Tickets are now on sale for Miami City Ballet’s 37th season, which opens Oct. 21 and includes performances inspired by two Shakespearean dramas, Broadway’s West Side Story and other influences.
George Balanchine’s highly anticipated favorite, The Nutcracker returns to brighten the holiday season in December.
“Ballet has this wonderful ability to transport us to faraway places and cultures, to unleash the imagination, and to entertain us,” said Lourdes Lopez, who notches her 10th year as MCB’s artistic director.
She said the 2022-23 season “begins with one of the greatest love stories of all time, Romeo and Juliet. And with the completion of the highly successful ‘Transforming Lives Campaign,’ MCB’s momentum is at an all-time high.”
“We look forward to bringing our audiences performances that honor ballet’s illustrious past while propelling the art form into the future as we continue to strengthen and grow the organization.”
Again, this year, MCB performances will be held at the Arsht Center in Miami, Broward Center for the Performing Arts in Fort Lauderdale and Kravis Center for the Performing Arts in West Palm Beach. Tickets start at $30.
The ballets, performed to a live orchestra, offer something for all audiences with epic stories, modern twists and noteworthy collaborations that see the worlds of fashion, technology and music intersect.
The first show focuses on the world’s greatest love story, the tale of star-crossed lovers Romeo and Juliet. “Here, the Shakespearean classic comes to life in a grand full-length ballet with opulent sets and costumes,” said Lopez.
The second program, Modern Masters, features the company premiere of Martha Graham’s joyous Diversion of Angels, marking the first Graham work to enter MCB’s repertory and José Limón’s pivotal The Moor’s Pavane based on Shakespeare’s Othello.
The third program, Fresh & Fierce, features West Side Story Suite bringing Broadway to the ballet, as dancers act and sing some of Leonard Bernstein’s most popular songs.
Entradas, the fourth and final program, invites audiences to experience seminal works by legendary choreographers George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. Special guest conductor, Tania León, a Pulitzer Prize-winning and 2022 Kennedy Center Honors recipient, will lead the orchestra through Balanchine’s Symphony in Three Movements with music by Stravinsky and Square Dance by Vivaldi and Corelli, plus Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun and the company premiere of Antique Epigraphs, both by Debussy.
Square Dance, Balanchine’s nod to American folk traditions, gets a star-studded Miami-inspired update. With Balanchine’s choreography remaining the same, the reimagined classic will see the role of The Caller return but rewritten by Nicaraguan-born, Miami-raised lyricist, rapper, hip hop dancer, and playwright Rudi Goblen. Tony Award-winner Montana Levi-Blanco is tapped for costume design. Mariana Sanchez will create the sets and Maria-Cristina Fusté will design the lighting.
In other highlights, MCB has commissioned three world premieres by diverse choreographers. Durante Verzola will debut a work that celebrates his adopted home of Miami, featuring music by Cuban composer Ernesto Lecuona and designs by fashion icon Esteban Cortázar.
Swedish innovator Pontus Lidberg will create a work set to music by minimalist composer Philip Glass that melds film and technology with costumes by Spiridonakos — from former Miami City Ballet soloist turned fashion designer Andrea Spiridonakos.
Amy Hall Garner will also see a new work that explores the interplay between modern dance and classical ballet. Garner’s Rita Finds Home, a co-production with Joffrey Ballet, will also be performed by children from the MCB School as part of the company’s community engagement programs. Dates will be announced soon.
No season would be complete without George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, filled with exquisite dancing, music and costumes. This year, MCB has partnered with Brightline, the nation’s only provider of modern, eco-friendly intercity passenger rail service, to bring a little more magic to the season of joy with special packages to see the extravagant holiday show.
With its 37th season barely a month away, MCB announces the addition of five new dancers to its company roster. Fresh faces in the corps de ballet are Alexander Kaden, Brooks Landegger, Isadora Valero and Kaelah Poulos-Hopkins.
In addition, MCB School alumnus Durante Verzola will join the school as a faculty member and choreographer. Durante has been choreographing for the school’s Choreographic Intensive since its inception in 2017. As a teacher and choreographer, students at the school will have the opportunity to have original works created for them.
Durante is also part of MCB’s 2022-23 season, where he will premiere a work that celebrates his adopted home of Miami. This marks his third commission by MCB Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez.
Subscriptions and tickets may be purchased through the Miami City Ballet Box Office Monday – Friday, 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. and Saturday, noon to 4 p.m.
Miami City Ballet performs for nearly 125,000 patrons annually during its South Florida home season in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and tours to major cities domestically and internationally.
The Miami City Ballet School is a respected ballet training academy, serving students ages 3-18 year-round, and grants more than $650,000 in scholarships annually.
Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez leads the company. She was recently awarded the prestigious Dance Magazine Award in 2018 and was named one of “The Most Influential People in Dance Today.” She is on the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees, the first artist to ever serve on its board.
Miami City Ballet was founded in 1985 by Miami philanthropist Toby Lerner Ansin and Founding Artistic Director Edward Villella. It is headquartered in Miami Beach at the Ophelia & Juan Js. Roca Center, a facility designed by renowned architectural firm, Arquitectonica.
A Massachusetts native who moved to Florida in 2000, he is a graduate of Northeastern University in Boston, with honors degrees in English and Journalism. In New England, he worked for the Attleboro (Mass.) Sun Chronicle and the Pawtucket (R.I.) Times, the latter for 28 years. After moving to Florida, he worked as a copy editor at the Palm Beach Daily News, and, in 2001, became a reporter and later, city editor, at the Boca
Raton News where he worked for eight years.
