News of Note: What You Might Have Missed in January 2025

February 3, 2025

Here are the latest promotions, appointments, and departures, as well as notable awards and accomplishments, from January 2025.

Comings & Goings

Jurgita Dronina has been appointed artistic director of Lithuanian National Opera and Ballet Theatre’s ballet company.

Richard A. Freeman, Jr. has been named interim artistic director of Dallas Black Dance Theatre.

Christopher Stowell will be the next artistic director of Royal Winnipeg Ballet, succeeding André Lewis in June.

Ballet Memphis president and CEO Gretchen Wollert McLennon will step down at the conclusion of the 2024–25 season.

Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts president Deborah F. Rutter will step down at the end of this year.

Dan Galpern has been named CEO of DanceOne.

At New York City Ballet, Miriam Miller has been promoted to principal.

At Paris Opéra Ballet, Roxane Stojanov has been promoted to étoile, Marine Ganio and Hohyun Kang to première danseuse, Andréa Sarri to premier danseur, and Mathieu Contat, Lorenzo Lelli, Elizabeth Partington, Luna Peigné, and Marius Rubio to sujet.

Vincenzo Di Primo has been named an artist in residence at Complexions Contemporary Ballet.

Erina Takahashi has given her final performance as a lead principal with English National Ballet. She continues with the company as a répétiteur.

New York City Ballet principal Ashley Bouder will retire from the company. Her final performance is scheduled for February 13.

Post:ballet dissolved following a final performance on January 26.

Awards & Honors

Nichole Canuso, Trajal Harrell, Anna Martine Whitehead, Aysha Upchurch, Makini, and Nami Yamamoto are among the recipients of 2025 United States Artist Fellowships, which includes a $50,000 unrestricted grant.

In the foreground, a dancer in white bends forward to hold up a humanoid figure made of brown paper and tape by one of its arms, as though it is walking with them. In the background, two similarly dressed dancers interact with dolls of their own; one is held by its head, the other propped on a low
Nami Yamamoto’s Trooper’s Brother. Photo by Diego Quintanar, courtesy Cultural Counsel.

Sam Aros-Mitchell, Noelle Awadallah, Wendell Gray II, Orlando Hernández, Alys Ayumi Ogura, ms. z tye, and Ogemdi Ude are among the 2025 Jerome Hill Artist Fellows, each of whom will receive a $60,000 grant over three years.

Recipients of 2025 Creative Capital Awards, which include up to $50,000 in unrestricted project funding, include Kate Ladenheim (for Gestural Publics), Damon Locks (Live From CPS), Rashaad Newsome (I Come As One, But I Stand As One Thousand), Ashwini Ramaswamy, Aparna Ramaswamy, and Ranee Ramaswamy (The Liminal Museum), and Takahiro Yamamoto (Hollow Center).

At the Venice Biennale, Twyla Tharp will receive the Golden Lion for Lifetime Achievement, Carolina Bianchi the Silver Lion.

Janet Eilber, Mercedes Ellington, and Lar Lubovitch will receive Lifetime Achievement Awards from the Martha Hill Dance Fund on February 24. Linda-Denise Fisher-Harrell will receive the Mid-Career Award.

Victor Abreu received New York City Ballet’s 2025 Janice Levin Award.