Is this the fallout year for the performing arts? It is alarming to see the sparse offerings for the 2024-25 dance season, especially after the enormous struggle it was for the arts to survive the hardships imposed by the COVID-19 pandemic.
I hope that this decline in performances is not a trend that will persist. A supreme effort must be made by all to get up off that comfortable sofa, put that remote control away and go to the theater. Seeing a live performance firsthand is an incredible experience that can never be replaced by viewing the offerings on a flat screen.
Here is a look at the season in dance:
Miami City Ballet has always been the headliner for the Palm Beach dance season, but this season the company has imposed some drastic changes to its performance schedule at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts. Traditionally we have had the privilege to see this excellent company right here in our backyard. The company has excelled under the leadership of Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez and has regularly presented five separate programs from November to May that included evening-length ballets, mixed-bill programs and a long run of the George Balanchine setting of The Nutcracker.
It is unfortunate for us that in this season, out of the five regularly scheduled programs, only two programs will be presented in Palm Beach – the Winter Mix and the Spring Mix. You will now have to travel to the Broward Center for the Performing Arts to see the full-length ballets of Balanchine’s re-envisioned Midsummer Night’s Dream and the world premiere of Carmen by of one of the world’s most in-demand choreographers, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa. And if you want to take in The Nutcracker, you will need to go even further and make it all the way down to the Arsht Center in Miami.
For its Winter Mix, Miami City Ballet will present two of legendary choreographer Balanchine’s works on the same program instead of the traditional one. Walpurgisnacht Ballet, which was originally created for the opera Faust, is a sweeping work that sees two dozen vibrant women storm the stage in full display of their virtuosity reminding one of his famous quote, “Ballet is woman.” La Valse, which is celebrating its 20th anniversary in MCB’s repertory, is a most memorable Balanchine ballet where more than 30 dancers take on the romance and dark mystery of a disintegrating waltz set to a haunting Maurice Ravel score. Completing the program is Coincident Dances, the world premiere by the boundary-pushing choreographer Pam Tanowitz. Her signature as a dancemaker is intentional unpredictability combined with a whimsical complexity and a natural drama that redefines the tradition of dance yet still draws from the rules of the master choreographers. The Kravis Center performances are set for Saturday, March 8 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, March 9, at 1 p.m.
The Spring Mix, which is a combination of company premieres and a Jerome Robbins classic, will highlight the duality that can exist in dance from “raucous and robust, raw and wild to solemn and soulful, strict and structured.” Bringing the electrifying rhythm of metropolitan life to the stage, Robbins’s Glass Pieces navigates the shifting patterns of Philip Glass’s intoxicating score in an exciting concoction of postmodern and classical sensibilities. The enduring legacy of José Limón and his native Mexico are seen in all their glory in Chaconne, the remarkable solo originally danced by its creator. Set to an emotion-laden J.S. Bach work for violin, Limón captures the power of control and the freedom of expression in equal measure. The company premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures at an Exhibition completes the triple bill, with 10 dancers in costumes designed by Adeline Andre who explore the full range of motion and emotion in this abstract ballet danced to Modest Mussorgsky’s score in front of a backdrop of Wassily Kandinsky’s color study Squares with Concentric Circles.
The Kravis Center performances are set for Saturday, April 12, at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m. and Sunday, April 13, at 1 p.m. For more information, visit kravis.org or miamicityballet.org.
Also appearing at the Kravis Center as part of their innovative PEAK series, but for one night only, is the Dance Theatre of Harlem. On Saturday, Nov. 23, at 8 p.m., the company will perform a forward-thinking repertoire that includes treasured classics, neoclassical works by Balanchine and Artistic Director Robert Garland, as well as innovative contemporary works that use the language of ballet to celebrate Dance Theatre of Harlem founder Arthur Mitchell’s belief that ballet belongs to everyone.
From Dec. 19-24, another kind of holiday show will be performed at Kravis’s Dreyfoos Hall as part of the PEAK series. Produced by VStar Entertainment, this production takes the annual tradition of The Nutcracker and wraps it with a Broadway-style production together with an infusion of contemporary circus arts. Cirque Dreams Holidaze is filled with twists on holiday classics that are sung live as a fantastical cast of storybook characters come to life on stage. The production is complete with new sets, scenery and storylines that will fill the slot that Miami City Ballet’s version of The Nutcracker used to fill as the family spectacular for the holidays.
Meanwhile, The Duncan Theatre and Stage West will once again present its very popular Friday and Saturday Night Modern Dance Series which will feature the proven audience favorites Parsons Dance and Pilobolus as well the Seoul-based Bereishit Dance Company and the return of Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami.
Parsons Dance, which is known for its innovative and bold ensemble work, is one of the country’s leading contemporary dance companies. After a month of touring historical theaters in Italy, Parsons Dance will return to The Duncan Theatre on Jan. 17 and 18, to once again herald their company’s mission of bringing life-affirming performances to audiences of all ages, abilities and backgrounds.
Next up on the series’ lineup is the equally innovative and thrilling dance company Pilobolus. Performing Jan. 31 and Feb. 1, this extraordinary company will present re:CREATION, an evening-length work in which the boundaries of gravity and creativity blur. Pilobolus has been testing the limits of human physicality by exploring the beauty and the power of connected bodies since 1971.
Weaving together groundbreaking new collaborations and daring experiments alongside excerpts from various classic Pilobolus works that have altered dance theater forever, this dynamic combination of dance pieces make re:CREATION both timely and timeless. I have attended many Pilobolus performances and never have I seen an audience leave the theater without being completely in awe of this company’s outstanding creativity onstage. This is a great opportunity to introduce friends and family to some of the very best in the dance art.
On Feb. 14 and 15, the six dancers of the Bereishit Dance Company will make their Palm Beach County debut performing high-octane movement (drawing from many sources including street dance and martial arts) to the percussive rhythms of an ensemble of Korean traditional drummers. Hurling through space and employing the laws of physics to illustrate the constantly turning wheel of opposition and harmony at the heart of all relationships, the dancers will perform two works, Balance and Imbalance, and Judo. The company was founded in 2011 by choreographer Park Soonho, who is interested in the dynamic relationship between nature’s physical laws and the human body and that between people and society.
Returning to the stage of the Duncan Theatre for the second time and closing the series’ season on March 21 and 22 will be Dimensions Dance Theatre of Miami, a classically based contemporary ballet company founded in 2016 by former Miami City Ballet leading principal couple, Carlos Guerra and Jennifer Kronenberg.
The Duncan Theatre is located on the campus of Palm Beach College in Lake Worth Beach. For tickets and further information on the performances call the box office at 561-868-3309.
Each year, The Harid Conservatory, the Boca Raton-based professional dance school, presents two programs designed to showcase the talented dancers who come from around the world to train on scholarship at this world-class ballet conservatory. Classical and neoclassical ballets, modern and character dance, and cutting-edge contemporary works by leading choreographers ensure that each Harid program is a success with its loyal audience. The 2024 Winter Performances on Dec. 14 and 15 include selections from Act II of The Nutcracker along with other ballets and modern and character dances. The 2025 Spring Performances from May 23-25 will be an exciting selection of classical and contemporary ballets and will feature Harid’s graduating Class of 2024.
All performances are at the Countess de Hoernle Theater, 5100 Jog Road, Boca Raton, which is on the campus of Spanish River Community High School. Call 561-998-8038 or visit harid.edu.
Boca Ballet Theatre, under the leadership of Co-Artistic Directors Dan Quin and Jane Tryee, will present its 2024-2025 Cornelia T. Bailey Foundation Season of Dance by ringing in the holiday season with Guin’s charming version of The Nutcracker on November 29-30 and Dec. 1. Following the matinee performances, children are invited to attend the Gingerbread Ball, where they will meet the cast of characters onstage. The company, which is celebrating its 34th season this year, invites professional guest artists from the nation’s top ballet companies to dance live onstage alongside a talented cast of local dancers.
On April 5-6, 2025, BBT will present Coppélia, a classic narrative ballet about a life-size dancing doll who captures the heart of a villager named Franz. Then on August 2-3, the company will present different genres of dance in a program of assorted classical and contemporary works in a program titled Summer Breezes.
Performances will be held at Olympic Heights Performing Arts Theater, 20101 Lyons Road, Boca Raton. Call 561-995-0709 or visit bocaballet.org.
Ballet Palm Beach has a busy 2024-25 performance season planned. Colleen Smith, who is the founding artistic and executive director of Ballet Palm Beach and its associated school, Ballet Palm Beach Academy, formed the chamber dance company, which is based in Palm Beach Gardens, in 2001. All performances are at various theaters at the Kravis Center.
On November 1-3 at the Rinker Playhouse, the fiery ballet Carmen will be performed. The passion, jealousy and rage of this ballet will be accompanied by the cool mood of the contemporary ballet Fractured and the ethereal look of Mozart Intermezzo, an original work for the company. A full-length version of The Nutcracker follows at Dreyfoos Hall on Dec. 6-8. Two additional full-length ballets complete the season – The Great Gatsby on Feb. 28-March 2 at the Rinker Playhouse and The Sleeping Beauty on April 17-19, also at the Rinker Playhouse. The poignant story of love, loss and the price of success is captured in glamourous style through extravagant dance in this interpretation of F. Scott Fitzgerald’s masterpiece as is the enduring magic of the famous fairytale where only a prince’s kiss can break the spell and awaken the sleeping beauty for its they-lived-happily-ever-after ending.
For tickets, visit kravis.org. For more information, visit balletpalmbeach.org.