New York City Center's Anniversary Season Is Gonna Be Epic
New York City Center just announced programming for the 2018-19 season, and we’re frantically marking our calendars for all the must-see dance. This year is the venue’s 75th anniversary, and they’re pulling out all the stops—from the reliable fan favorite Fall for Dance to the most epic Balanchine celebration and more:
A Balanchine Festival Will Bring 8 Elite Ballet Companies
Though Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater has long been known as Balanchine’s house, the choreographer actually founded New York City Ballet at New York City Center. The venue will celebrate him from Oct 31 through Nov 4, inviting American Ballet Theatre, Joffrey Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, Miami City Ballet, New York City Ballet, Paris Opéra Ballet, The Royal Ballet and San Francisco Ballet to perform both works created at City Center and performed as part of NYCB’s regular seasons there from 1948-1964.
Sara Mearns Will Take on Musical Theater
As part of the Encores! series, City Center will revive Rodgers and Hart’s 1938 musical I Married An Angel, starring none other than NYCB’s Sara Mearns. The show originally featured choreography by Balanchine, and starred his then-wife Vera Zorina. So naturally, Mearns’ soon-to-be husband Joshua Bergasse will choreograph this production.
Fall for Dance Will Be As Exciting As Ever
Now in it’s 15th year, the festival aimed at bringing dance to the masses (all tickets are $15) always brings a fun mix of old and new works, fresh and familiar companies. We don’t know the whole lineup yet, but the commissions are enough to have us counting the days till October: Gemma Bond, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Justin Peck, Sonya Tayeh, Caleb Teicher and Jennifer Weber will all create new works.
Plus, A Ton of Our Faves Will Make Appearances
Highlights include: Dorrance Dance with their largest solo engagement ever, David Hallberg and Natalia Osipova performing a new Alexei Ratmansky piece, appearances by Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Dance Theatre of Harlem and Nederlands Dans Theater 2, the annual Flamenco Festival, a tour across the five boroughs featuring tap artist Ayodele Casel and a revival of A Chorus Line with choreography by Bob Avian.
