Misty Copeland remembers the first time she saw a brown ballet slipper. She was 14 years old and performing in Debbie Allen’s iconic “Hot Chocolate Nutcracker” ballet.
The brown slippers she saw among her fellow dancers had originally been standard European pink slippers the company members had “pancaked” — or splotched with foundation — until the color was closer to their skin tones.
“It just opened my mind and my eyes to an even bigger world of possibilities as to what a ballerina could look like,” the professional dancer, 41, told Vogue in a recent interview. “It’s how every dancer should be able to feel—that sense of belonging.”
Around the same time Copeland and her peers were pushing for companies to increase their shades of slippers, Unicode, the development team behind standardizing emojis for companies like Apple, released a set of diverse emojis. Among that new set was a pair of rosy pink ballet slippers.
Initially, Copeland was excited about the inclusion of a pair of ballet slippers among the available emojis. The moment reminded her of signing with the sports brand Under Armour.
“Everything has to kind of happen in stages,” she said. “I think back to when I was signed to Under Armour and what a big deal it was for a dancer to be considered an athlete and put on the same level as professional basketball players, football players, golf, tennis—that was a huge step.”
However, with diverse ballet slippers now available for purchase as an affirming evolution for non-white dancers, Copeland was ultimately compelled to push for further inclusivity in the world of dance: by diversifying the ballet slipper emoji.
“I would say that maybe two years ago, I really started to think, ‘OK, but ballet is more than a pink pointe shoe.’ It wasn’t until late last year that I realized I really wanted to do something that was going to push this forward,” she told Vogue.
So far, she has launched a petition to get Unicode to add additional shades of ballet slippers and has completed the necessary request paperwork with the California-based company. She’s currently waiting for a response.
“We’ve gone through the proper channels, and we’re waiting for the request to be evaluated and for the powers that be to make that decision. I know that it just takes time, but we’re continuing to make noise where we can and to show that this is about more than an emoji—this goes deeper,” she said.
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Copeland noted that ballet’s 15th-century origins in European countries are the genesis of the long legacy of pink ballet slippers. She explained that ballet dancers are meant to have a seamless, uniform look when standing amongst one another, and light pink tights and light pink slippers create that among fair-skinned dancers.
“That’s not to say it’s wrong or right; that’s where ballet originated, that’s where it was created, and that’s what the people looked like there,” she added.
However, the craft has come a long way from the days of solely fair-skinned ballet dancers dancing delicately across European stages. Ballet is now performed all over the world, and as Copeland maintains, it’s time even the most casual of conversational tools reflected that.
As she pushes forward with her petition and spreads awareness across social media, the prima ballerina is aware of how the argument doesn’t register for some. As she told Vogue, this isn’t about them.
“I’ve seen the comments and people that just don’t get it,” said Copeland. “And I feel like, well, This is not for you. Maybe that’s why you don’t understand it.”
Times Insider explains who we are and what we do and delivers behind-the-scenes insights into how our journalism comes together.
Laurel Graeber grew up loving the theater and museums. But she never thought she would write about them for The New York Times — or that she would do so for nearly three decades.
“I was an editor, but I always wanted to write,” said Ms. Graeber, who helped lead the Culture desk’s copy department for more than 10 years before she retired from full-time work in 2017. “And when the freelance assignment of writing our weekend kids’ entertainment column became open, I said yes.”
She has written regularly about culture for young people for nearly three decades, spotlighting the best activities that parents or caregivers can do with children each weekend in New York City. She also writes features on new television shows, movies, museum exhibitions and podcasts for kids.
“What I find most enjoyable is stuff for adults that’s also good for kids, but not necessarily geared toward them,” Ms. Graeber said in a recent interview.
Though her own two children are now adults, Ms. Graeber says she is still excited by the kids’ entertainment beat. She shared how she finds ideas and what appeals to her about children’s programming. Read the edited exchange below.
You’ve covered the kids’ entertainment beat since 1997. What got you started?
One of the people whom I had worked with as a freelancer at The Times, Dulcie Leimbach, inaugurated the column. When she went on maternity leave, I filled in. When she decided she didn’t want to do it anymore, it was offered to me. It was initially called “For Children” and then “Family Fare.” I did it for years and years, even after my own children grew up. Now it’s a blurb labeled “Kids” that appears online and in Friday’s print edition in a roundup of the best things to do in New York City.
I used my own kids as guinea pigs when they were little and took them to events and children’s plays. Though my kids are now grown up, I’ve kept going. I try to find new and different areas for kids. I haven’t grown tired of it.
Do you have a performing arts background?
I was one of two arts editors at The Yale Daily News, and I also acted in lots of undergraduate theater productions in college. I never thought I’d have a career on Broadway, but in high school and college, I was always trying out for plays — when I wasn’t writing about them.
What initially attracted you to the beat?
I was interested in companies and organizations that tried to stretch the boundaries of what was thought to be acceptable for kids. Children are often underestimated, and they shouldn’t be. Kids are able to deal with a lot of sophisticated topics if those topics are addressed in an appropriate manner. The idea that children ought to be shielded from some of the harsher realities of life isn’t fair to them. Not only are they going to face challenges as they grow older, they’re going to be the generation that helps cure some of the world’s problems. No one wants to cause a child anxiety or distress, but it’s important to keep them aware of what’s happening in the world around them.
I like being able to champion things like the New York International Children’s Film Festival, which provides screenings for viewers up to age 18. A lot of what they show wasn’t created for children but selected because it’d be interesting for children.
Where do you find story ideas?
I get tons of email, much of which includes tips from people in the field. Sometimes I find things on my own. There are various organizations I keep track of, and I follow what a number of museums are doing for kids.
Do you go to shows by yourself?
I often go with my daughter. Even though she’s over 30 and doesn’t have kids, she’s still interested. It’s become a fun mother-daughter get-together.
Even though you’re not the target audience, do you enjoy the work?
By and large, really good children’s work is not something only a child can enjoy. The best children’s entertainment works on two levels: It appeals to adults as well as kids. It has jokes or references embedded for adults to smile at, which a child won’t necessarily pick up on.
How have you seen programming for children change over the past three decades?
Efforts are being made across the board to be more inclusive, to have more productions and shows that deal with kids who aren’t necessarily affluent or white. We’re now seeing work that presents the perspective of kids who may have grown up in a different country, or who may be immigrants. There’s also a lot of work being produced for kids who are disabled, or who may be on the autism spectrum.
You’ve chatted with LeVar Burton about his new comic mystery podcast and Lin-Manuel Miranda about starring in an animated kids’ travel show. Who is the coolest person you’ve interviewed?
Jane Goodall. She was the inspiration for a TV show I wrote about last year called “Jane,” which has a character who shares a first name with her and looks up to her. She also consulted on the show. I asked if I could talk to her, never thinking that it was going to happen. But she had a small window for an interview, and it worked out.
What is the best thing you’ve seen recently for children?
One of the best shows that’s not annoying for parents is “Naked Mole Rat Gets Dressed: The Underground Rock Experience,” which is a TV special based on a Mo Willems book. There’s an animated show called “Curses!” on Apple TV+ that I wrote about recently that’s introductory horror for kids — it’s not violent or stomach-turning, but it has an “Indiana Jones”-like feel. LeVar Burton’s new comic mystery podcast, “Sound Detectives,” is also a lot of fun — adults will get a kick out of it.
Ivan Putrov’s second gala Dance For Ukraine in support of his home country
Featuring Olga Smirnova, The Royal Ballet’s Marianela Núñez, Martthew Ball and William Bracewell, and soloists from Ukrainian National Ballet
Funds raised will support the arts in Ukraine, with a new production for Ukrainian National Ballet of Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée, the first British ballet to enter its repertoire
Ukrainian born dancer and former star of The Royal Ballet Ivan Putrov today announces Dance for Ukraine at The London Palladium on Sunday 18 February 2024, following the success of 2022’s gala that raised over £160,000 net for the Disaster Emergency Committee’s Ukraine Humanitarian Appeal.
Bringing together a cast of international ballet stars, this year’s Dance for Ukraine comes ahead of the second anniversary of Russia’s illegal invasion and ongoing war. This special benefit gala will raise much needed funds to support young artists and culture in Ukraine, where ballet is centrally important.
The evening will see former Principal of Bolshoi Ballet and current Principal of Dutch National Ballet, Olga Smirnova, make her first performance on a UK stage since leaving Russia in protest of the invasion at the onset of the war. Continuing her ongoing support of Ukraine following performances in galas in Hamburg and Copenhagen.
Dance for Ukraine will also feature stars from The Royal Ballet and other leading UK companies including Principals of The Royal Ballet Marianela Núñez,William Bracewell and Matthew Ball. Lead Principals Emma Hawes and Sangeun Lee will also perform.
Alongside Ivan Putrov and soloists of the Ukrainian National Ballet, dancers from Ukraine include Junior Soloist Vsevolod Maievskyi and Artist of The Royal Ballet Marianna Tsembenhoi. Renowned Ukrainian pianist, Sasha Grynyuk, will also perform alongside mezzo-soprano Kseniia Nikolaieva. Further casting and repertoire to be announced shortly.
Proceeds from the gala will be used to provide aspiring dancers with grants towards their training to make sure the reality of war affects them as little as possible. Additionally, the funds will go to make a new ballet production for Ukrainian National Ballet of Sir Frederick Ashton’s La Fille mal gardée. Having this quintessential British ballet join the repertoire of the National Opera House of Ukraine will help lift the spirits of audiences and the artists involved, the same spirit that has emboldened the people of Ukraine during the war. The rights to the ballet have been generously waived by Jean-Pierre Gasquet and the funds raised will pay for the production to be built and staged for the beginning of 2024/25 season.
Of Dance for Ukraine, Ivan Putrov said: “It is a privilege for us in the UK to bring a little light, hopefully, to the people of Ukraine. I am thankful to all the artists, creatives and organisations that have donated their services to this cause, and I am proud Olga has chosen to come to our gala in support of Ukraine and make her first appearance in London since leaving Russia. It has always been a dream of mine to bring La Fille mal gardée to Ukraine and I am thrilled it will become the first British ballet to enter the repertoire of Ukrainian National Ballet for audiences to enjoy for years to come.”
Nobuhiro Terada, Artistic Director of Ballet at the of the National Opera House of Ukraine said: “Despite this terrible war, we are continuing to perform and are striving to keep the spirits of our dancers and our audiences high. I can’t imagine a more inspiring way to do this than to add this most delightful and heart-warming gem of British ballet to our repertoire. We are hugely grateful to all of those working to make this possible. We send our thanks and gratitude to Jean Pierre Gasquet, for his generosity, to all of the artists taking part and, of course, to the audience for their support.”
Internationally renowned dancer Ivan Putrov was born in Kyiv, Ukraine and trained at The Kyiv State Choreographic Institute before moving to The Royal Ballet School. Following his training he joined The Royal Ballet and was promoted to Principal after just three seasons. Throughout his career he has danced lead roles in all the classics on some of the world’s most prestigious stages, winning numerous awards for his performances.
The first Dance for Ukraine, held at the London Coliseum in 2022, was directed by Ivan Putrov and the international ballet star Alina Cojocaru, who trained in Kyiv. The gala featured a huge range of world-renowned dancers and sold out within 48 hours, raising much needed funds to support those in desperate need following the onset of the war.
Dance for Ukraine is produced by the charity Inspiration in Motion (Charity number 1167669), that promotes dance and the performing arts, with a particular focus on commissioning and supporting new dance works, as well as looking for opportunities to broaden audiences for dance and support education and training.
Pemberley Ann Olson choreographs a new work for Level 8 San Francisco Ballet School Students as part of the Creation House program.
Photo: Lindsey Rallo/San Francisco Ballet
San Francisco Ballet principal Wei Wang had made a few works of choreography — but he’d never made a dance the way Arielle Smith, whose new “Carmen” will premiere at the company later this season, instructed him to last summer.
“Arielle had us write down numbers from 1 to 10 in random order,” Wang explained. “Then she assigned the numbers to words like ‘crush’ or ‘dash’ or ‘propel,’ very active verbs to open the imagination for our bodies. And then we created movement sentences with the motions in different orders, because everyone has a different order of numbers.
“And then here’s the fun part …”
A lot of San Francisco Ballet dancers are talking about the “fun part” of their creative experiments over the last nine months. That’s because of, among the industry names that Artistic Director Tamara Rojo has brought to San Francisco from her decade leading the English National Ballet, one particular name that is not on the program marquees.
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San Francisco Ballet’s 91st season: Jan. 24-May 5. $29-$495. War Memorial Opera House, 301 Van Ness Ave., S.F. 415-865-2000. www.sfballet.org
Kerry Nicholls has worked as a choreographer, teacher and consultant, as well as associate artistic director to Rojo at English National Ballet. In San Francisco her official job title is also associate artistic director, but her duties are not typical. Rather than help rehearse dancers and make repertory choices, she helps dancers explore their talents and interests beyond daily classes and rehearsals.
Nicholls’ primary initiative, Creation House, has been rolling out since July, connecting dancers with the creative talents visiting their company. In the workshops, dancers who chose to participate worked with Smith and fellow 2024 season choreographer Aszure Barton’s rehearsal director, James Gregg, simply exploring.
Aszure Barton, San Francisco Ballet choreographer for the coming season, observes during the Mere Mortals artistic team residency.
Photo: Grady Brannan
“We call them ‘Physical Play’ workshops,” explained corps member Pemberley Ann Olson, who took part in both sessions. “We got to work with choreographers outside of the Ballet, in an environment that has no expectations. It’s not to get cast into a piece. It’s not to make sure the choreographer’s work looks good.”
In the session with Gregg, Olson worked with prompts like “pretend that your wrist is connected to your ankle.”
“And so we would have to choreograph while, basically, keeping our hand and foot attached,” she said. “I’ve never moved my body that way, and I’ve never moved my body so much.” Equally important: “I got to just let loose and have fun.”
Creation House also hosts Choreographic Exchange sessions, where visiting choreographers share their experiences in an intimate discussion. Olson said she likes to ask the guest speakers “if there were any, quote-unquote ‘failures’ in their career, and how did the failure propel you?”
“It’s an amazing session, because you kind of get to hear the whole choreographer’s career in 90 minutes,” she said.
Level 8 San Francisco Ballet School students participate in boundary-breaking exercises afforded by the Creation House program.
Photo: Lindsey Rallo/San Francisco Ballet
More Creation House offerings are scheduled in 2024, including two-week-long ChoreoLabs for early-career dance makers both inside and outside the company, and a San Francisco Ballet School Choreographic Program, in which both students and company members will create works for the Spring Showcase and other performances.
The latter already existed informally in the company, but its workings have been made more transparent. Aspiring choreographers now pitch their artistic ideas to the director and a selection board in a formal application process.
Olson has been chosen as the first dance maker under this system, with her new work premiering at May’s School Showcase.
The year ahead will also bring more programs from Nicholls in her associate artistic director role. For instance, she’s developing a Leadership Initiative, in partnership with LinkedIn.
Pemberley Ann Olson choreographs a new work for Level 8 San Francisco Ballet School Students as part of the Creation House program.
Photo: Lindsey Rallo/San Francisco Ballet
As for that “fun part” in Wang’s workshop experience, the next step of the process involved teaching the randomly generated “movement sentence” to a partner — a member of the San Francisco contemporary dance company ODC, whose dancers were also invited to 2023’s Physical Play workshops, a first step in Rojo’s vision to open up San Francisco Ballet to outside artists and organizations in the city.
Though Nicholls’ role is both new and nebulous, Wang and Olson are clearly glad for her presence.
“I love having her,” Wang said, noting that Nicholls’ role is also as a “middle person” to communicate openly with, because she makes no casting or promotion decisions.
Olsen agreed.
“What she does is something we’ve never had before. But we needed it,” she said. “We needed someone to be there to support the dancers in ways that aren’t just about ballet technique.”
Sarah Stackhouse, a star dancer in the Limón Dance Company who became a sought-after teacher and stager of José Limón’s choreography around the world, died on Jan. 7 at her home in New Paltz, N.Y. She was 87.
The company announced the death. Her friend Diana Byer, the founder and former artistic director of New York Theater Ballet, said the cause was salivary cancer.
Mr. Limón was already one of the 20th century’s most influential choreographers when Ms. Stackhouse joined his company in 1958. Her virtuosic dance technique, natural charisma and compelling acting perfectly suited his flowing movement style and abstract narrative works, which are still performed by his company and many others around the world.
The role of Desdemona in Mr. Limón’s most famous work, “The Moor’s Pavane,” based on Shakespeare’s “Othello,” showcased her gifts. “She stepped onstage, and it was so free,” Ms. Byer said in a phone interview. “It wasn’t Sarah dancing the role; she was the role.”
Her partner in that work and many others was a fellow company member, Louis Falco. “They were one of those fabulous partnerships that come up rarely,” Ms. Byer said.
After leaving the company in 1969, Ms. Stackhouse performed with the ensemble Louis Falco and a Company of Featured Dancers as well as the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. She was a founding member of the American Dance Theater at Lincoln Center. But her connection with Mr. Limón and his company endured for the rest of her life: She was his teaching assistant at the Juilliard School until his death in 1972, performed in company reunions and staged his works internationally.
Ms. Stackhouse’s charisma and artistry never left her. When she performed Mr. Limón’s solo “Chaconne” in 1982, Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times praised her “compelling lucidity and commitment.” Noting Ms. Stackhouse’s solo performance with the Kazuko Hirabayashi Dance Theater in 2008, Ms. Dunning wrote, “Her gifts have been forged in the fire of dance history.”
One critic even suggested that Ms. Stackhouse had improved on Mr. Limón’s work. “Bach’s ‘Musical Offering’ has always seemed too long and academic,” Anna Kisselgoff wrote in a 1995 Times review of Mr. Limón’s “A Choreographic Offering,” set to the Bach piece. “Sarah Stackhouse’s new staging of this abbreviated suite works better.”
Sarah Leigh Stackhouse was born on March 19, 1936, in Chicago, the younger of two daughters of Howard Leigh Stackhouse, a mechanical engineer for General Foods, and Helen Mary (Quhne) Stackhouse, a teacher who also managed the household. Ms. Stackhouse was in elementary school when she took her first dance classes, at the Battle Creek School of Dancing. After the family relocated to Scarsdale, N.Y., she enrolled in the Steffi Nossen School of Dance and graduated from Scarsdale High School in 1954.
It was at the Nossen school that Ms. Stackhouse came into direct contact with the first generation of modern dance innovators. Ms. Nossen admired the work of the pioneering choreographers Ruth St. Denis and Ted Shawn. In the first decades of the 20th century, they blended ballet traditions with influences from India, Asia, Africa and Indigenous cultures that were rarely seen on professional stages in America at the time. As a result, Ms. Stackhouse’s early training was unusually eclectic.
She encountered Mr. Limón at the American Dance Festival, a six-week summer workshop then held at Connecticut College in New London. (Since 1978, it has been based at Duke University in North Carolina.) That summer, she also took classes from the modern dancer and choreographer Martha Graham.
After earning a bachelor’s degree in dance from the University of Wisconsin in 1954, Ms. Stackhouse moved to New York City, where she found work as a dance teacher for the New York Police Athletic League. She also took modern dance classes with the choreographer Merce Cunningham and ballet instruction with the British luminaries Antony Tudor and Margaret Craske. And before joining the Limón company in 1958, she studied Afro-Modern dance — a fusion of African, Cuban and modern movement — with Syvilla Fort, whose students also included Marlon Brando, James Dean and Eartha Kitt.
Mr. Limón, who had founded his troupe with the choreographer Doris Humphrey, prized Ms. Stackhouse’s versatility and expressive stage presence.
In 1968, at a party held by Carla Maxwell, her fellow principal dancer in the Limón company, Ms. Stackhouse met her future husband, Leonardo Seeber, a research scientist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory at Columbia University. The next year Ms. Stackhouse left the Limón company, and the couple embarked on an itinerant life that took them to Mr. Seeber’s family vineyard near Rome and to Pakistan, where their son, Roel Seeber, was born.
Ms. Stackhouse is survived by her husband, who goes by Nano, and their son, also a professional dancer, as well as her sister and a grandson.
Throughout the family’s time abroad, Ms. Stackhouse traveled to New York to continue teaching, staging and performing. On their permanent return in 1977, she joined the faculty at the Conservatory of Dance at Purchase College, part of the State University of New York. Her career eventually made her a dance ambassador of sorts, taking her to Italy, China, South America and India. She served as an American cultural specialist for the Cultural Programs Division of the State Department. She also lectured and wrote about dance, contributing essays to numerous books, and staged Mr. Limón’s works for New York Theater Ballet until late 2022.
Ms. Byer remembered Ms. Stackhouse as a kind but no-nonsense mentor. “She was generous, but she was demanding,” Ms. Byer said. “She expected you to meet her expectations.”
Siphesihle November and Hannah Galway in Angels’ Atlas. Photo by Karolina Kuras.
Hope Muir, Joan and Jerry Lozinski Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada, and Barry Hughson, Executive Director, today announced that the company will tour to London, England’s Sadler’s Wells October 2 – 6 for the first time in 11 years. The National Ballet will perform a programme of works by acclaimed Canadian choreographers: Crystal Pite, James Kudelka and Emma Portner.
“I am thrilled to be returning to Sadler’s Wells as Artistic Director of The National Ballet of Canada. Sadler’s Wells was my home theatre for many years when I was a dancer with Rambert Dance Company and I feel a unique connection to this iconic venue, having developed as an artist and performer there,” said Muir. “It will always be a creative home for me, and I could not be more excited and humbled to be returning with our extraordinary company. This compelling programme which highlights not only the breadth of choreographic talent in Canada but is the perfect vehicle to showcase the versatility of our artists for London audiences who haven’t seen the National Ballet perform since 2013.”
Sadler’s Wells is the UK’s leading dance house dedicated to bringing the very best international and UK dance to London audiences and is committed to producing, commissioning and presenting works of the highest standards, crossing the boundaries between different art forms.
“It is an honour to welcome The National Ballet of Canada back to the Sadler’s Wells stage with three outstanding Canadian choreographers, demonstrating the fantastic choreography and dance this company produces,” said Alistair Spalding, Artistic Director and Co-Chief Executive of Sadler’s Wells.
Crystal Pite created Angels’ Atlas for the National Ballet.
Set to original music by Owen Belton and choral pieces by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovskyand Morten Lauridsen, Angels’ Atlas is a profound work from one of the world’s leading contemporary choreographers.
Celebrated Canadian choreographerJames Kudelka explores relationships of love in Passion. Two couples each stylistically unique – one classical, the other contemporary – weave within the Corps de Ballet, evoking complex relationships of passion. A love story whose meticulous structure mirrors the music, Passion is to the first movement of Ludwig van Beethoven’s Concerto for Piano in D, Op. 61a. Passion recently made its company premiere in November 2023 in Toronto.
islands is a sculptural duet for two women in which the dancers are joined, fusing their bodies together as one from genre-breaking choreographer Emma Portner. When islands premiered with Norwegian National Ballet in 2020, it was named a triumph. The work is set to an eclectic compilation of music by contemporary artists as well as original music by Forest Swords, bringing together hip hop, dub, guitar loops and electronic sampling for a rhythmic, avant-garde sound. islands will make its North American premiere in Toronto in March.
The National Ballet last performed at Sadler’s Wells in 2013 with Alexei Ratmanksy’s Romeo and Juliet.
Co-founder and artistic director Gladisa Guadalupe has been fired following the probe. Her husband, ex-CEO Michael Krasnyansky, already resigned back in November.
CLEVELAND — The Cleveland Ballet has fired its remaining co-founder after an independent investigation revealed the full depths of the "toxic" environment dancers and employees have been dealing with.
The ballet's Board of Directors announced the results of the probe Wednesday, uncovering a "pattern of intimidation and retaliation against dancers and staff, egregious misconduct, financial irregularities, and self-dealing." Some of the most damaging allegations involve former CEO Michael Krasnyansky, with more than a dozen people accusing him of sexual misconduct.
Krasnyansky, who co-founded the Cleveland Ballet with his wife Gladisa Guadalupe, resigned back in November shortly after the investigation began. On Wednesday, the Board also officially terminated Guadalupe as its artistic director.
"This has been a very difficult and challenging time for our dancers, staff, and Board," Board Chairman Dr. Michael Frank said in a statement. "All members of our Board, including myself, are ballet enthusiasts who have supported the Cleveland Ballet and its founders with their time and generous financial support, and now feel outraged and betrayed. For the health and future success of Cleveland Ballet, it became abundantly clear to the Board that maintaining the status quo was not an option."
3News Investigates first reported on the ballet's issues this past fall, speaking to a former instructor who claimed she was let go in a case of body size discrimination by Guadalupe. Both Guadalupe and Krasnyansky were suspended in the coming days.
While the Board now contends that move did not have anything to do with the body size discrimination allegations, their investigation did not begin until 3News Investigates approached them with this claim. Once the Board's investigation started, members referred only to "serious and disturbing allegations" surrounding the ballet.
After Krasnyansky stepped down, there was more turmoil to come, starting with the ouster of interim artistic director Cynthia Graham following reports of plagiarism involving the company's choreography of "The Nutcracker." Then, at the start of the new year, the ballet cut ties with Guadalupe's School of Cleveland Ballet and announced plans to start its own academy after Guadalupe let go several Cleveland Ballet Company dancers who had been employed as instructors.
All of that turned out to be mere window dressing for Wednesday's bombshell report, with dancers telling investigators Guadalupe and Krasnyansky "fostered a toxic work environment." According to members, even as the investigation was going on, Guadalupe was vowing to "handle the troublemakers" once the probe was over with, such as firing those who agreed to cooperate with the Board's investigation or speak with members of the media. Per officials, this wound up being the case with the ousted teachers from the School of Cleveland Ballet.
The investigation eventually found "egregious misconduct" on the part of Krasnyansky, with at least 16 current or former dancers and staff members accusing him of inappropriate touching or sexual harassment. The Board found these accusations "credible" partly because many of those who came forward did not dance with each other at the same time, "suggesting that the misbehavior was longstanding."
Additionally, many of these victims said they did not come forward at the time due to an "atmosphere of nepotism and intimidation" within the company, with all people in leadership either relatives or close associates of Krasnyansky or Guadalupe. Frank also asserted Wednesday that Krasnyansky's departure from the ballet was in no way voluntary.
"The Board had a moral, ethical, and fiduciary duty to address this situation immediately, and we did," Frank said. "Mr. Krasnyansky's sexual misconduct was the sole reason the Board demanded his resignation."
Krasnyansky has declined to speak to 3News Investigates in the past, but "unequivocally" denied the claims in a statement to cleveland.com.
Guadalupe is also accused of using ballet funds to pay for personal expenses, including personal car insurance, travel, meals, and lodging. Further allegations involve commingling funds between the ballet company and the School of Cleveland Ballet, which is technically a separate organization she continues to operate.
Frank praised the company for pushing through a "gut-wrenching" time during its busy holiday performance season, saying that "our wonderful Cleveland Ballet dancers pulled together and gave our community some of the most memorable Nutcracker performances ever. This is a true testament to the dedication of our dancers, whose beautiful artistry through 11 performances with strong crowds produced great reviews and sufficient revenue to keep the Company afloat when it needed it most."
To replace Guadalupe as artistic director, Timour Bourtasenkov has had his "interim" tag removed and given the position on a full-time basis. The new Academy of Cleveland Ballet is also set to open next month, while dancers will soon begin preparing for their April production of "Sleeping Beauty."
View the results of the independent investigation led by the Jones Day law firm in to Cleveland Ballet's former leadership here, as shared by the Cleveland Ballet Board of Directors (only contact information has been redacted):
A woman in a sparkly red dress makes a grand gesture. Then she notices that she’s being watched and suddenly looks like a squirrel that has realized it isn’t alone. She tries to make another grand gesture only to be stymied when the Bubble Wrap under her feet pops. Soon she is joined by a woman in a sparkly black dress who seems trapped in the same situation, reaching for elegance only to have that ideal pop, again and again. The second woman hunches over and hyperventilates.
This is how we meet Lisa Fagan and Lena Engelstein in their experimental dance-theater work “Deepe Darknesse.” At Collapsable Hole, the scruffy West Village space where this absurdist exercise was performed this weekend as part of the New York Live Arts Live Artery festival, they are close to audience members, continually making eye contact with them. This heightens the sense of danger. You don’t know what these zanies might do.
First, they break into a demented drill team routine, kicking and breathing hard. Occasionally, a 1960s Italian pop song comes on — it’s “Stasera” by Cocki Mazzetti — and their frantic dancing acquires some bounce and flirtatious charm. Not for long, though. Interruption is the show’s constant.
During periodic blackouts we learn that Fagan and Engelstein aren’t alone. Hannah Mitchell serves as a straight-faced stagehand, who applies too much makeup to the women by the light of a headlamp. The performance space is a rehearsal studio that hasn’t been gussied up much, and the performers make full use of it. They take food and wine from the refrigerator and consume it next to a microphone. (Trips to the offstage toilet are also amplified.) They use the microwave. They stand in the sink.
Oh, and all of this and the work’s title have something to do to Apuleius’ “The Golden Ass,” the picaresque ancient Roman novel in which the protagonist suffers through various travails — often interrupted by other stories — after being transformed into a donkey. At one point, Engelstein, gripping a loaf of bread in each hand, tries to recite an episode from the novel in an archaic translation but has to keep asking for her lines, which Mitchell supplies in a voice like that of Siri.
This is funny, but Apuleius is ultimately just more material, more Bubble Wrap to pop. Fagan and Engelstein employ it less for meaning and thematic resonance (humbling transformation) than as a structural model. “Deepe Darknesse” is certainly picaresque. Its randomness is carefully worked out but also feels free and spontaneous in spots. Its greatest pleasures are the small, temporarily resolving actions that operate like punchlines — as when, while the two women grapple in a pretzely cantilevered balance, Engelstein uses a foot to pick up a cigarette from the floor and plant it in Fagan’s mouth.
These performers are fully committed comics, unafraid to make donkeys of themselves, and they keep up the tension of potential peril. The recklessness with which they throw a laptop computer makes you worry a bit for them and for yourself. This tension helps hold together the disparate parts, and “Deepe Darknesse” develops its own loony logic. After the recitation of an ancient Roman novel falls apart, what deus ex machina could save the show? Another pop song by Cocki Mazzetti, of course.
How are you feeling about being a part of this year’s Strictly Christmas special?
Keisha: I’ve been here before to perform with the Sugababes for the main show, but this is a very different feeling. Now I feel like I’m here as a student. It’s definitely a learning experience, a very humbling experience. I’m enjoying the feeling, everyone’s made it so comfortable for me. It’s probably the best working environment I’ve ever been in.
What made you want to take part?
Keisha: Mutya and the girls in general, have always said ‘you’ve had never done anything outside of the group. Why don’t you?’ A lot of people don’t know this about me, but I’m actually a bit of an introvert and extrovert. They call it ambivert, so I am kind of shy and self-conscious, and I just never thought that I would do this. But the girls gave me courage. So I just thought okay, but I knew that I was going to come in and definitely have step my game up a lot. A lot of people do think ‘oh, you perform to millions of people and you must be so confident’, but actually you have to gear yourself up. The Sugababes, are actually known as the girl band who didn’t dance so I want people to know that, because the comments that I get on Instagram say ‘this is going on this be so easy for her’. But when we all get together and rehearse, I feel like I’ve struggled the most.
Are you nervous at all?
Keisha: Well I feel like I have struggled and haven’t had that much time to rehearse. I definitely think that’s one thing that I am nervous about.
Gorka: Keisha had to learn another two dances so I might get to the point where I play the music and she’s going to go ‘what am I doing?’
Keisha: It takes me a while I want to be complimentary on Gorka’s arm. I take my studio sessions and my writing seriously, like the dancers do with their careers, so I want to do well. You have to focus, you have to act when you don’t get it right and I want to do well for Gorka. I’m very hard on myself.
Have you got any previous dancing experience?
Keisha: No, I have never had any dance training.
Do you think you’re naturally a good dancer?
Keisha: Yeah. If you put on any genre on I can naturally dance 100%. I’ve grown up around music and rhythm obviously being Jamaican.
Tell us about your partner…How are you finding training?
Gorka: Irresistible, unforgivable and sensational.
Keisha: Gorka is very similar to me, he takes his art very seriously. He’s just really honest and straightforward, but also encouraging. And I feel like when he tells me I did a good job, I believe him. This is very good for the soul for me.
Talk us through your outfit…
Keisha: Gorka is wearing white, as am I. We have an ice Queen and snowman theme. Sia – Snowman is our song.
Which judge are you hoping to impress the most?
Keisha: I just want to do my best. I am so in ‘la, la land’, its Christmas, I’m not a professional dancer, so I am welcome to hearing all of their feedback to help me improve.
Gorka: It’s about bringing joy and happiness to people at home during Christmas Day and entertaining. They’re going to be less critical.
What is your signature dance move at the Christmas party?
Keisha: I do the sway.
Do you think you will be taking home the top prize this year?
Keisha: If it happens, that would be great, but I’ll be ok if not.
What is the best present you have ever received?
Keisha: Two dollies, I named them Caroline and Christina. I really wanted the dolls that you could feed and I got them.
What do you love most about Christmas?
Keisha: The movies and the films and food.
Gorka: I just love being with the family. Playing games and just being cosy at home.
Do you have a Christmas tradition?
Keisha: I’ve started making eggnog last year and I I make it throughout Christmas.
Will you be making a New Year resolution?
Keisha: I’ve already made mine, I do it early every year…
Editor’s Note: This article wasproduced in collaboration with the Arts & Culture MA concentration at Columbia University’s Graduate School of Journalism.
Since it began over a decade ago, the Black Lives Matter (BLM) movement has celebrated the literal movements of its participants. People protesting killings of Black people have not only marched in the streets; they have krumped, twerked, vogued, and resurrected the electric slide of the ’70s and ’80s in often impromptu responses to the emotions underpinning their demonstrations. Black choreographers, in turn, have woven the grief, anger, and sadness of the BLM movement into formal concert dance: Choreographer Kyle Abraham presented “Absent Matter” in 2015, just two years after the acquittal of Trayvon Martin’s killer, George Zimmerman, ignited BLM and one year after the police killing of Michael Brown in Ferguson, Missouri. A work of fluid and athletic gestures, Abraham’s performance took its cues from hip-hop, ballet, and politically minded anthems like Kendrick Lamar’s “Alright.” In 2016, David Roussève’s “Enough?” — with an accelerating choreographic phrase danced to a soundtrack of Aretha Franklin — asked whether dance can be a sufficient medium for considering the brutality often inflicted on Black people.
Now, eight years later, that question is being answered in the affirmative on major dance stages around the United States. Choreographer Jamar Roberts’s “Ode,” a somber and sensuous dance first performed in 2019 as a response to gun violence, was restaged for the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater’s 65th anniversary in December. Last May, Chanel DaSilva’s “Tabernacle” premiered at the Dallas Black Dance Theatre, fusing Afrofuturism, hip hop, and African dance in a direct response to BLM. And last fall, as part of the French Institute Alliance Française’s (FIAF) Crossing the Line festival, the French-Malian choreographer Smaïl Kanouté’s “Never Twenty One” made its New York debut, its title borrowed from a BLM slogan. A trio of dancers whose bare arms and torsos were emblazoned with words like “death,” “negro,” and “PTSD” engage in movements akin to mortal combat onstage, punctuated by moments of kinship, in homage to people of color killed through gun violence in the US, South Africa, and Brazil before they had reached their 21st birthdays. After the performance at FIAF, one audience member noted that she had cried 63 times while watching.
Salomon Mpondo-Dicka (left) and Aston Bonapart (right) in “Never Twenty One” (2023) (photo by Samia Pendleton)
Salomon Mpondo-Dicka (left) and Aston Bonapart (right) in “Never Twenty One” (2023) (photo by Samia Pendleton)
Salomon Mpondo-Dicka (left) and Aston Bonapart (right) in “Never Twenty One” (2023) (photo by Samia Pendleton)
Salomon Mpondo-Dicka in “Never Twenty One” (2023) (photo by Samia Pendleton)
Salomon Mpondo-Dicka in “Never Twenty One” (2023) (photo by Samia Pendleton)
Salomon Mpondo-Dicka in “Never Twenty One” (2023) (photo by Samia Pendleton)
While there is a clear difference between dance erupting on sidewalks and performances choreographed for the stage, there is overlap between the two forms. In addition to a sense of urgency,they share some of the same movements and gestures. In “Never Twenty One,” for example, the spasmodic krumping motions that originated in South Central Los Angeles in the ’90s were seen in protests in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd. One audience member animatedly joined in from her chair during the show at FIAF in perhaps an unusual move, but in another setting, it would be almost rude not to.
Dr. Shamell Bell, a dancer, Harvard lecturer, and one of the founding members of the Black Lives Matter movement in Los Angeles, explained to Hyperallergic the importance of rooting such pieces in lived experience and “[reaching] out to the people that you’re supposedly wanting to bring attention to.” Having begun her career dancing on the streets as a youth activist, Dr. Bell now works on performance pieces that, like “Never Twenty One,” play with the conventions and traditions of vernacular Black dance genres to shine a light on difficult topics. Dr. Bell served as a co-social impact director for Ritual of Breath Is The Rite to Resist (2022), a transmedia opera at Dartmouth and Stanford that brought together dance, music, visual art, and text. Composed by Jonathan Berger and choreographed by Neema Bickersteth and Trebien Pollard, the piece was loosely based on the last moments in the life of Eric Garner, the 43-year-old African-American man who was killed by a New York City Police Department officer in 2014. His final words — “I can’t breathe” — became a major slogan for the BLM movement.
“We asked the community what they needed to heal,” Dr. Bell said. “One of the most important aspects of doing performance as activism is making sure it has tangible resources for and connections with the community it matters the most to.”
Dr. Bell reached out to Garner’s mother, Gwen Carr, and others who had lost children to police brutality, not only entering into a dialogue with them but also creating rituals aimed at supporting them emotionally. In a similar vein, Kanouté incorporated the testimonies of bereaved families into his piece at FIAF, including haunting monologues in multiple languages that comprise the show’s soundtrack. Both works go beyond archiving the experiences of their subjects to also provide a space for grieving. “Dance is a healing modality,” Dr. Bell added. “And we need to heal ourselves in order to heal this world.”
Isaiah Robinson (left) and Neema Bickersteth (right) in “Movement 2” of The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist (photo by Ben DeFlorio, courtesy the Hopkins Center of the Arts at Dartmouth College)
Of course, BLM and other movements for racial justice are just the latest chapters in a long history of Black cultural activism in the United States. Artist and academic Stafford C. Berry Jr., a scholar of what he describes as “African-rooted” dance at Indiana University, told Hyperallergic that these choreographic works extend and are part of “the trajectory and existence of Black lives from enslavement up until now,” adding that the BLM movement “is really a contemporary recapitulation of our earlier movements.” Mentored by the influential choreographers Chuck Davis and Kariamu Welsh, Berry noted that he has long drawn inspiration from the Black Arts Movement of the 1960s and ’70s, which emerged in tandem with Black Power. Even so, Berry sees the BLM movement’s resurgence in recent years as a step forward in understanding Blackness in America. Berry noted that the works that BLM has inspired have been “bold and unapologetic, by people who are centering themselves and trying to figure out what BLM means for the United States, and the world.”
This certainly seems true of Kanouté, who is based in Paris and was inspired by what he described to Hyperallergic as the “powerful echo” of events in the US to look at the loss of Black lives across the world. “We had a young man called Nahel [Merzouk] who was shot by the police,” he said, catching his breath backstage after the FIAF performance as he recalled the case of the 17-year-old boy of North African descent who was killed by French police last June, sparking protests across France. “The racism and separation I grew up with was under the surface, but now it’s come out.”
In the same way that popular dance can offer a sense of hope and resistance at protests, there is a cathartic quality to Kanouté’s work. Despite the frequent choreographed clashes among the three men on stage, “Never 21” was infused with a sense of truly owning and embracing Blackness and Black joy in its many forms. Kanouté explained that he draws particular inspiration from Black communities living in cities like Johannesburg and Rio de Janeiro, whose joy often exists side by side with danger and precarity.
“They have to create their own identity, their own music, their own dance, because they don’t know if tomorrow they will still be there,” Kanouté said. “In that kind of atmosphere, you create powerful things.”
The Community Chorus in “Movement 7” of The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist (photo by Laura Swoyer, courtesy the Hopkins Center of the Arts at Dartmouth College)
The Community Chorus in “Movement 7” of The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist (photo by Laura Swoyer, courtesy the Hopkins Center of the Arts at Dartmouth College)
The Community Chorus in “Movement 7” of The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist (photo by Laura Swoyer, courtesy the Hopkins Center of the Arts at Dartmouth College)
Neema Bickersteth in “Movement 6” of The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist (photo by Ben DeFlorio, courtesy the Hopkins Center of the Arts at Dartmouth College)
Neema Bickersteth in “Movement 6” of The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist (photo by Ben DeFlorio, courtesy the Hopkins Center of the Arts at Dartmouth College)
Neema Bickersteth in “Movement 6” of The Ritual of Breath Is the Rite to Resist (photo by Ben DeFlorio, courtesy the Hopkins Center of the Arts at Dartmouth College)
“Can We Dance Here?” That’s the title of Soles of Duende’s signature work. But it’s also a question that the members of this percussive dance company often find themselves posing.
“We’re constantly asking it weekly, daily, trying to book a rehearsal studio,” the tap dancer Amanda Castro said. Often, the answer is no because there’s a fear that tap and flamenco shoes will damage floors, or that the group’s rehearsals will be too loud.
“People have hung up the phone on us,” said Castro, who is one of three members of Soles of Duende, along with the flamenco dancer Arielle Rosales and the Kathak artist Brinda Guha. “People cut me off in the middle of the word ‘flamenco’ — they’re like, ‘no, we don’t allow that, sorry,’ click.”
Sometimes the problem is about logistics. Once, after showing up to a festival and finding that they were expected to dance on carpeted metal risers, the performers dragged pieces of wood out of a dumpster and built a makeshift floor.
It’s a particular cruelty that a floor to dance on is so elusive for the artists of Soles, because to them, the floor is a beloved collaborator — the foundation that unites their three distinct cultural forms. “It feels like a holy place,” said Castro, who, like many percussive dancers, considers herself both a musician and an instrument: In percussive dance, the sounds the body makes (tapping or stomping the floor, clapping the hands) are valued alongside, sometimes even above, how the body moves through space.
Despite its name, “Can We Dance Here?,” onstage this week as part of the American Dance Platform showcase at the Joyce Theater, makes bold statements rather than asking polite questions, as it situates the three styles into joyful and rhythmically thrilling conversation.
Soles of Duende was formed in 2016, when Rosales and Guha, already friends and occasional collaborators, were looking for a third percussive dancer for a performance at Dixon Place. Guha wasn’t expecting to find someone at Run the Night, a competition dominated by hip-hop and contemporary dancers, but one performer caught her eye: Castro, the only tap artist there, who won first place for her performance to music by Vivaldi. (“Classical music slaps,” Castro said.) Later that night Guha messaged Rosales: “I found her.”
The three dancers clicked immediately, united by the commonalities among their forms — the reverence for the floor, the overlapping rhythms — and by what the three dancers themselves shared. Each felt a responsibility to the tradition she carried; all were invested in what true collaboration might look like, hungry to push boundaries and ask difficult questions of their forms.
“We didn’t know what we were going to make, but I just remember this feeling of ease that we’d figure something out,” Guha said. “I’d never felt that way working with anyone else. It felt brave and fearless, like there were no inhibitions.”
After the Dixon Place performance, they were inundated with questions about where they would be performing next. They hadn’t thought that far ahead. Eventually they landed back at Dixon Place, where they created an early version of “Can We Dance Here?,” which they continued developing and performing over the years.
The work of Soles is more of a salad than a juice, Rosales said — “you can still see and pick out the ingredients” — more dialogue than fusion, and decidedly not a watered-down blend of the three traditions, each deeply rooted in a culture and history. Tap is an African American art form, flamenco comes from Andalusia in southern Spain, and Kathak is a classical dance from northern India.
“We’re not trying to reinvent the wheel,” Castro said. “We’re not trying to create a Soles of Duende form of dance or to do flamenco in tap shoes.”
She added, “You don’t have to sacrifice any part of yourself to have a conversation with somebody else.”
Experimenting with the boundaries of their forms without “perpetrating a fraud,” as Guha put it, requires constantly negotiating each tradition’s distinctive musical, cultural and aesthetic values. Kathak and flamenco, for instance, are often dramatic and outward-projecting; both have extensive, codified upper body movements. Tap, on the other hand, can feel internal and almost private; dancers sometimes look down at their feet as they dance, faces lost in concentration, arms swinging naturally by their sides.
Flamenco can act as a bridge between Kathak and tap, Rosales said, since it has been influenced by both forms. “If I took my shoes off and did my footwork, it would look pretty similar to Kathak,” she said. “Tap technique is different — the ankles are much looser, they lift their knees — but flamenco has adapted a lot of things from tap.”
Traditionalists may see what Soles of Duende does as rule breaking. The three dancers are aware of that and strive to be clear about what the rules are so they can be intentional about when and how to break them.
Recently, at a residency at Chelsea Factory, they spent several days immersed in the three styles with the help of guest artists, exploring a folk dance from southern Spain, called Sevillanas, with the flamenco singer Alfonso Cid; the history of the shim sham — a step considered the national anthem of tap dance — with Jason Samuels Smith; and Kathak repertory with Parul Shah.
“They want to go deep,” Shah said. “They really want to know the tradition they’re working in, to pay homage and respect to it.”
For now, that deepening includes the creation of a new piece (to be premiered in 2025) and, they hope, a “Can We Dance Here?” recorded album. What they really dream of, though? “Infrastructural things,” Guha said. More specifically: their very own dance floor.
Mira Nadon, aloft, and company in Copland Dance Episodes, A Ballet By Justin Peck (World Premiere), New York City Ballet, Thursday, January 26, 2023, 7:30pm. Music by Aaron Copland, Choreography by Justin Peck, Scenery by Jeffrey Gibson, Scenery Supervised by Mark Stanley, Costumes by Ellen Warren, Costumes supervised by Marc Happel, Lighting by Brandon Stirling Baker. David H. Koch Theater, Lincoln Center. Credit Photo: Erin Baiano
FROM JANUARY 23 THROUGH MARCH 3 – CONTINUING NEW YORK CITY BALLET ‘S YEAR-LONG 75th ANNIVERSARY CELEBRATION
2024 Winter Season to Explore the Evolution of the Company’s Repertory Featuring 23 Works Created by Choreographers Closely Associated with New York City Ballet Including Landmark Works by NYCB’s Co-Founding Choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins and World Premiere Ballets by NYCB Principal Dancer Tiler Peck and NYCB Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky
Following the all-Balanchine Fall Season which launched New York City Ballet ’s 75 th Anniversary Season, the Company will open its 2024 Winter Season on Tuesday, January 23 with a program of works by Jerome Robbins, the Company’s Co-Founding Choreographer. The program will consist of Robbins’ Fancy Free, created in 1944 for Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre), and two works created for NYCB: In the Night (1970) and The Four Seasons (1979).
The Winter Season, which will continue for six weeks, through Sunday, March 3, will explore the evolution of NYCB’s repertory with 23 works created by choreographers closely associated with the Company.
In addition to the all-Robbins opening night performance, the first two weeks of the winter season will include former Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins’ Barber Violin Concerto, former Resident Choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s Polyphonia, current Resident Choreographer Justin Peck’s The Times Are Racing and Rotunda, and current Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky’s Odesa.
The second week of the Winter Season will also feature a World Premiere choreographed by current Principal Dancer Tiler Peck, who will create her first work for NYCB. The ballet, which will premiere on Thursday, February 1, will be set to Francis Poulenc’s “Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra,” with costumes designed by Zac Posen, and lighting designed by Brandon Stirling Baker. The second premiere of the Winter Season will be by Ratmansky, who will make his first work for NYCB since becoming the Company’s Artist in Residence in August of last year. The work, which will premiere on Thursday, February 15, will be set to music by Gustav Mahler—the Third Movement (Funeral March) from “Symphony No. 1” and the Fourth Movement (Adagietto) from “Symphony No. 5” —and will feature costumes by Moritz Junge and lighting by Mark Stanley.
The Winter Season will also feature seven works by Balanchine: Ballo della Regina, The Four Temperaments, Liebeslieder Walzer, Stars and Stripes, Symphony in Three Movements, Tarantella, and Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, and two additional works by Robbins: The Concert and Opus/19 The Dreamer.
The season will also include Justin Peck’s Copland Dance Episodes, which premiered in January 2023 and will be performed this season with one intermission; Martins’ Hallelujah Junction, created for the Royal Danish Ballet in 2001; former Principal Dancer and Repertory Director Albert Evans’ In a Landscape, a pas de deux created in 2005; and a revival of Wheeldon’s Carnival of the Animals, featuring acclaimed actor Terrence Mann as the Narrator, a role created by John Lithgow for the ballet’s premiere in 2003.
NYCB’s 75 th Anniversary Season will continue during the 2024 Spring Season, from April 23 through June 2, with a further exploration of the future of the Company’s repertory with World Premiere ballets from Justin Peck and Amy Hall Garner, and additional works by Balanchine, Robbins, Justin Peck, Ratmansky, Wheeldon, Kyle Abraham, Ulysses Dove, William Forsythe, Gianna Reisen, and Pam Tanowitz.
Subscription packages and single tickets for NYCB’s 75th Anniversary Season are currently available online by phone at 212-496-0600, or in person at the David H. Koch Theater box office. All performances will take place at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, which is located at West 63 rd Street and Columbus Avenue. Programming is subject to change.
WORLD PREMIERE BALLETS
TILER PECK – Thursday, February 1, 2024 Tiler Peck’s first work for NYCB will premiere on February 1, on a program with Justin Peck’s Rotunda and Ratmansky’s Odesa. It will be set to Francis Poulenc’s “Concerto for Two Pianos and Orchestra,” with costumes designed by Zac Posen, and lighting designed by Brandon Stirling Baker.
ALEXEI RATMANSKY – Thursday, February 15, 2024 Alexei Ratmansky began his position as Artist in Residence at New York City Ballet in August 2023. His first work for the Company in this new role will premiere on February 15 on program with Robbins’ Opus 19/The Dreamer and Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements. The work will be set to music by Gustav Mahler, the Third Movement (Funeral March) from “Symphony No. 1” and the Fourth Movement (Adagietto) from “Symphony No. 5.” The ballet will feature costumes by Moritz Junge, and lighting by Mark Stanley.
The Paul Taylor Dance Company, founded in 1954 by the renowned choreographer, has long been one of the city’s most prominent troupes. But it has struggled in recent years to find space to match its ambitions for more performances, rehearsals, classes and community events.
No longer. The company on Tuesday announced a major expansion that would more than triple its footprint, moving its headquarters to a Midtown Manhattan office tower next year from its current home on the Lower East Side. The company will use the space to build more dance studios and expand its education programs.
“It’s a new era,” said John Tomlinson, the company’s executive director. “There’s more opportunity for us.”
Under a leasehold agreement with George Comfort & Sons, a real estate investment and management firm, the Taylor company will essentially own two floors of a tower on West 38th Street for 30 years. The company and George Comfort will split the costs, around $8 million to $10 million, to renovate the 31,000-square-foot space and build dance studios.
Tomlinson said the new space would allow the company to attract more artists and students, given its proximity to major transportation hubs. The company, which plans to move to the new space early next year, also operates the Taylor School, offering dance classes for adults and children.
“We found this location that is about as close to the crossroads of the world as you can possibly be,” Tomlinson said. “And we found a landlord who was, incredibly, willing to invest with us and interested in seeing us become part of that community. And so it became a perfect match made in heaven.”
The leasehold arrangement will allow the Taylor company, a nonprofit, and George Comfort to claim an exemption from property taxes on the space.
George Comfort said it was pleased to help the dance troupe expand its presence in the city.
“World-renowned cultural institutions like the Paul Taylor Dance Company are the lifeblood of New York City and a key component to the Big Apple’s enduring allure,” Peter S. Duncan, the president and chief executive of George Comfort & Sons, said in a statement.
Paul Taylor, whose founder died in 2018, is one of the few dance companies in New York with a substantial real estate footprint. (Others include Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, the Mark Morris Dance Group and Dance Theater of Harlem.) Dance troupes have long struggled to find affordable space to rehearse and perform in the city, one of the world’s most expensive markets, especially since the pandemic, which has created new financial pressures for performing arts groups.
The pandemic forced Paul Taylor to cancel many performances and tours, hurting its revenues; the company’s budget fell to about $6.4 million in 2022 from about $10 million in 2019.
But the company has started to recover. The budget is now roughly $8.3 million and box office sales are roughly at prepandemic levels, totaling nearly $800,000 for its current fiscal year. The company last fall completed its annual season at Lincoln Center, which attracted 25,239 people, compared with 26,104 in 2019. The company has tours planned this year in the United States as well as Italy.
After its move to Midtown, the Taylor company will maintain its roughly 13,000-square-foot space on the Lower East Side, which it has been leasing for about 15 years. That space will be used for performances and community programs; it will also be rented out for events.
