Miami City Ballet to Present JEWELS

Miami City Ballet (MCB) will present its second program of the season, George Balanchine's sparkling Jewels. A crowning jewel in the Balanchine canon, the ballet is inspired by a visit to famed French jewelers Van Cleef & Arpels. Those mesmerizing, light-reflecting gemstones ultimately led to the creation of one of Balanchine's most revered ballets. It is a pure dance triptych that features three distinct mini-ballets -- the mysterious and poetic Emeralds that recalls a verdant French countryside, the quintessentially American Rubies, and the opulent, Imperial Russian splendor of Diamonds.

Performances begin March 18 - 20 at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach and continue at the Arsht Center in Miami April 1 - 3 and at the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale April 23 - 24. Tickets start at $30 and are on sale now at miamicityballet.org/jewels.

In addition, beloved principal dancer Rainer Krenstetter has announced that his final MCB performance will take place on April 24 at the Broward Center.

When the company premiered the ballet in 1992, it became an instant hit with audiences and critics alike, and MCB's dazzling presentation of the famed ballet helped catapult the company to international acclaim. The Sun-Sentinel mused, "A gem analogy is irresistible. Jewelers sometimes call inferior emeralds, rubies and diamonds 'sleepy' or 'tired.' The most brilliant jewels are described as 'having life.' Life is what made the Miami City Ballet's Jewels the triumph it was." And in a more recent review, The New York Times lamented, "If I lived in Florida, I would attend every performance."

Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez further explains, "Jewels is a ballet that reveals Balanchine's genius - a three-act plotless ballet, with music by three different composers Fauré, Stravinsky and Tchaikovsky using different jewels Emeralds, Rubies and Diamonds to illustrate three different approaches to classical dancing, French, American, and Russian. It is also a ballet that is in MCB's DNA and one that our dancers love to dance, and our audiences love to see. Add that our dear Rainer Krenstetter is moving on to a new chapter in his illustrious career, these performances are extra meaningful and we wish him nothing but the best in his future endeavors."

Rainer adds, "Being hired as a principal dancer at MCB after a long-time dancing in Europe definitely enriched my dancing. I am thankful to Lourdes for trusting me with such a different repertory! Now is my time to move on. I'll still dance on various projects but I'm excited to pass on my knowledge to rising dancers as artistic director for a company in Tokyo as well as the Margot Fonteyn Ballet Academy in Arizona. It is not easy to say goodbye, but it was clear to me since day one that this moment would come. I look forward to saying farewell and dancing my heart out for our audiences during my final performances of Jewels."

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