The 22-23 Season opens with ‘The Kaplan New Works Series’ at Aronoff Center, Sept. 8-18
Cincinnati, OH (August 22, 2022) – For the first time in 25 years, Cincinnati Ballet has a new artistic leader. Jodie Gates has officially assumed her role as the Company’s Artistic Director and welcomes audiences to the first production of Cincinnati Ballet’s 2022-2023 Season with The Kaplan New Works Series at the Aronoff Center for the Arts, Jarson-Kaplan Theater. “The creation of new choreography is critical to the evolution of the artform,” Gates said. “One of my goals for the Company is to demystify ballet and encourage new voices and perspectives in contemporary dance. While I did not program this season’s New Works, I am excited to experience these world and regional premieres. I am grateful for the Company’s longstanding commitment to encouraging choreographic experimentation and that commitment will continue in my artistic vision for the future.”
This Season’s New Works features contemporary dance including a world premiere from Cincinnati choreographer and DANCEFIX founder Heather Britt and a Cincinnati premiere by award-winning British choreographer Cathy Marston. The program also features premieres from Cincinnati Ballet dancers Daniel Baldwin, Taylor Carrasco, and Melissa Gelfin De-Poli. Over the years, New Works has reached cult-type status with Cincinnati audiences who are often first to experience groundbreaking world premieres by up-and-coming choreographers in the intimate Jarson-Kaplan Theater. Big names in the dance world including Travis Wall, Mia Michaels, and Cincinnati Ballet’s own resident choreographer Jennifer Archibald have created pieces for New Works that have gone on to be performed at ballet companies and venues around the world. Over the past five years, New Works also became a unique artistic incubator of sorts for Cincinnati Ballet dancers interested in becoming choreographers. Each year, industry leaders select pieces created by Cincinnati Ballet dancers for the Company’s annual Choreography Workshop in the Spring; Those creations are then commissioned and performed during New Works.
Jodie Gates assumed her position as Cincinnati Ballet Artistic Director, Sue and Bill Friedlander Endowed Chair, and Artistic Director of Cincinnati Ballet Otto M. Budig Academy on August 1, 2022. Ms. Gates was most recently the Founding Director of the University of Southern California Glorya Kaufman School of Dance and the Artistic Director and Founder of the Laguna Dance Festival in Laguna Beach, California since 2005. She began her professional career at age 16 with the mentorship of the visionary artistic director Robert Joffrey. Gates went on to become a celebrated principal dancer at Joffrey Ballet, Frankfurt Ballet, Complexions Contemporary Ballet, and Pennsylvania Ballet as well a principal guest artist with prominent companies internationally. She danced title roles in the classical full-length ballets and principal roles in neoclassical and modern dance works and has collaborated with a host of renowned choreographers, including Alonzo King, Agnes de Mille, William Forsythe, Paul Taylor, Martha Clarke, and Mark Morris, among others. Gates is herself an accomplished choreographer having created more than sixty original dance works. She is also an artistic collaborator with choreographer William Forsythe, staging ballets internationally for Forsythe Productions. She is the recipient of the distinguished 2021/2022 Residency Fellowship from the Center for Ballet and the Arts at New York University. The fellowship acknowledges her most recent work as initiator for the Artistic Directors Coalition for Ballet in America, a group of artistic directors, choreographers, and educators who are addressing systemic racism within the culture of ballet.
Tickets for The Kaplan New Works Series are on sale now. For more information visit cballet.org. Please check the website for the latest health alerts. Masks are currently optional for patrons at Music Hall and the Aronoff Center for the Arts. NOTE: Artists may be masked during performances depending on current health alerts.
WHO: Cincinnati Ballet
WHAT: The Kaplan New Works Series
WHEN: Thursday, September 8 at 7:30 pm
- Friday, September 9 at 8 pm
- Saturday, September 10 at 2 pm and 8 pm
- Sunday, September 11 at 1 pm
- Wednesday, September 14 at 7:30 pm
- Thursday, September 15 at 7:30 pm
- Friday, September 16 at 8 pm
- Saturday, September 17 at 2 pm and 8 pm
- Sunday, September 18 at 1 pm
WHERE: Aronoff Center for the Arts, Jarson-Kaplan Theater
650 Walnut Street
Cincinnati, Ohio
TICKETS: Call 513.621.5282 or visit cballet.org
Cincinnati Ballet 2022-2023 Season Sponsors:
Rhonda & Larry A. Sheakley, Margaret and Michael Valentine, ArtsWave, Mercy Health, Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund, Ohio Arts Council, The Austin E. Knowlton Foundation
About Cincinnati Ballet
Since 1963, Cincinnati Ballet has been the cornerstone professional ballet company of the region, presenting a bold and adventurous array of classical, full-length ballets and contemporary works, regularly with live orchestral accompaniment. Under the artistic direction of Jodie Gates, Cincinnati Ballet is a creative force within the larger dance community, commissioning world-premiere works and exploring unique collaborations. With a mission to enrich, expand, and excel in the art of dance through performance, a high-caliber academy, and impactful education and community engagement in local to global communities, Cincinnati Ballet reaches beyond the stage in programs that allow every person in the region to be part of the continued evolution of dance. To that end, Cincinnati Ballet presents exhilarating performances, provides extensive education and community engagement programs, and offers top-level professional ballet training at Cincinnati Ballet Otto M. Budig Academy.
Behind the Curtain Cincinnati 