2023-24 Season: Washington Ballet

[YouOverThere]

The programs for Sleeping Beauty contained next season's schedule. There are 5 programs, though only the first 4 are included in the season ticket package:

Such Sweet Thunder: An Evening Inspired By Shakespeare  October 25-29

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Includes pas de deux from Sir Kenneth MacMillian's Romeo and Juliet and Sir Frederick Ashton's The Dream and original choreography from Brett Ishida and Silas Farley

The Nutcracker  November 25-26 and December 2-30

Jazz Icons: Legends of the Golden Age   February 14-18

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World premieres by innovative choreographers Jessica Lang and Dwight Rhoden

Beyond Boundaries: An Evening Curated by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa  May 22-26

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Guest curated by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, featuring Ochoa's Delusional Beauty

10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography  June 22-26  This apparently is part of a series on Asian choreography that the Kennedy Center is producing.

[California]

6 hours ago, YouOverThere said:

The programs for Sleeping Beauty contained next season's schedule. There are 5 programs, though only the first 4 are included in the season ticket package:

Thanks! Nothing on their web page yet. Programming by "themes" seems to be the current thing -- a marketing technique? It sounds like their Sleeping Beauty was a huge success. Wonder why they're not trying something comparable for next year -- Swan Lake or Giselle, e.g.

Any announcement of the new artistic director?

[YouOverThere]

2 hours ago, California said:

Thanks! Nothing on their web page yet. Programming by "themes" seems to be the current thing -- a marketing technique? It sounds like their Sleeping Beauty was a huge success. Wonder why they're not trying something comparable for next year -- Swan Lake or Giselle, e.g.

Any announcement of the new artistic director?

What I see as a "theme" is that they have a lot of choreographers working with them. As I understand it, choreographers get to cast their works, which would take the burden off the new AD or whomever is covering the AD's responsibilities in the interim.

All 5 performances of Sleeping Beauty essentially sold out, though there were only 5 performances instead of the usual 6 and the performances were in the Eisenhower Theater which only has 1,161 seats. Julie Kent did not give her usual speech before the performance.

If in fact the WB didn't officially advertise the AD position until mid-April, they wouldn't have begun interviewing candidates yet (unless they already knew who they were going to hire).

A concern is whether some of the dancers will decide that they don't want to spend a year in an unstable situation and move to other companies, especially those who auditioned for the WB specifically because they wanted to work with Julie Kent. Since the Washington Post no longer employs a dance critic, there is no one to report on what's going on with the WB.

Edited May 7, 2023 by YouOverThere

[Helene]

While there are always exceptions , like being invited/allowed to take company class at any time of the year, domino effects opening up positions, etc., the contract and audition cycle is generally in late winter/early spring, and they would have had to sign by now for the next season.  Of course the company they signed with can release them from a contract to go elsewhere, but if the announcement of Kent leaving came early enough for dancers to decide to go elsewhere because no successor was named yet, those contracts would be inked by now.

.

[maps]

Perez's [Houston] last show with TWB is SB - an audience loss like Mack [contract] and Barkman [Rojo]   

• https://www.instagram.com/p/Crt0W8CvcKI/   
• https://pointemagazine.com/our-favorite-performances-of-2022/  

Edited July 27, 2023 by maps
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[YouOverThere]

31 minutes ago, maps said:

 

Perez's last show with TWB is SB - an audience loss like Mack [contract] and Barkman [Rojo]   https://www.instagram.com/p/Crt0W8CvcKI/   https://pointemagazine.com/our-favorite-performances-of-2022/   

When it rains, it pours. The WB is short on men in general and leading men in particular (Andile Ndlovu did not dance at all this season after rupturing an Achilles tendon at the end of last season, so we don't know what his future is). And with no AD in place, or even announced, the WB would hardly be a magnet for dancers right now. 

Edited May 7, 2023 by YouOverThere

[California]

2 hours ago, YouOverThere said:

When it rains, it pours. The WB is short on men in general and leading men in particular (Andile Ndlovu did not dance at all this season after rupturing an Achilles tendon at the end of last season, so we don't know what his future is). And with no AD in place, or even announced, the WB would hardly be a magnet for dancers right now. 

My fantasy for this company: that they'll hire an AD who can lure Brooklyn Mack back for some guest appearances! 

[California]

The Washington Ballet just posted its 2023-24 schedule on their web page: https://www.washingtonballet.org/seasons/2023-24-season/

[daughterlovesballet]

I wonder if they had someone in mind for AD, were negotiating, that it didn't work out, resulting in the late recruiting that apparently started in April.  

Also, Kristina Windom moving from TWSB to head the school of Philadelphia Ballet is huge.  Even though she did not head the school at Washington or lead PPD, she was a huge presence and had been at the school for many years.  

[YouOverThere]

On 5/11/2023 at 7:34 AM, California said:

The Washington Ballet just posted its 2023-24 schedule on their web page: https://www.washingtonballet.org/seasons/2023-24-season/

Their 5th program is being produced by the Kennedy Center and is not part of their season ticket package, which is why it isn't mentioned on that page. It's possible that they will not perform an entire program but will split the program with 1 or 2 other companies. This production will spotlight the choreography of Choo San Goh.

10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography | Kennedy Center (kennedy-center.org)

[YouOverThere]

On 5/7/2023 at 11:07 AM, YouOverThere said:

When it rains, it pours. The WB is short on men in general and leading men in particular (Andile Ndlovu did not dance at all this season after rupturing an Achilles tendon at the end of last season, so we don't know what his future is). And with no AD in place, or even announced, the WB would hardly be a magnet for dancers right now. 

The WB finally updated their website. Three of the four men who danced the role of Prince Desire last Spring are not listed on the roster (Gian Carlo Perez, Masanori Takiguchi, Rench Soriano), which currently lists only 25 dancers in the main company. Also missing is Alexa Torres, who took a turn dancing the role of Princess Aurora. All 4 of these dancers are 20-somethings.

[YouOverThere]

On 7/27/2023 at 2:42 PM, YouOverThere said:

The WB finally updated their website. Three of the four men who danced the role of Prince Desire last Spring are not listed on the roster (Gian Carlo Perez, Masanori Takiguchi, Rench Soriano), which currently lists only 25 dancers in the main company. Also missing is Alexa Torres, who took a turn dancing the role of Princess Aurora. All 4 of these dancers are 20-somethings.

All 3 joined the Houston Ballet (Perez as a First Soloist, Takiguchi and Soriano as Demi Soloists). Adelaide Clauss also followed Julie Kent to Houston (as a Demi Soloist).

In addition, Alexa Torres left for a position in the Boston Ballet.

Edited August 14, 2023 by YouOverThere

[YouOverThere]

The WB is also going to present "pop up" performances at a facility called Dupont Underground (not surprisingly, on Dupont Circle). There will be evening shows on Sept. 28, 29, and 30 and a matinee on Sept. 30. It's not clear what the program will be - the announcement only states that there will be choreography by Tamas Krizsa and Mimmo Miccolis and music by Blake Neeley. Seating will be general admission: $40 for the 1st 4 rows and $20 for the remainder.

Pop Up Performance at Dupont Underground | The Washington Ballet

[YouOverThere]

I took in the WB's Nutcracker this evening. Someone (Trinidad Vives? Edwaard Laing? Tamas Krizsa?) re-worked the 1st act a little to give some serious dancing bits to Clara and Drosselmeyer's nephew/nutcracker/prince (Yay!!! I've never liked when Clara just does a little acting and then spectates.), though the roles are still danced by students in the "Professional Training Division". Andile Ndlovu appeared as the Snow King, so he apparently is recovered from the rather serious injury he suffered in the Spring of 2022.

I preferred this production to Ballet West's, a sentiment shared by the woman who sat next to me.

Edited December 24, 2023 by YouOverThere

[daughterlovesballet]

Septime Webre visited at the start of rehearsals and reworked some of the choreography.  Agree that the new challenges for Clara are an improvement.  How did people like the (few) new costumes?

[YouOverThere]

On 1/4/2024 at 2:02 PM, daughterlovesballet said:

How did people like the (few) new costumes?

Such as the new costumes for the little mice? I thought that white was a strange color for mice.

[YouOverThere]

I just started looking at tickets for the WB's current run of Jazz Icons and found that ticket prices for the same seats are substantially higher for the Thursday evening and Saturday matinee performances than they are for the Friday evening, Saturday evening, and Sunday matinee performances (I missed out on the Wednesday evening performance). I'm wondering why, as I would have expected the Saturday evening and Sunday matinee tickets to be the most expensive. It doesn't appear to be a result of "airline pricing" (only about 60% of the tickets have been sold for the Saturday matinee).

Edited February 15 by YouOverThere