2005-2006 schedule

[Treefrog]

The Joffrey Ballet has announced that its 2005-06 season will be the first of two that will celebrate the company's 50th anniversary, which happens in 2006.

• Chicago Sun-Times
  
• Chicago Tribune
  

Here's what's in store (from the Sun-Times article):

*Oct. 19-30, 2005: A mixed bill called "A Midsummer Night's Dream" will include "The Dream," British choreographer Frederick Ashton's richly characterized hourlong version of Shakespeare's romantic comedy; "Return to a Strange Land," the Netherlands-based master Jiri Kylian's work, set to a solo piano piece by Leo Janacek (the Joffrey first introduced Kylian to American audiences in 1980 with this ballet, an homage to fellow choreographer John Cranko), and a "reworked" revival of Arpino's "Celebration," set to music by Shostakovich.

*Dec. 14-24, 2005: The annual production of Joffrey's "The Nutcracker."

*Feb. 15-26, 2006: A revival of Cranko's full-length Shakespeare ballet "Romeo and Juliet," set to the grand Prokofiev score. The work, originally created for Germany's Stuttgart Ballet, was a hit in its 2003 Joffrey revival.

*April 26-May 7: "Cool Vibrations," with three works set to pop music, including "Deuce Coupe," Twyla Tharp's 1973 sensation-stirring work in which ballet was set in counterpoint to the songs of the Beach Boys; a still-untitled world premiere, set to the Motown sound, by the African-American choreographer Donald Byrd (best known for his "Harlem Nutcracker"), and a revival of "Sometimes It Snows in April," the rock ballet created by Laura Dean as part of the Joffrey's 1993 anthology "Billboards," set, of course, to the music of Prince.

Any thoughts on the programming?