Lourdes Lopez: On Top Of Miami City Ballet Without Stepping On Toes

Last week, Miami City Ballet announced its new artistic director: Lourdes Lopez, former principal dancer with the New York City Ballet and current director of the New York-based dance company Morphoses, who will take the post on May 1, 2013. Following a five-month search, an 11-member committee chose Lopez from among 35 candidates considered to replace outgoing artistic director Edward Villella, who co-founded Miami City Ballet in 1985 and who will stay on through the company’s 2012-2013 season. Following MCB’s successful first Paris tour last summer, some say Villella, 75, was pushed out unexpectedly by the company’s board of directors in November. The founding director and some members of his company were not happy about the move. And in the end, the replacement decision was not unanimous — Lopez was awarded the position after a vote of 9-2 in her favor. The other finalist, Jennifer Kronenberg, 35, a principal dancer with MCB, received the votes of Villella and one of the two MCB dancer representatives on the committee, as the dancers were split between the candidates.