American Ballet Theatre
American Ballet Theatre | |
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General information | |
Name | American Ballet Theatre |
Previous names |
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Year founded | Approx. 1937 |
Principal venue | Metropolitan Opera House New York City United States of America |
Website | abt.org |
Artistic staff | |
Artistic Director | Kevin McKenzie |
Other | |
Associated schools | Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School |
Formation |
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American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. It has an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House (Lincoln Center) in the spring and a shorter season at the David H. Koch Theater in the fall; the company tours around the world the rest of the year. ABT was founded in 1937 by Lucia Chase and Mikhail Mordkin and is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. ABT is also the parent company of the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, and was recognized as "America's National Ballet Company" in 2006 by the United States Congress.[1][2]
Contents
History
Mikhail Mordkin, a former dancer with the Bolshoi Ballet, left Russia after the October Revolution and settled in the United States in 1924. He staged the country's first production of Swan Lake in 1924, then later formed the "Mordkin Ballet" in 1937 with students from his New York school, with Lucia Chase, his student, as one of his prima ballerinas. By 1939, former Hollywood agent, Richard Pleasant, came to New York to manage the company. By the summer of 1939, Pleasant and Chase developed big ideas to turn the company into a full-fledged ballet company, and to base it on "a gallery of dance rather than the vision of a single choreographer" and a "living museum of dance" with Russian, American and British "wings", and units for black and Hispanic dances. The pair renamed the company "Ballet Theatre" and Mordkin later departed, finding himself solely in the background.
Chase began developing the company's repertoire of well-known full-length ballets, as well as original works, amidst financial issues, until in 1945 Oliver Smith joined Ballet Theatre and became co-director with Chase. In 1957 the company changed its name to "American Ballet Theatre" and continued to focus on ballet classics with continued financial issues until, during the 1960s and 1970s, financial conditions with the company were favorable due to private funding. During this period, American Ballet Theatre shifted its focus to recruiting ballet stars.
In 1977, the company began its spring season at the Metropolitan Opera House, its new official venue, then in 1980 Mikhail Baryshnikov became Artistic Director for American Ballet Theatre. Baryshnikov staged, restaged, and refurbished numerous classical ballets and, according to the company, strengthened their classical tradition. Baryshnikov was replaced by Jane Hermann and Oliver Smith in 1989, and the pair remained as Artistic Directors until in 1992 Kevin McKenzie was appointed. McKenzie satisfied the demands of the traditional ballet audience by prioritizing full-length narrative ballets as well as succeeding in keeping the company afloat during financially unstable times. He established an official associate school in 2004, the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School and appointed Alexei Ratmansky as "Artist in Residence" in January 2009 after a long period of no in-house choreographer.[3][4]
Artistic staff
Artistic directors
- Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith (1940–1980)
- Mikhail Baryshnikov (1980–1989)
- Jane Hermann and Oliver Smith (1989–1992)
- Kevin McKenzie (1992–present)
Resident choreographers
- Antony Tudor (1940–1950) [5]
- Alexei Ratmansky (2009–present)
Dancers
American Ballet Theatre has four levels within the company. The are (in ascending order): Apprentice,[6] Corps de Ballet,[7] Soloist[8] and Principal.[9]
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Principals
Soloists
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Name | Nationality | Training | Other Companies (inc. guest performances) |
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Kristi Boone | United States | Draper Dance Studio Rochester City Ballet San Francisco Ballet School Chautauqua Institute Ballet |
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Ellizzette Duvall | France | Paris Opera Ballet School New York City Ballet Champaign-Urbana Ballet Academy School of American Ballet ABT Studio Company Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School |
Twyla Tharp |
Joseph Gorak | United States | North Central School of Ballet (TX) Orlando Ballet School ABT Studio Company |
Orlando Ballet |
Alexandre Hammoudi | France | Paris Opera Ballet School School of American Ballet ABT Studio Company |
Cuban National Ballet Stars of American Ballet |
Sarah Lane | United States | Ballet Memphis Draper Center for Dance Education Boston Ballet School |
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Craig Salstein | United States | Ballet Academy of Miami Miami City Ballet School Joffrey Ballet School School of American Ballet ABT Studio Company |
Intermezzo Dance Company |
Christine Shevchenko | Ukraine | Pennsylvania Ballet Rock School ABT Studio Company |
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Devon Teuscher | United States | Champaign-Urbana Ballet Academy Vermont Ballet Theatre School Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School (ballet) ABT Studio Company |
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Roman Zhurbin | Russia | Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School Studio Maestro ABT Studio Company |
Corps de Ballet
The American Ballet Theatre's current Corps de Ballet includes:[7]
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Apprentices
The American Ballet Theatre's current apprentices includes:[11]
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Former dancers
The following is a partial list of former dancers with ABT, listed by their highest rank prior to leaving the company.
Former principal dancers
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Former soloists
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Former corps de ballet
Repertoire
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Maybe no other choreographer was as closely associated with ABT as the great British choreographer Antony Tudor, who made his American debut with the company. The other continuous creative force was the legendary Agnes de Mille. She staged the majority of her ballet works with them. Many choreographers have mounted works especially for ABT, including George Balanchine, Adolph Bolm, Michel Fokine, Léonide Massine, and Bronislava Nijinska. Other renowned choreographers who have worked at ABT include Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, and Alvin Ailey.
ABT's 1976 production of The Nutcracker starring Mikhail Baryshnikov and Gelsey Kirkland was televised the following year and has become a broadcast classic.
The main season is held during eight weeks in the spring at New York City's Metropolitan Opera House, with shorter seasons in the fall previously held at New York City Center, now held at the David H. Koch Theater. Performances of Alexei Ratmansky's The Nutcracker during the holiday season are held at the Brooklyn Academy of Music. The company tours extensively throughout United States and the world.
The current choreographer in residence for ABT is Alexei Ratmansky.
Production Staff
- N. James Whitehill III (Director of Production) (current)
- Richard Koch (Technical Director) (current)
- Danielle Ventimiglia (Production Stage Manager) (current)
- Jennifer McGrath (Stage Manager) (current)
- Jeremiah Bischoff (Assistant Stage Manager) (current)
- Brad Fields (Lighting Director) (current)
- Jon Goldman (Assistant Lighting Director) (current)
- Dan De Prenger (Head Carpenter) (current)
- Esteban Osorio, Chris Miano (Assistant Carpenters) (current)
- Brian Zimmerman (Head Electrician) (current)
- Andrew Blais, Paul Frydrychowski (Assistant Electricians) (current)
- Paul Wells (Property Master) (current)
- Steve Dunbar (Property Man) (current)
Music Department
- Ormsby Wilkins (music director) (current)[83]
- Charles Barker (principal conductor) (current)[84]
- David LaMarche (conductor) (current)[85]
- Akira Endo (conductor) (1938-2014)[86]
Wardrobe Master
- Bruce Horowitz (current)
- Robert Holloway (joined as dancer 1964) (1965-1996) [87]
Wardrobe Mistress
See also
- A Dancer's Life, a 1972 documentary film about the company
References
Notes
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- ↑ http://abt.org/dancers/default.asp?section=apprentice
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- ↑ Ormsby Wilkins named Music Director at ABT, Inside ABT, November 22, 2005
- ↑ Inside ABT, accessed 1/22/2013
- ↑ A Conversation with David LaMarche, American Ballet Theatre Conductor, Dr. Roberta E. Zlokower, May 10, 2010
- ↑ AKIRA ENDO Obituary, Pittsburgh Post-Gazette, April 3, 2014, accessed July 9, 2014
- ↑ Robert Holloway, 62, Dancer, New York Times, December 11, 1996
- ↑ http://[ballettothepeople.com/2011/12/27/the-never-ending-scandal-of-the-tutu/ The Never Ending Scandal of the Tutu, Ballettothepeople.com, December 27, 2011]
- ↑ May Asaki Ishimoto dies, created costumes for ballet stars, by Matt Schudel, January 17, 2010
- ↑ American Ballet Theatre program, Hill Auditorium, Ann Arbor, Michigan, November 17, 1966
Further viewing
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External links
- Official website
- American Ballet Theatre entry in the Encyclopædia Britannica
- American Ballet Theatre entry in the Columbia Encyclopedia
- Archive footage of ABT (then Ballet Theatre) performing Interplay in 1949 at Jacob's Pillow
- Daily Telegraph obituary of Georgina Parkinson, December 20, 2009
- NY Times obituary of Georgina Parkinson, December 18, 2009
- NYPL theatrical lighting database, complete lighting paperwork for Fall River Legend
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