Onstage This Week: 15th Annual Fall for Dance Festival, Nevada Ballet Theatre Collaborates with Cirque du Soleil, Wendy Whelan in World Premiere, and More!

September 30, 2018

Fall for Dance Festival
Wonder what’s going on in ballet this week? We’ve pulled together some highlights.

Fall for Dance Festival Includes Three Ballet World Premieres 

2018 marks the 15th anniversary of New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival, a major event for dance lovers. All Fall for Dance tickets are $15, making world-class dance accessible to audiences from all backgrounds. Running October 1-13, the four Fall for Dance programs include a veritable smorgasbord of dance genres. Ballet highlights include world premiere commissions from Gemma Bond, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa and Justin Peck, and performances by Boston Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Gemma Bond Dance, Herman Cornejo & Alina Cojocaru, Justin Peck & Patricia Delgado, National Ballet of China, Sara Mearns, and Tiler Peck with Lil Buck.

Nevada Ballet Theatre Collaborates with Cirque du Soleil 

Nevada Ballet Theatre brings back their annual collaboration with the Cirque du Soleil Entertainment Group October 7 and 13-14. The showcase of new choreography is titled Art from Art, and features original creations by 14 choreographers from NBT, Cirque du Soleil and, for the first time ever, Blue Man Group, performed by over 60 artists. Choreographers from NBT include dancers Krista Baker, Steven Goforth, Jaime DeRocker, Caroline Atwell and Caroline MacDonald. For a sneak peek, check out the high-energy trailer above.

Wendy Whelan Dances in Troy Schumacher World Premiere at Hudson Valley Dance Festival

On October 6, dancers from the ballet, modern and musical theater worlds gather in Catskill, NY for the Hudson Valley Dance Festival, a benefit performance organized by Dancers Responding to AIDS. This year’s program features beloved ballerina Wendy Whelan’s return to the stage in a world premiere by BalletCollective artistic director and New York City Ballet soloist Troy Schumacher. Also on the bill are dancers from The Washington Ballet in a pas de deux from Marcelo GomesThe Outset.

Los Angeles Ballet’s Season Opener Includes Two Company Premieres

Los Angeles Ballet opens their 13th season October 6 at the Alex Theatre with a mixed repertoire bill entitled Modern Moves. The program features George Balanchine’s Western Symphony and the company premieres of Aszure Barton’s Les Chambres des Jacques and Alejandro Cerrudo’s Lickety-Split. The company repeats the program twice more this month in different theaters in Los Angeles: October 13 at UCLA’s Royce Hall and October 20 at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center.

Colorado Ballet Opens Season With “Sleeping Beauty”

Colorado Ballet brings back a timeless favorite October 5-14 at the Ellie Caulkins Opera House. Marius Petipa’s classic Sleeping Beauty showcases the company’s classical prowess. See excerpts of the company in rehearsal and hear artistic director Gil Boggs discuss the complexity of this production in the above video.