The venerable Miami City Ballet is celebrating its 30th anniversary this season and artistic director Lourdes Lopez has lined up an exciting season that pays tribute to the company’s history and provides a vision of the future of professional dance in Miami.
Program II, Jan. 8 – 31, opens with George Balanchines 1968 choreography to Leo Delibes’ exquisite musical score, “La Source.” This ballet vividly recreates the elegant milieu of 19th-century ballet. ] A provocative study of choreographic contrast and collision, Peter Martins’ stirring and quirky Barber Violin concerto, is the perfect expression of the neo-Romantic score, one of the most melodically alluring and widely performed concertos of the 20th century. Closing the program is Twyla Tharp’s signature work, “In the Upper Room,” set to the postmodern score of minimalist Philip Glass.
Program III, Feb. 12 – 28, features another new work by the talented young choreographer Justin Peck, “Year of the Rabbit,” alluding to the cyclical nature of life and channeling diverse encounters through the corps de ballet. Paul Taylor’s masterpiece “Sunset,” set to music of British romantic composer Edward Elgar, suggests the complexities of love, camaraderie and the poignancy of separation as experienced by six soldiers and the girls they leave behind. Rounding out the program is George Balanchine’s “Bourrée Fantasque,” a joyful fusion of French style set to music by Emmanuel Chabrier.
Ballet meets world-class visual art and dramaturgy as the anniversary season concludes with George Balanchine’s “A Midsummer Night’s Dream,” March 18 – April 10. The wholly original full-length ballet debuted in 1962 and Miami City Ballet offers a new interpretation of the masterpiece, set to music by Felix Mendelssohn.
Miami City Ballet offers each program at the Arsht Center in Miami, the Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale and the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. Show times and tickets for all performances at MiamiCityBallet.org.
For modern dance fans, the Duncan Theater at Palm Beach State College in Lake Worth offers a Modern Dance Series, featuring the popular Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Jan. 22 and 23; the Paul Taylor Dance Company, Feb. 26 and 27; a Latin-infused performance from Limón, March 18 and 19; and the amazing on-stage contortions of Pilobolus, April 1 and 2. All performances take place at 8 p.m.
Tickets for all performances at PalmBeachState.edu/Theatre/Duncan-Theatre.
