Featuring the long awaited return of Cinderella plus Balanchine, groundbreaking female choreographers and more
CINCINNATI, OH. – Cincinnati Ballet’s 2015-2016 Season brings exciting collaborations, world premieres and the return of a beloved fairytale favorite with: The Kaplan New Works Series, Lady of the Camellias, Frisch’s Presents The Nutcracker, Cinderella, Wild Sweet Love and Director’s Choice performed at the Aronoff Center for the Arts.
The Kaplan New Works Series returns to be performed for the second time in its new home in the Aronoff Center’s beautiful Jarson-Kaplan Theater, September 11 through 19. With continual record-breaking attendance, the new location offers access to a larger audience while maintaining the intimacy for which the series is well known. New Works features three world premieres and one Cincinnati premiere from esteemed choreographers Adam Hougland, Viktor Plotnikov, Ma Cong and Gabriel Gaffney Smith. Long-time collaborator and Resident Choreographer Adam Hougland presents a solo piece, marking his sixth world premiere for Cincinnati Ballet. Viktor Plotnikov, a former principal dancer with Boston Ballet presents his new work in collaboration with UC DAAP’s acclaimed videographer Charles Woodman. Resident Choreographer for Tulsa Ballet, Ma Cong began his dance career at the Beijing Academy and has worked with the world’s most revered choreographers at the National Ballet of China. Renaissance man Gabriel Gaffney Smith, a composer and choreographer/dancer with BalletMet Columbus, presents the Cincinnati premiere, Detachment Without Reason, a pas de deux set to his own original musical composition.
Lady of the Camellias takes the stage October 23 and 24 with choreography by Val Caniparoli, accompanied by the moving music of Frederic Chopin, performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Caniparoli’s challenging, yet breath taking choreography journeys through love and loss when Marguerite, a famous courtesan, and Armand, a young countryman, become entangled in a forbidden affair. Based on Alexandre Dumas’ classic story of two hopeful lovers in 19th Century Paris, Lady of the Camellias has inspired many screen and stage adaptations including the films Camille, featuring an Oscar nominated performance by Greta Garbo, Moulin Rouge and the popular opera La Traviata.
Frisch’s Presents The Nutcracker, one of Cincinnati’s greatest holiday traditions, runs December 18 through 27. The Nutcracker was re-envisioned in 2011 by Artistic Director & CEO, Victoria Morgan, a success Cincinnati CityBeat says “strikes a delightful balance between light family fare and serious technical ballet.” The Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra will perform Tchaikovsky’s magical score live at each performance.
Cinderella returns February 12 through 14, performed for the first time in over six years, with newly refurbished sets, updated costumes and a brand new beautiful carriage. Cinderella is the classic tale of a hapless young woman who undergoes a magical transformation, leading her to find love and the enchanted life she dreams of. Victoria Morgan’s choreography pairs delightfully with the captivating music of Sergei Prokofiev, performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, breathing new life into the treasured tale.
Wild Sweet Love with Balanchine’s Who Cares? presented March 18 and 19 marks our sixth shared production with BalletMet Columbus, as we collaborate to present a full corps de ballet in George Balanchine’s Who Cares?, backed by some of George Gershwin’s most famous melodies. Accompanied by a variety of hit songs by popular artists, including everything from Roberta Flack to Queen, Wild Sweet Love is performed by Cincinnati Ballet and follows one woman’s journey navigating the ups and downs of love. The production is punctuated by a special presentation of Age of Innocence by BalletMet Columbus, choreographed by their own artistic director, Edwaard Liang. This modern piece is inspired by Jane Austen and set to music by Thomas Newman and Philip Glass.
Ballet Toybox returns in its fifth season, offering the perfect opportunity to introduce young children to the joy of dance on Sunday, March 20. The program features the Cincinnati Ballet Second Company in a mix of ballet and storybook classics. At under an hour and only $20 a ticket, Ballet Toybox is an interactive adventure where the audience learns about the essential elements that make up the beauty, humor and inspiring discipline of dance.
Director’s Choice shines a spotlight on groundbreaking female choreographers April 29 and 30, with selections hand-picked for Cincinnati audiences by our very own Artistic Director & CEO, Victoria Morgan. The mixed-repertoire includes Cylindrical Shadows, A Solo in 9 Parts, Habitual and a world premiere by Jennifer Archibald. Cylindrical Shadows, choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa after the loss of a close friend, explores themes of life and death with music by Johann Sebastian Bach, Henry Purcell and David van Bouwel. According to Lopez, “There is no difference between life and death; they are not opposites, as we are taught to believe. They are both a part of a single continuum, the continuum of life.” A Solo in 9 Parts by Jessica Lang, founder of New York City based dance company Jessica Lang Dance (JLD), is raw, modern and refreshingly stripped-down, showcasing the true talent and athleticism of the dancers, and is set to a beautiful violin concerto by Antonio Vivaldi. A Cincinnati audience favorite and the creator of the popular DANCEFIX, Heather Britt returns with her tense and sensuous pas de deux, Habitual, with music by Gabriel Gaffney Smith, who will be familiar to audiences from The Kaplan New Works Series. Habitual a duet about feeling stuck and the attraction we have as humans to repeat what is familiar. Jennifer Archibald, the founder and artistic director of New York City’s acclaimed Arch Dance Company, returns with a world premiere piece choreographed exclusively for Cincinnati Ballet. Archibald pulls from a variety of influences to boldly and seamlessly infuse ballet with nuances of hip hop. This combination of hip hop with classical aesthetic in movement greatly influences her musical scores, which she often custom engineers to include an assortment of compositions. Described as “…voluptuous… fiery… sensual…” by the Cincinnati Enquirer, her brilliant piece Sit was met with reverence and awe by Cincinnati audiences last season as part of The Kaplan New Works Series.
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Cincinnati Ballet 2015-2016 Season Sponsors: The Otto M. Budig Family Foundation, ArtsWave, Rhonda & Larry A. Sheakley Family Foundation, Rosemary & Mark Schlachter, The Louise Dieterle Nippert Musical Arts Fund, Ohio Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Frisch’s
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 Victoria Morgan, Cincinnati Ballet has become a creative force within the larger dance community, commissioning world premiere works and exploring unique collaborations with artists as diverse as Grammy-winning guitarist Peter Frampton and popular, Ohio-based band Over the Rhine. With a mission to inspire hope and joy in our community and beyond through the power and passion of dance, 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, extensive education outreach programs and offers top level professional ballet training at Cincinnati Ballet Otto M. Budig Academy.
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