Miami City Ballet Previews 2022/23 Season of Dance

• Celebrates the completion of Transforming Lives Capital Campaign raising an estimated $58 million.

• The new season features the John Cranko masterpiece, Romeo and Juliet; the company's first presentation of a Martha Graham work, Diversion of Angels, three world premiere commissions.

Miami City Ballet has announced its 37th season and celebrates a significant milestone: the successful completion of the Transforming Lives Campaign, an extensive operations capital campaign.

The new season includes John Cranko's Romeo and Juliet, Jerome Robbins's West Side Story Suite, Afternoon of a Faun, the company premiere of Antique Epigraphs, and George Balanchine's Square Dance, Symphony in C, and Symphony in Three Movements. The company will also present Martha Graham's Diversion of Angels, which is the first Graham work to enter MCB's repertory.

MCB will present three world premiere commissions. In her second commission for the company, Amy Hall Garner will explore the interplay between ballet and modern dance. Also by Garner, Rita Finds Home, a co-production with Joffrey Ballet, will be part of the company's community engagement programming. Swedish-born multimedia choreographer Pontus Lidberg will premiere an original work set to music by Philip Glass. Then fashion and ballet collide when MCB School alumnus Durante Verzola and Colombian/Miamian designer Esteban Cortázar collaborate on a new work set to music by Cuban/American composer Ernesto Lecuona.

George Balanchine's The Nutcracker will make its habitual Christmas appearance.

The 2022/23 season opens on 21 October 2022, with performances at the Arsht Center in Miami, Broward Center in Fort Lauderdale, and Kravis Center in West Palm Beach. Subscriptions start at $84 and go on sale on 19 April 2022.

In addition to the company's South Florida season, MCB will also be on tour: Jacob's Pillow in Becket, Massachusetts August 24 – 28; Cal Performances in Berkeley, California September 22 – 25; and at Artis-Naples in Naples, Florida February 27 – 28 and April 25 – 26.

Following the 2021/2022 season that saw sold-out performances of both George Balanchine's The Nutcracker® at The Kennedy Center and Alexei Ratmansky's Swan Lake (MCB's largest production to date), the company has announced the completion of the Transforming Lives Campaign. The capital campaign had an initial goal of raising an unprecedented amount for the company: $55 million. MCB not only reached this goal but exceeded it, raising an estimated $58 million. Funds raised support four pillars identified as crucial to delivering the company's mission: artistic expansion, community building, dance education, and organizational capacity.

Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez, said:

Ballet has this wonderful ability to transport us to faraway places and cultures, to unleash the imagination, and to entertain us. This past season has been nothing short of extraordinary, having presented an uplifting season filled with programs that touched upon themes of love, betrayal, and the ultimate power of forgiveness. We again share stories that traverse time and emotion this season, reminding us that we are all connected. Beginning with one of the greatest love stories of all time, Romeo and Juliet.

And with the highly successful completion of the Transforming Lives Campaign, MCB's momentum is at an all-time high. We are excited to build upon this extraordinary moment for the organization and look forward to bringing our audiences performances that honour ballet's illustrious past while propelling the art form into the future as we continue to strengthen and grow the organization.

2022/23 Season Calendar

Romeo and Juliet

The world's most recognized love story. Shakespeare's cautionary tale of star-crossed lovers is beautifully brought to life in this sweeping ballet that features opulent sets, costumes, breathtaking choreography, and Prokofiev's divine score as the Capulets and the Montagues battle in this heart-wrenching story centred around two young lovers.

This ballet “packs a powerfully seductive emotional punch.” (The Miami Herald)

Arsht Center: October 21 – 23
Broward Center: November 5 – 6
Kravis Center: November 11 – 13

George Balanchine's The Nutcracker®

Arsht Center: December 16 – 24
Kravis Center: December 28 – 30

Diversion of Angels

Diversion of Angels (Graham/Dello Joio)
The Moor's Pavane (Limón/Purcell)
World Premiere (Lidberg/Glass)
World Premiere (Amy Hall Garner/TBD

A thrilling mixed repertory bill of modern dance masters includes Martha Graham's joyous Diversion of Angels and José Limón's pivotal The Moor's Pavane, based on the Shakespeare tragedy, Othello. Plus, two of today's most inventive choreographers, Pontus Lidberg and Amy Hall Garner will stage innovative new works.

“We may be involved and lowly creatures crawling around here, but as long as we can see and understand Miss Graham's angels diverting themselves, it seems that not quite all is lost. Diversion of Angels moreover is fun.” (The New York Times)

Arsht Center: February 10 – 12
West Palm Beach: February 17 – 19
Fort Lauderdale: March 4 – 5

West Side Story Suite

West Side Story Suite (Robbins/Bernstein)
Symphony in C (Balanchine/Bizet)
World Premiere (Verzola/Lecuona)

This action-packed program will abuzz fashion lovers, fans of musicals, and dance aficionados alike. MCB's “fresh and fierce” production of Jerome Robbins's West Side Story Suite is the ever-popular retelling of Romeo and Juliet. Set in 1950s New York City and performed to Bernstein's famed music, MCB dancers become a triple threat as Tony and Marie fall hopelessly in love while caught in the crosshairs of a bitter rivalry between street gangs, the Sharks and the Jets. (The Miami Herald)

George Balanchine's exhilarating Symphony in C set to Bizet's enchanting score features more than 50 dancers. And a new commission by Durante Verzola features the music of famed composer and pianist Ernesto Lecuona with costumes designed by Miami-based Colombian/American fashion icon Esteban Cortázar.

Arsht Center: April 14 – 16
Kravis Center: April 21 – 23
Broward Center: April 29 – 30

Afternoon of a Faun

Afternoon of a Faun (Robbins/Debussy)
Square Dance (Balanchine/Vivaldi/Corelli)
Antique Epigraphs (Robbins/Debussy)
Symphony in Three Movements (Balanchine/Stravinsky)

Two titans of choreography highlight this program featuring beloved works by George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. The famed Robbins ballet Afternoon of a Faun, an intimate, voyeuristic take on two dancers who encounter each other in a sun-drenched ballet studio is paired with the company premiere of Antique Epigraphs, also set to the music of Debussy and performed by eight women in earthy, light tunics in a work inspired by Greek mythology and poetry.

Described as “superb” by The New York Times, MCB's interpretation of Symphony in Three Movements set to Stravinsky's driving score is the perfect vehicle to demonstrate the dancers' artistic depth, technical attack, and fiery spirit. And in an unexpected twist, the long-forgotten role of The Caller from Square Dance will be included in the company's performance for the first time.

Kravis Center: May 12 – 14
Arsht Center: May 19 – 21

Ticket Information 

Online:                          miamicityballet.org/subscribe

Gramilano( Editor )

Graham Spicer is a writer, director and photographer in Milan, blogging (under the name ‘Gramilano') about dance, opera, music and photography for people “who are a bit like me and like some of the things I like”. He was a regular columnist for Opera Now magazine and wrote for the BBC until transferring to Italy.

His scribblings have appeared in various publications from Woman's Weekly to Gay Times, and he wrote the ‘Danza in Italia' column for Dancing Times magazine.