Miami City Ballet Soaring to New Heights as it Opens 30th Season

Miami City Ballet has endured hurricanes and precarious finances. It has basked in triumphs at home and in New York and Paris. And in a city often known for discarding its past, it has not only lasted 30 years, but triumphed.

“It’s exhilarating and exciting, and it says that South Florida really wanted this company and has been behind this company,” says longtime arts philanthropist Toby Ansin. She has been behind Miami City Ballet since she met with former ballet star Edward Villella in 1985, inspiring her seemingly quixotic but successful campaign to launch a professional ballet company in Miami.

As it heads into its 30th season, which opens Friday at the Adrienne Arsht Center, Miami City Ballet has become a cornerstone of the city’s cultural landscape, a nationally acclaimed company that is arguably Miami’s most famous arts institution. Now led by artistic director Lourdes Lopez, MCB this season will do four company premieres, including one of the biggest productions in its history: a version of George Balanchine’s evening-length A Midsummer Night’s Dream, one of the transformative choreographer’s most beloved (and rarely done) works.

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