PRESS RELEASE

Atlanta Ballet Announces its 2014-15 Performance Season

Company Spices Up 85th Season with
Audience Favorites and Avant-Garde Premieres

Featuring
Revival of Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Epic Roméo et Juliette
Return of Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16
Premiere of San Francisco Ballet’s Resident Choreographer Yuri Possokhov’s Classical Symphony
Atlanta Ballet Premiere of Swedish Choreographer Alexander Ekman’s Cacti
World Premiere of Camino Real by Atlanta Ballet Choreographer in Residence Helen Pickett

ATLANTA – (March 27, 2014) – For its 85th season, Atlanta Ballet (AB) will turn the dial once more on its stout commitment to bring the best in ballet to Atlanta, evident by the 14-15 line-up announced today by artistic director John McFall.

Patrons will be introduced to a fresh collection of shining stars in the dance world today, while also being reminded of the works and choreographers they’ve already come to love.

Among the returning fan favorites is the sleek, sophisticated Romeo et Juliette by Les Ballet de Monte-Carlo’s Jean-Christophe Maillot – a blockbuster hit with audiences during the Company’s 13-14 season. Atlanta Ballet will also restage the wildly-popular Minus 16 by Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin and the “spellbinding” neoclassical work Seven Sonatas by American Ballet Theatre’s Alexei Ratmansky.

To complement the tried-and-true, Atlanta Ballet will present a healthy share of new works, including the long-awaited world premiere of Helen Pickett’s Camino Real, inspired by the Tennessee Williams play of the same name. Other Atlanta Ballet premieres include Classical Symphony by San Francisco Ballet resident choreographer Yuri Possokhov and Cacti by Alexander Ekman.

Atlanta Ballet’s 2014-15 Season

ATLANTA BALLET’S NUTCRACKER (Full-evening Ballet)

December 11 – 28, 2014 | The Fabulous Fox Theatre

Live with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra
 

The tradition continues as the season begins with Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker at the Fabulous Fox Theatre. The whimsical holiday tale takes 20 pounds of snow, eight tons of scenery, lighting, and props, and a 38-foot-tall Christmas tree to make the magic of Marya’s unbelievable story come to life. More than 200 of Atlanta’s young dancers will join the Atlanta Ballet professional company for this extravagant production live with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra and the Georgia Youth Choir for all performances. After 55 years, Atlanta Ballet’s Nutcracker continues to be a treasured holiday tradition shared by multiple generations.
 

Encore Presentation of Jean-Christophe Maillot’s Roméo et Juliette (Full-evening Ballet)

February 6 – 14, 2015 | Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Live with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra

Named an Atlanta Ballet “tour de force” by ArtsATL, Jean-Christophe Maillot’s ethereal production of Roméo et Juliette is back by popular demand for the 14-15 Season. A startlingly fresh take on the well-known Shakespearean masterpiece, Roméo et Juliette embodies the titillating power of young, forbidden love.

Atlanta Ballet debuted Roméo et Juliette in February 2014 to overwhelmingly positive reviews from patrons and critics, and, like most other companies that have presented the work since its world premiere, will have it back for a consecutive run.

The emotional, cinematic work was described by ArtsATL as “smart, beautiful, and epic,” and the Backstage Beat deemed it “spectacular.”

‘Romeo et Juliette’ is a triumph for Atlanta Ballet,” said Atlanta arts writer Cynthia Bond Perry in a review for the Atlanta Journal-Constitution. “With choreographer Jean-Christophe Maillot’s production, the company’s quest to build a sleek artistic profile is more fully realized than ever…Atlanta Ballet has again surpassed itself.”
 

WORLD PREMIERE: Helen Pickett’s Tennessee Williams-Inspired CAMINO REAL (Full-evening Ballet)

March 20 – 22, 2015 | Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Live with the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra

Kilroy is coming… For her fourth work and first full-evening ballet for Atlanta Ballet, Helen Pickett – the Company’s resident choreographer - mounts the much-anticipated world premiere of Camino Real. Inspired by the 1953 Tennessee Williams play of the same name, the story is told from the perspective of Kilroy, a character based on patriotic iconography from the WWII era. The work grapples with human mortality, the burning desire to connect, and the will to live.

MODERN CHOREOGRAPHIC VOICES (Mixed Repertory)

April 17 – 19, 2015 | Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Featuring: Atlanta Ballet Premiere of Classical Symphony by San Francisco Ballet’s Yuri Possokhov

Return of Israeli Choreographer Ohad Naharin’s Minus 16

Atlanta Ballet’s eclectic mixed-rep program Modern Choreographic Voices (MCV) shatters perceptions of dance in the modern world by presenting the freshest and most innovative works from all corners of the globe. These distinctive pieces bend perceptions of ballet by blending classical precision with fearless expression.

This season’s program will feature the return of Israeli choreographer Ohad Naharin’s ultra-modern and infectiously raucous Minus 16 as well as Russian choreographer Yuri Possokhov’s neoclassical Classical Symphony.

 

MAYhem (Mixed Repertory)

May 15 – 17, 2015 | Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre

Featuring: Atlanta Ballet Premiere of Alexander Ekman’s Cacti

Encore Presentation of Seven Sonatas by American Ballet Theatre’s Alexei Ratmansky 

The season closes with MAYhem, an explosive program that brings together three revolutionary contemporary works showcasing the dexterity and grace of Atlanta Ballet’s Company artists. Audiences will witness first-hand the high caliber athletic performance that is the hallmark of Atlanta Ballet’s dancers and has thrust the Company into the international spotlight as a preeminent dance company. MAYhem will host the encore of Alexei Ratmansky’s hypnotic Seven Sonatas – a beautiful, yet immensely challenging classical work – alongside the premiere of Swedish choreographer Alexander Ekman’s buoyant and inventive Cacti.

The eccentric Cacti, described by the choreographer’s website as a “gleeful and knowing parody of dance’s greater excesses,” consists of 16 dancers creating rhythms together with four musicians live on stage. 

“While the string quartet plays,” says the site, “and spoken recordings give tongue-in-cheek narration of the action, the dancers run, fall, writhe and try to escape their invisible prisons; eventually – and this is the important bit – they each acquire a cactus.”  

“Cacti’s commentary on the vainglories and idiosyncrasies of contemporary dance is spot on and side-splittingly funny, but it wouldn’t be half the work it is if Ekman didn’t have the choreographic chops to back it up. A winning combination of genuinely stunning choreography, clever stage design, a live string quartet and lashings of self-aware irony,” said Time out Australia in a 2013 review.

The award-winning work was created in 2010 and is one of Ekman’s most successful pieces to date, with recent performances by Sydney Dance Company, Dresden Ballet, Dortmund Stadstheater and Boston Ballet.

 

The Atlanta Ballet Fellowship Ensemble Presents Snow White (One-hour Family Performance)

February 14-15, 2015 | Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre
 

Atlanta Ballet fosters the next generation of dancers with its annual one-hour family performance by the Atlanta Ballet Fellowship Ensemble - a presentation of the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education. Designed for younger audiences, ages 12 and under, the family ballet brings to life beloved childhood tales and is the perfect way to introduce children to the joys of dance.

For more information on Atlanta Ballet’s 2014-15 season, call 404-892-3303 or visit www.atlantaballet.com. Subscription packages are available for purchase now and single tickets will go on sale late summer 2014.

 

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About Atlanta Ballet: Founded in 1929, Atlanta Ballet is one of the premier dance companies in the country and the official state Ballet of Georgia. Atlanta Ballet's eclectic repertoire spans ballet history, highlighted by beloved classics and inventive originals. After 85 years, Atlanta Ballet continues its commitment to share and educate audiences on the empowering joy of dance. In 1996, Atlanta Ballet opened the Centre for Dance Education and is dedicated to nurturing young dancers while providing an outlet for adults to express their creativity. The Centre serves over 150,000 people in metro Atlanta each year. Atlanta Ballet's roots remain firmly grounded in the Atlanta community and continue to play a vital role in the city's cultural growth and revitalization. For more information, visit www.atlantaballet.com, follow us on Twitter @atlantaballet, and like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/atlantaballet.