Miami City Ballet Announces Final Performances of Kronenberg and Guerra

Longtime Miami City Ballet principal dancers – and husband and wife team – Carlos Miguel Guerra and Jennifer Carlynn Kronenberg have announced that the 2015- 2016 season will conclude their time with Miami City Ballet, departing after 15 years and 22 years, respectively. Their tenure at MCB has been an acclaimed one as they danced leading roles in a diverse repertory, performing for tens of thousands in South Florida, as well as on national and international stages.

The couple plan to continue dancing, primarily as freelance artists, and look forward to sharing their joy of performing with new audiences through local and national guesting engagements. They will also be teaching, coaching and holding master classes at several schools throughout Florida, the United States and abroad.

Jennifer Carlynn Kronenberg

Kronenberg has spent her entire professional career at Miami City Ballet. After observing her in 1994 at the School of American Ballet, where she was training, Edward Villella hired the 17 year old as an Apprentice. By 2001, she had achieved the rank of Principal dancer and quickly became a star of the company. Born in Queens, N.Y., she also trained with Teresa Aubel, Nicholas Orloff, Norman Walker and Barbara Walczack. Her career has been celebrated in numerous print publications, including profiles in and the covers of Dance Magazine and Selecta Magazine, as well as profiles in Ocean Drive Magazine, New York Daily News, The Miami Herald, and Pointe Magazine, among others. Dance Magazine wrote, “A dancer of both strength and allure, Miami City Ballet’s Jennifer Kronenberg is known as an exemplary Balanchine ballerina.” She spearheaded the Project Pointe Fundraiser, which raised considerable money for MCB’s Toe Shoe Fund, and in 2015 was featured in a SoDanca national ad campaign along with her husband. Her first book, “So, You Want to be a Ballet Dancer?”, was presented at the Miami International Book Fair in 2013 and honored before The Brandeis National Committee, South Miami-Dade Chapter.

Carlos Miguel Guerra

Guerra, a native of Camagüey, Cuba, joined Miami City Ballet as a Soloist in 2001 and two years later was promoted to the rank of Principal dancer. He trained at the Professional School of Ballet and Plastic Arts in Camagüey, and previously danced for Professional Ballet Company of Camagüey and Ballet Company of Santiago in Chile. He has been profiled in Ocean Drive Magazine, Complot Magazine, Miami New Times, The Miami Herald and been featured in TV segments on Telemundo. In 2005 he was recognized for helping to shape the state as one of the “100 Power Players of Florida” by FLORIDA International Magazine and is the winner of the 2015 Miami Life Award for “Best Male Ballet Dancer.”

Principal Dancers – Husband and Wife Dream Team

The couple met as dancers in the Company and were married in 2006. In 2012, they became the proud parents of Eva Carlynn, now 3.

During their storied careers at MCB, Kronenberg and Guerra were most frequently paired together. Their onstage chemistry was palpable, their performances compelling, and audiences looked forward to the experience of seeing them dance together. Their solo performances were equally compelling. The couple have danced leading roles in much of the company’s diverse repertoire, perhaps most memorably in Romeo and Juliet, roles they originated in the 2011 company premiere of John Cranko’s famous ballet. Other full-evening ballets they appeared in together were Giselle, Coppélia and Don Quixote. The last time the couple danced Giselle in 2012, Kronenberg was newly pregnant with their daughter.

“It’s easy to imagine that married couple Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra brought the special chemistry of their personal lives into the leads. What became clear throughout the three acts was their keen dedication to the demands of stagecraft, as they enlivened, in adroit dancing and persuasive acting, a portrayal of the doomed lovers.”  —Dance Magazine

Other notable ballets they have danced together include George Balanchine’s Symphony in C, Serenade, Apollo, Agon, Symphony in Three Movements, “Diamonds,” Slaughter on Tenth Avenue; Jerome Robbins’ Afternoon of a Faun and Dances at a Gathering; Twyla Tharp’s Nine Sinatra Songs; Trey McIntyre’s The Reassuring Effects of Form and Poetry; and Christopher Wheeldon’s Liturgy. Together, they have originated featured roles in the world premieres of Edward Villella’s Gismonti Brasil and The Neighborhood Ballroom. And three of today’s most sought-after choreographers – Alexei Ratmansky, Twyla Tharp and Liam Scarlett – created leading roles for them in MCB commissioned works: Symphonic Dances, NIGHTSPOT, and Viscera, respectively.

Kronenberg and Guerra will dance their final MCB performances in South Florida on Sunday, March 20 at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami and Sunday, April 3 at the Kravis Center in West Palm Beach in the newly reimagined production of George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. They will take their final bows with MCB on tour in New York, Chicago and Minneapolis.