The Sarasota Ballet to Close Out The Joyce's Spring/Summer Season With a World Premiere & More

The Joyce Theater Foundation will close a landmark season of dance with the athleticism and artistry of The Sarasota Ballet. Under the Directorship of Iain Webb, the company's triple bill, featuring hallmark works by Frederick Ashton and a world premiere from Jessica Lang, will play The Joyce Theater from August 16-21. Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$65, 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 and to read about The Joyce Theater's detailed health and safety protocols, including required face-coverings and proof of vaccination policies, please visit www.Joyce.org.

Bringing to a grand conclusion its six-month Spring/Summer 2022 season, The Joyce welcomes the return of The Sarasota Ballet for its third engagement at the famed Chelsea venue. As the foremost exponent of Sir Frederick Ashton's balletic canon, the company will present two of his works as a majority of the evening's triple bill. The pièce d'occasion for seven couples, Birthday Offerings, which was originally choreographed in celebration of The Royal Ballet's 25th anniversary, is paired with the once-lost Varii Capricci, not seen on the New York stage since its 1983 world premiere. Adding to The Sarasota Ballet's extensive repertoire and putting a crown jewel in The Joyce's season is a world premiere work by Jessica Lang.

ABOUT THE SARASOTA BALLET

The Sarasota Ballet was founded in 1987 by Jean Weidner Goldstein as a presenting organization with the goal of becoming a full resident ballet company, which was achieved in 1990 with the appointment of the Company's first Director, Montreal-based choreographer Eddy Toussaint. Integrating the dancers of his existing ballet company, The Ballet de Montréal Eddy Toussaint, into the emerging Company, Toussaint launched The Sarasota Ballet with much of his own choreographic work. Together with Goldstein, he oversaw the first students of Dance - The Next Generation, the Company's celebrated and fully scholarshipped program for at-risk children. Following a Season under the leadership of Jean Weidner Goldstein as Interim Director, Robert de Warren, former Director of Ballet at Teatro alla Scala Milan and Northern Ballet, took the mantle of Artistic Director for thirteen years. In January 2007, The Sarasota Ballet announced de Warren's retirement and the appointment of Iain Webb, who would take the helm as Director. Heavily inspired by his career with The Royal Ballet, Webb brought extraordinary ballets to the Sarasota stage by some of the great choreographers of the 20th century. Together with his wife Margaret Barbieri, Assistant Director and former principal of The Sadler's Wells Royal Ballet, Webb has introduced works by some of the greatest choreographers in the dance world, such as Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Michel Fokine, Sir David Bintley, Sir Matthew Bourne, and Christopher Wheeldon. Several of these ballets have received their American premieres with The Sarasota Ballet, and the Company has been integral in bringing rarely seen ballets to today's audiences. In addition, The Sarasota Ballet has continued to push the art form forward through commissioning new works, from both budding choreographers within the Company and established choreographers around the globe.

ABOUT The Joyce Theater

The Joyce Theater Foundation ("The Joyce," Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community for almost four decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea. Opening as The Joyce Theater in 1982, it was named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther's clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to build the theater. Ownership was secured by The Joyce in 2015. The theater is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance and has provided an intimate and elegant home for over 400 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also expanded its reach beyond its Chelsea home through off-site presentations at venues ranging in scope from Lincoln Center's David H. Koch Theater, to Brooklyn's Invisible Dog Art Center, and to outdoor programming in spaces such as Hudson River Park. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (K-12th grade) benefit from its school program, and family and adult audiences get closer to dance with access to artists. The Joyce's annual season of about 48 weeks of dance now includes over 340 performances - both digital and in-person - for audiences in excess of 150,000.

The Joyce Theater presents the conclusion of the Spring/Summer 2022 season with the return of The Sarasota Ballet from August 16-21. The performance schedule is as follows: Tue-Wed 7:30pm; Thu-Fri 8pm; Sat 2pm & 8pm; Sun 2pm. Tickets, ranging in price from $10-$65, can be purchased at www.Joyce.org, or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. Please note: ticket prices are subject to change.