While excitement here continues to build in anticipation of the imminent company premiere of our new production of George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, we’re equally excited to share with you our plans for the upcoming 2016 - 2017 season.

Our commitment to bring you the very best in dance continues and next season’s programming brings you dance’s past, present, and future … Miami City Ballet-style. Our programs feature a major world premiere, 5 (!) company premieres, and several well-loved revivals.

The season opens with the 19th century’s greatest romantic ballet and one of the most beloved ballets of all time - Giselle. The title role, which calls for extraordinary acting skills and virtuosic technique, is a ballerina’s dream. Several of our ballerinas, supported by the full company, will be eagerly taking on that challenge next season.

With Program Two, we move into the 20th century with a whopping three company premieres! From Sir Kenneth MacMillan, a major choreographer new to us, we have the Carousel Pas de Deux, a poignant duet adapted from the hugely popular musical, set to music by the great Richard Rodgers. Following on the heels of the enthusiastic response to Peter Martins’ Barber Violin Concerto comes his very first ballet - the abrasive Calcium Light Night. The addition of Jerome Robbins’ Glass Pieces, a groundbreaking audience favorite, continues to build the large Robbins’ presence in our repertory. And, finally, Balanchine’s ravishing Serenade, now an MCB signature piece.

Program Three brings a major coup: a new narrative ballet by today’s most in-demand classical choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky. This is ballet in the 21st century. It’s our second commission from Alexei who will be creating a large-cast work, The Fairy’s Kiss, based on a Hans Christian Anderson story and set to a melodious score by Stravinsky. A new Balanchine acquisition, Walpurgisnacht Ballet, set to Gounod’s passionate Faust music, contains a bravura ballerina role with two dozen alluring young women in support. Christopher Wheeldon’s striking Polyphonia, so enthusiastically received in its 2013 company premiere, returns for an encore.

And lastly, Program Four opens with the company premiere of Twyla Tharp’s Bach Partita, brimming with energy and invention and set to some of the most glorious music ever written. To close the program, and the season, we bring back both Paul Taylor’s rousing Arden Court and Balanchine’s irresistible Who Cares?, set to the infectious music of George Gershwin.

In sum, here’s some of the best that dance has to offer, performed by our brilliant and individualistic MCB dancers!

Warmly,

Lourdes Lopez, Artistic Director

Dear MCB Family,

Five premieres including world premiere of Alexei Ratmanskys’ The Fairy’s Kiss and company premieres of Sir Kenneth MacMillans’ Carousel Pas de Deux, Peter Martins’ Calcium Light Night, Jerome Robbins Glass Pieces and Twyla Tharp’s Bach Partita.

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PATRICIA DELGADO AND RENAN CERDEIRO IN GISELLE. PHOTO © ALBERTO OVIEDO.

GISELLE

Perhaps the most cherished of all 19th-century ballets, Giselle, created in 1841, has never lost its preeminence in the repertory. One reason among many: Every ballerina wants to dance it! And just about every great ballerina in history has danced it - from Pavlova to Ulanova, Fonteyn, Alonso, Kirkland, Makarova, and so many more.

And why not? In Act One the ballerina gets to be a naïve, loving peasant girl who is betrayed by Albrecht, her aristocrat lover, and has a harrowing mad scene before dying. In Act Two she’s a ghostly Wili, raised from her tomb to join her spectral sisters in driving inconstant men to their death - only to defy the Wilis and use the power of her love to save Albrecht from his doom. Act One demands earthly romantic charm

Traditional after Coralli + Perrot/Adam

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and dramatic intensity; Act Two demands incorporeal purity concealing steely classical technique.

A deep theme that binds the two acts together: the power of dance itself. Giselle is a girl who simply loves to dance but is constantly restrained by her mother’s concern about her weak heart - the heart that gives out at the climax of Act One. And in Act Two, the faithless men are forced by Myrthe, the implacable Queen of the Wilis, to dance on and on until they die.

Giselle, with its own wonderful score by Adolphe Adam, is the ultimate dance statement about the centrality of dance to life.

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M ONE

SERENADECAROUSEL PAS DE DEUXCALCIUM LIGHT NIGHTGLASS PIECES

The first ballet George Balanchine made in America, in 1934, Serenade is one of his most famous and cherished works. Seventeen girls form and reform in kaleidoscopic patterns. A girl enters, late. A boy joins her. After she falls to the ground, another boy approaches her, guided by a “Dark Angel,” then leaves her behind, to be carried off to a kind of transfiguration. Endlessly suggestive though essentially plotless, Serenade is impelled forward by Tchaikovsky’s rushing, deeply affecting score.

When London’s Royal National Theatre’s revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Carousel moved to Lincoln Center in 1994, it ran for almost a year, winning five Tony Awards, including one for Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s choreography. His deeply touching duet for the central couple, is a quintessential expression of ecstatic - and dangerous - young love.

Peter Martins’ first ballet, from 1978 - raw, witty, combative - pits a modern young couple against each other in provocative

RENAN CERDEIRO AND SIMONE MESSMER IN CALCIUM LIGHT NIGHT, CHOREOGRAPHY BY PETER MARTINS. PHOTO © ALBERTO OVIEDO.

COMPANY PREMIEREMacMillan / Rodgers

Balanchine / Tchaikovsky

COMPANY PREMIEREMartins / Ives

COMPANY PREMIERERobbins / Glass

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seduction and collision. The assertive and challenging score by America’s greatest composer, Charles Ives, is complemented by the electric colors of the ultra-sleek costumes. Calcium Light Night was the first step toward George Balanchine’s choosing Martins to be his successor at the New York City Ballet.

When Jerome Robbins premiered Glass Pieces in 1983 (with Lourdes Lopez in the original cast), The New York Times hailed it as “a picture of our times - the electronic age, the computer age.”

Because its Philip Glass score is so resonant; because it is so brilliantly structured; because its images, beginning with its huge graph-paper backdrop, are so indelible, it continues to grip and thrill audiences everywhere.

MCB is proud to add Glass Pieces to our expanding Robbins repertory, following Fancy Free, Afternoon of a Faun, Dances at a Gathering, In the Night, The Concert, Fanfare and West Side Story Suite.

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M TWO

REYNERIS REYES AND TRICIA ALBERTSON IN POLYPHONIA. CHOREOGRAPHY BY CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON. PHOTO © ALBERTO OVIEDO.

WALPURGISNACHT BALLETPOLYPHONIATHE FAIRY’S KISS

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Twenty-four girls stampeding across the stage - most of them in purple, their hair flowing - and a single man. Gounod’s passionate Faust music. A bravura ballerina role demanding both complete control and utter abandon (hand-tailored in 1980 for the great Suzanne Farrell). There’s no Faust, no Mephistopheles - just sheer impetuosity and startling virtuosity. This is Balanchine at his most outrageously popular - marrying classicism to kitsch!

2001’s Polyphonia confirmed Christopher Wheeldon’s reputation as one of the leading young choreographers of our time. Four couples are seen in ten classically constructed yet bracingly contemporary episodes that explore the turbulent and compelling piano music of the modern master Györgi Ligeti.

Wheeldon / Ligeti

WORLD PREMIERERatmansky / Stravinsky

Polyphonia is now performed by companies around the world, fulfilling Alastair Macaulay’s verdict in The New York Times that it is “just what the doctor ordered for ballet worldwide.”

A major coup: A new narrative ballet by today’s most in-demand classical choreographer, Alexei Ratmansky. Hans Christian Andersen’s story of The Ice-Maiden inspired what is perhaps Stravinsky’s loveliest score - a tribute to Tchaikovsky. Music that George Balanchine so loved that he set ballets to it three times!

With a large cast, striking new costumes and visual effects, and a powerful, moving story, The Fairy’s Kiss is a superb successor to Symphonic Dances, Ratmansky’s 2013 first triumphant new ballet for MCB.

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M THREE

JENNIFER LAUREN AND JOVANI FURLAN IN WHO CARES?, CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE © THE GEORGE BALANCHINE TRUST. PHOTO © ALBERTO OVIEDO.

COMPANY PREMIERETharp / BachBACH PARTITA

ARDEN COURTWHO CARES?

Brimming with energy and invention, Bach Partita was Twyla Tharp’s first pure ballet - classical, yes - but also joyous, jazzy, and superbly structured. Created for ABT in 1983, it’s only recently been brought back into the repertory and hailed as the masterpiece it is. A dazzling large-scale work, set to some of the most glorious music ever written.

One of Paul Taylor’s best-loved works, Arden Court returns to MCB after 11 years - rushing, leaping, cavorting through space to the exhilarating Baroque music of William Boyce. It’s easy to see why, since it’s 1981 premiere it has been one of Taylor’s biggest critical and popular triumphs.

Taylor / Boyce

Balanchine / Gershwin

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In 1970 George Balanchine created this rousing ballet to the songs of his friend and collaborator George Gershwin: “I Got Rhythm,” “Embraceable You,” “The Man I Love,” “Fascinatin’ Rhythm,” and over a dozen more. One suave guy, three sexy ballerinas, a big bunch of chorus boys and girls, the great Gershwin, the great Balanchine, Who Cares? is sophisticated, nostalgic - ‘S Wonderful!

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M FOUR

BROWARD CENTERFriday, Dec. 9 7p.m.Saturday, Dec. 10 2p.m. + 7p.m.Sunday, Dec. 11 1p.m.

ARSHT CENTERSaturday, Dec. 17 2p.m. + 7p.m.Sunday, Dec. 18 1p.m. + 6:30p.m.Tuesday, Dec. 20 7p.m.Wednesday, Dec. 21 7p.m.Thursday, Dec. 22 7p.m.Friday, Dec. 23 2p.m. + 7p.m.Saturday, Dec. 24 12p.m.

KRAVIS CENTERWednesday, Dec. 28 7p.m.Thursday, Dec. 29 2p.m. + 7p.m.Friday, Dec. 30 2p.m. + 7p.m.

GEORGE BALACHINE’S THE NUTCRACKER™

SHIMON ITO IN GEORGE BALANCHINE’S THE NUTCRACKER™, CHOREOGRAPHY BY GEORGE BALANCHINE © THE GEORGE BALANCHINE TRUST. PHOTO © ALBERTO OVIEDO.

Join Marie and her Nutcracker Prince as they travel through a winter wonderland of dancing snowflakes, sugar plum fairies and epic battles between heroic toy soldiers and mischievous mice - the perfect holiday treat for the entire family.

This lavish performance - one of the only productions of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker™ in the nation - features magnificent scenery, elaborate costumes and the magical music of Tchaikovsky. Tickets start at just $25!

SAVE THE DATE!

Nutcracker Magic Kids GalaMiami, Dec. 17For info and sponsorship opportunities:nutcracker@miamicityballet.org305.929.7000 x2000

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Balanchine / Tchaikovsky

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Dec. 17 24KRAVIS CENTER

Dec. 28 30

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The company is sponsored in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs, and the Florida Council on Arts and Culture. Miami-Dade County support is provided by Miami-Dade county Department of Cultural Affairs and the Cultural Affairs council, the Miami-Dade County Mayor and Board of County Commissioners with additional support provided by the City of Miami Beach, Cultural Affairs program, and the Cultural Arts Council. Palm Beach County support is provided in part by the Board of County Commissioners, the Tourist Development Council and the Cultural Council of Palm Beach County. Broward County funding is provided in part by the Broward County Board of County Commissioners as recommended by the Broward Cultural Council and Greater Fort Lauderdale Convention & Visitors Bureau.

PROGRAM ONEOct. 21 23, 2016

PROGRAM TWOJan. 13 15, 2017

PROGRAM THREEFeb. 10 12, 2017

PROGRAM FOURMarch 31 April 2, 2017

PROGRAM ONENov. 11 13, 2016

PROGRAM TWOJan. 20 22, 2017

PROGRAM THREEFeb. 24 26, 2017

PROGRAM FOURMarch 17 19, 2017

PROGRAM ONENov. 5 6, 2016

PROGRAM TWOFeb. 4 5, 2017

PROGRAM THREEMarch 11 12, 2017

PROGRAM FOURApril 8 9, 2017

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COVER - SAMANTHA HOPE GALLER. PHOTO © ALBERTO OVIEDO.