Miami City Ballet

Review: Fall for Dance Opens With Miami City Ballet

Luring new dance audiences, through cheap tickets and crowd-pleasing variety, has been a goal of Fall for Dance since its inception in 2004. The 12th edition of the festival opened on Wednesday at City Center, and the program, one of the most memorable in recent Fall for Dance history, must have produced at least a few converts. “Did you fall for dance?” asks a discount voucher in the program, urging ticket buyers, a little desperately, to come back for more.

If you can relax into that evangelical atmosphere, and the crowds, Fall for Dance is potentially a lot of fun, even for the already dance-obsessed.

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MCB Takes Chicago

Last month, MCB was excited to hit the road for the first of several national tour engagements taking place this season. The Company performed at three events during the 9th annual Chicago Dancing Festival, beginning with George Balanchine’s Allegro Brillante on Aug. 27 at the Harris Theater for Music and Dance. The Company also performed Twyla Tharp’s Sweet Fields on August 29 at the Jay Pritzker Pavillion in Millennium Park.

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MCB Celebrates 30th Anniversary

As Miami City Ballet celebrates its new season – and 30th anniversary – founder Toby Lerner Ansin keeps dancers on their toes

Miami City Ballet founder Toby Lerner Ansin was thrilled to win the prestigious Dance/USA Champion Award earlier this year at Pérez Art Museum Miami. But she got an even bigger kick out of her daughter Stephanie’s introductory speech.

“It was really phenomenal,” says Lerner, 74, a cultural pioneer whose MCB launched 30 years ago. “Everyone was complimenting me on what a beautiful job she’d done.”

For Ansin, ballet and family are intertwined. Stephanie Ansin is following in her mother’s cultural footsteps as founder/artistic director of the Miami Theater Center, and Ansin’s granddaughter studies ballet at the Miami Conservatory – the same place Toby did.

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Exploring the Art of Michele Oka Doner

In this recent article published in The Wall Street Journal, we get an inside look in to Ms. Oka Doner’s NYC loft, as well as glimpse at the costumes she is designing for Miami City Ballet’s reimagined production of George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream.
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A Conversation With Michelle Oka Donor

From public space to public stage: A conversation with Michelle Oka Donor.

In this interview, the acclaimed artist and author discusses her craft, growing up in Miami Beach and her future projects, including a special collaboration with Miami City Ballet for the Company’s 30th anniversary season. 

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A Creative Finale for Mainly Mozart

The Mainly Mozart Festival has come a long way since the series’ early years in a Coral Gables hotel ballroom. The past two installments of the annual summer event under new artistic director Marina Radiushina have brought an expanded number of concerts in a variety of venues and more diverse and ambitious repertoire. Sunday afternoon at downtown Miami’s Arsht Center, Radiushina presented her most innovative offering yet.

The sensitivity and tonal coloration of their playing in the softer moments wonderfully complemented the choreography of Adriana Pierce … the athletic leaps and fitful angular movements of the penitents were brilliantly executed by dancers Emily Bromberg, Leigh-Ann Esty, Michael Sean Breeden and Eric Trope from Miami City Ballet.

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Justin Peck crea ‘Heatscape’ para Miami City Ballet

La pieza de resistencia de esta temporada del Miami City Ballet se presenta este fin de semana en el Ziff Ballet Opera House del Adrienne Arsht Center. Se titula Heatscape, y es la creación del coreógrafo más en boga del momento en Estados Unidos, Justin Peck. Siendo tan joven –de 27 años– ya ha producido varias piezas para el New York City Ballet y un pas de deuxpara el New World Symphony Orchestra en 2013, con bailarines del MCB, Chutes and Ladders.

Pero ahora se trata de una producción en toda regla, con la participación de toda la compañía, y con un título que el propio coreógrafo anota es una reminiscencia del título de la obra de Merce Cuningham, Summerspace, solo que Miami es más caliente.

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MCB Founder Toby Lerner Ansin to be Honored by Dance/USA

Washington, DC – Dance/USA, the national service organization for professional dance, is pleased to announce the 2015 Dance/USA Honorees:

  • Trisha Brown, founding artistic director and choreographer, Trisha Brown Dance Company, will receive the Dance/USA Honor Award in absentia.
  • Linda Shelton, executive director, The Joyce Theater Foundation, will receive the Dance/USA Ernie Award.
  • Raven Wilkinson, whose talent and skill enabled her to become the first African American woman to break the color line and dance with a major classical ballet company, will receive the Dance/USA Trustees Award.
  • Toby Lerner Ansin, founder, Miami City Ballet, will receive the Dance/USA Champion Award.

The awards will be given on Wednesday, June 17, 2015 at the Opening Night Celebration, which kicks off the 2015 Dance/USA Annual Conference being held June 17-20, 2015 in Miami, Florida. The Dance/USA Annual Conference is the country’s broadest gathering of dance professionals, offering expertise from industry leaders, enriching professional development, and the tools to move the dance field forward. Early Bird Rates for the 2015 Annual Conference are available until April 17, 2015.

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Miami City Ballet in ‘Heatscape,’ a Fleeting Chase of Romance

By Alastair MacAulay

WEST PALM BEACH, Fla. — No ballet by the 27-year-old choreographer Justin Peck is much like another; with each assignment he sets himself new choreographic hurdles. But Mr. Peck has quickly become the most eminent choreographer of ballet in the United States — and two particular characteristics have propelled him to the top: the exciting formal architecture of his dances and the kinesthetic thrill of his movement.

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