Nathalia Arja

Miami City Ballet to present ‘Carmen’

Miami City Ballet dancer Jeanette Delgado is not someone you’d tend to overlook, but she’s taking no chances on this steamy August afternoon. She steps challengingly to the front of the company’s studios — then stomps in defiance, planting her hands on out-thrust hips; inviting, no, demanding that we pay attention.

“This is when you go hello Miami!” smiles choreographer Richard Alston.

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Girl-Meets-Boy on MCB’s Big Stage

Nathalia Arja and Renan Cerdeiro have been doing this kind of thing since they were kids. Before that, even. Because they’ve really never been apart.

Twenty-two years ago, their mothers were friends and pregnant at the same time. The moms joked about how their children would dance together one day. It served as a prediction.

Now, Nathalia and Renan are among the top dancers at the Miami City Ballet.

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Dancers’ Top Moments of 2013-2014!

Our final performance of Don Quixote last weekend was the perfect closing to another fantastic season of dance. Now that you have heard dancer Ariel Rose’s top moments of the 2013-2014 Season, we continue to reflect on this momentous year with our next post from recently promoted Soloist Nathalia Arja.

Arja_HeadshotThis season was extremely challenging for me. Not only was I given many difficult parts, but to also learn, rehearse and maintain them all at the same time throughout the season proved to be a marathon of stamina. There were many times that I felt as if my body had no more to give. It was in these moments that it was often difficult to muster up the strength from inside to run another ballet or do a second performance in a day.

Looking back at this season, I feel like I have grown and matured through the challenges I have had to face. I feel very privileged to have worked on all these ballets and with the repetiteurs who staged them. Despite each ballet being very unique, I loved dancing every one of them.

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Dancer PROMOTIONS!

We are proud to announce that two dancers will be promoted next season. We send a huge congratulations to Nathalia Arja and Leanna Rinaldi!

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Becoming a Triple Threat – ACT

The process of preparing for West Side Story Suite has been entirely unique, presenting a several new challenges for our dancers. Not only must they master the jazzy, Broadway style of Jerome Robbins’ choreography, but they also must learn to act and sing in front of a live audience! Each week before the Company opens in a new theater, look out for a new video featuring our dancers’ pursuit to become true Triple Threats!

Read more about our West Side Story Suite premiere in The Miami Herald and learn about Balanchine’s Episodes — another new work in Program III — in our blog post from dancer Jovani Furlan.

For more information and tickets on on Program III: Triple Threat click here!

Behind the Ballet: Alexei Ratmansky’s Symphonic Dances (Part Two)

Alexei Ratmansky is widely seen as one of the most original and important choreographers in ballet, an artist who is moving the genre forward while remaining deeply rooted in its classical origins. When Miami City Ballet commissioned him last season to create Symphonic Dances, set to a Rachmaninoff score of the same name, it was a milestone for the company.

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Ratmansky Wrap-Up

“And in this century another choreographer,
Alexei Ratmansky, has arrived to revitalize ballet.”
—The New York Times

It was a rigorous but rewarding week at Miami City Ballet’s studios.  The renowned choreographer from Russia Alexei Ratmansky visited the company to prepare his work Symphonic Dances for its return to the stage in Program III: The Masters.   During his first visit to Miami last season, Ratmansky set out to create a new ballet — using the dancers as instruments that through various movements, formations, musical cues, and emotions would bring his artistic vision to life.  After a three whirlwind weeks of artistic creation, Ratmansky gave us Symphonic Dances, which enjoyed a one-night only gala premiere at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami.

When Ratmansky returned this past week, his mission was entirely different.   He was here to fine-tune and perfect his creation, shaping it into the masterpiece he envisioned.  “This time, he is paying attention to the all of the smallest details,” said corps dancer Nathalia Arja who landed a leading role in the ballet.  Principal Jeanette Delgado seconded Arja saying that our dancers are being “pushed out of their comfort-zones.”  Ratmansky changed dancers’ roles, experimented with different casts, and persistently demanded more out of each unique dancer.

Principal Ballet Mistress Roma Sosenko and Ballet Mistress Joan Latham observed rehearsals and shared the following comments on their experience, “We love having Alexei back in Miami working on Symphonic Dances.  He is so committed to the work and we love watching his quality of movement.  He is so generous and giving and his coaching is as expansive as his heart.”

We are sure that our dancers’ hard work will pay off when the curtain rises on Symphonic Dances during Program III: The Masters, opening February 22 at Kravis Center, March 1 at Broward Center and March 8 at Adrienne Arsht Center.

Alexei Ratamansky’s Symphonic Dances is made possible in part by the support of the John S. and James L. Knight Foundation, as part of its Knight Arts Challenge.

Congratulations!

Congratulations to our newly promoted dancers!

Promoted to Soloist:

Jennifer Lauren (Photo by Leigh-Ann Esty)

Renan Cerdeiro (Photo by Kyle Froman)


Promoted to Corps de Ballet:

Adrienne Carter (not pictured)

Nathalia Arja

Alexandre Ferreira

Skyler Lubin

Kleber Rebello

Promoted to Company Apprentice:

Andrei Chagas