played a defining role in the cultural life of the city since 1943. The distinctive Neo-Moorish building was founded by Mayor Fiorello La Guardia as Manhattan's first performing arts center with the mission of making the best in theater, dance, and music accessible to all audiences. This commitment continues today through celebrated dance and musical theater series like the Fall for Dance Festival and the Tony-honored Encores! series; the annual season by Principal Dance Company Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; and new dance series Artists at the Center. City Center welcomes audiences to experience internationally acclaimed artists including Kyle Abraham, Matthew Bourne, Ayodele Casel, Manhattan Theatre Club, Nederlands Dans Theater, and Twyla Tharp, on the same stage where legends made their mark. Dedicated to a culture built on the principles of diversity, equity, and inclusion, City Center's dynamic programming, art exhibitions, and studio events are complemented by education and community engagement programs that bring the performing arts to thousands of New York City students, teachers, and families every year, in all five boroughs. NYCityCenter.org