Cincinnati Ballet’s 2023-2024 Season presents Rep 4—Mercurial Landscapes, featuring four dynamic contemporary works.
Mercurial Landscapes features the title work created by choreographer Jodie Gates, set to Max Richter’s ethereal re-composition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons; a world premiere by Rena Butler, choreographic associate for the progressive Gibney Dance Company in New York, with costume design by Asha Ama Bias-Daniels, a Cincinnati-based fashion designer and artist; and Petit Mort and Sechs Tänze, set to the music of Mozart by Jiří Kylián, world-renowned artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theater.
The Little Mermaid will be performed in place of Sleeping Beauty, The Untold Story.
Go under the season with Cincinnati Ballet for this season’s annual Family Series: The Little Mermaid! Join Cincinnati Ballet Second Company – CB2 dancers and students from the Otto M. Budig Academy for a family adventure sure to delight the whole family.
Take a trip into Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale world, complete with an independent little mermaid, a noble prince in search of true love, and a devious sea witch.
Cincinnati Ballet’s 2023-2024 Season and its 60th anniversary concludes with Rep 5—Playlist, a collection of three one-act productions by groundbreaking artists.
Blake Works II (The Barre Project) is created by one of the world’s foremost choreographers, William Forsythe, set to the music of James Blake. The work has been called love letters to dancers and to the art of ballet itself.
Evermore by Dwight Rhoden, presents styles ranging from ballet to ballroom to Broadway and is set to the music of Nat King Cole. Rhoden is artistic director of Complexions Contemporary Ballet and has worked with and created for some of the most diverse artists spanning ballet and contemporary dance.
Rounding out the program is a world premiere by Peter Chu, an American dancer, choreographer and teacher known for pushing the physical bounds of dance.
The 2023-2024 Season continues with Don Quixote, which follows its lead character in his knightly adventures with his loyal sword-bearer Sancho Panza, in what has become known as ballet’s most famous rom-com!
Choregraphed by Anna-Marie Holmes, Don Quixote is a modern take on Miguel de Cervantes classic novel. The ballet is set to a 19th-century romantic score by Ludwig Minkus performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra, originally choreographed by Marius Petipa.
Audiences are immersed in an sunny adventure filled with romance and comedy, including such famous scenes as the duel between Don Quixote and a windmill. Don Quixote has long been acclaimed for its virtuoso dancing, and the choreography paints a story infused with the ideals of knighthood, chivalry, and Don Quixote’s love affair with Dulcinea.
For 2023-2024 Season, The Nutcracker presented by Sheakley Family returns in December, celebrating a favorite holiday tradition.
With spectacular choreography by Victoria Morgan, grand sets and costumes, and a beloved story, The Nutcracker also presents a remarkable cast of characters such as the Snow Queen and King, Sugar Plum Fairy and Cavalier, mischievous mice, brave toy soldiers, chicks and Minnie the Poodle.
The narrative follows a girl named Clara who receives a nutcracker on Christmas Eve. Her dreams take her on a great adventure to the amazing Land of Sweets. Accompanying this winter fantasy is the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra performing Tchaikovsky’s melodic score.
Dozens of local young performers join Cincinnati Ballet onstage for these performances. It’s a spectacular holiday treat for the entire family!
The 2023-2024 Season follows with Rep—2, George Balanchine’s masterpiece Jewels has been called the first full-length abstract ballet, and since its premiere in 1967, has remained one of Balanchine’s most-loved works.
The work is inspired by the artistry of jewelry designer Claude Arpels. The ballet is presented in three acts, distinctive in mood with music performed by the Cincinnati Symphony Orchestra. Emeralds, the first section, evokes the 19th-century dances of French Romantics and features the music of Fauré. Rubies is contemporary, witty, and fiery, presenting great contrast to the first act, and is a tribute to the collaboration of Balanchine and Stravinsky.
Diamonds recalls the grandeur of Imperial Russia where Balanchine grew up and trained. The act is the most majestic of the three and is more purely classical, utilizing music from Tchaikovsky’s Symphony No. 3.
The 2023-2024 Season kicks off with Rep 1—MORE ROOM TO PLAY, Kaplan New Works.
The annual Kaplan New Works series presents the work of up-and-coming choreographers. This ambitious program will feature two world premieres, one by Tiler Peck, principal dancer with New York City Ballet, and one by Houston Thomas, freelance choreographer and a second-soloist with the Dresden Semperoper Ballett. Thomas’ work is set to the music of Bohren & der Club of Gore, a German ambient/jazz band, and British musician cktrl.
It also features work from Amy Seiwert, who serves as the artistic head of her own contemporary ballet company, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, and is currently the Associate Artistic Director of Smuin Ballet based in San Francisco. She crafted a piece titled ‘It’s Not a Cry,’ set to the captivating rendition of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah” by Jeff Buckley. The short work tells an emotional story about yearning for love.
Completing the program is a work entitled Quem Viver, Verá (“He Who Lives Shall See”) a dance for five men by Cincinnati Ballet artistic collaborator Jennifer Archibald. The title work on the program, MORE ROOM TO PLAY, is choreographed by David Morse.
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