The Sarasota Ballet’s upcoming 2023-24 season promises an enchanting blend of beauty, heartbreak, and artistry. Featuring a range of repertoire from world-renowned choreographers and composers, the season also offers a series of world and company premieres juxtaposed alongside works by some of the world’s most beloved figures.
Company Director Iain Webb is excited about the upcoming performances, especially knowing he will stay on with Sarasota Ballet for at least ten more years. “This is an important Season not just for The Sarasota Ballet,” says Webb. “Throughout the Season we’ve been entrusted to perform remarkable and prestigious works, which not only highlight our incredible Company, but also the extraordinary arts that Sarasota has to offer.”
This season’s shows will be staged across two venues in Sarasota – the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, which The Sarasota Ballet shares with Asolo Repertory Theatre, and the Sarasota Opera House. In addition, live music performed by the Venice Symphony will accompany Programs 3, 6 and 7, and special performances by The Sarasota Ballet School of “The Nutcracker” are scheduled for Venice – at the Venice Performing Arts Center on Dec. 8-9, and at the Sarasota Opera House on December 17-18. The Venice performances are proudly sponsored by Venice City Lifestyle.
While the company holds a special place for Sir Frederick Ashton's creations, highlighted by its current invitation to perform Ashton choreography for a week in 2024 at The Royal Ballet in London, the season also honors other choreographic legends. This is front and center in Program Three, (December 15-16), which opens with George Balanchine’s “Theme and Variations,” and closes with Twyla Tharp’s “In the Upper Room.”
A trio of works by resident choreographer Ricardo Graziano, including one world premiere, make up Program 4 (January 26-29, 2024). “Sonatina” is one of Graziano’s most classical works, followed by Graziano’s 11th one-act world premiere for the Sarasota Ballet. Closing the Program is the choreographer’s most critically acclaimed work, “In a State of Weightlessness,” which received its world premiere during the ballet’s week-long residency at the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival in 2015.
Each year, The Sarasota Ballet presents a visiting company as a part of its season to provide audiences with a different insight and connection to the art of dance. For Program 5 (March 8-11, 2024) Ballet Hispanico will be exploring the diversity of Latino Culture through a fusion of Classical, Latin, and Contemporary dance.
George Balanchine is again featured in Program 6 (April 5-6, 2024). The evening of reprises features the “Emeralds” section of his full-length “Jewels” and the Gershwin-inspired “Who Cares?.” That bookends Kenneth MacMillan’s dramatic “Las Hermanas,” a dance version of Federico Garcia Lorca’s haunting play “The House of Bernarda Alba.”
Program 7 (April 26-27, 2024) will begin with Tony Award winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon’s “The American,” bringing to life the tranquility and open sky of America’s Great Plains. Company premiere, “Lyric Pieces,” by acclaimed choreographer Jessica Lang – who joined the Company this Season as Artist in Residence – follows with an engaging and visually dynamic creation. Closing Program 7, and the 2023 – 2024 Season as whole, will be Sir Frederick Ashton’s “Sinfonietta,” an exciting and fiendishly difficult abstract work.
Nationally and internationally acclaimed for its artistry and diverse repertoire, The Sarasota Ballet is set to uplift the art of dance and captivate its audiences in this spectacular season. To learn more and to acquire tickets go to sarasotaballet.org.