For the first time since the March 2020 lockdown, Atlanta Ballet is presenting a full season, September 2022 through May 2023, with two world premieres, two company premieres and a flurry of works from its extensive repertory including the rollicking, full-length Don Quixote, it was announced today.
After two seasons characterized by ballets created by company dancers, the ensemble is returning to a lineup of works from internationally known choreographers such as George Balanchine, Justin Peck, Yuri Possokhov, Helgi Tomasson, Remi Wörtmeyer (a dancer-choreographer with Dutch National Ballet) and British dancemaker Cathy Marston, along with resident choreographer Claudia Schreier.
“I’m excited that we are able to present world premieres and existing works from many talented artists from around the world and share them from our Atlanta stage,” said Artistic Director Gennadi Nedvigin in the announcement. “For the past two seasons, being able to bring new works to the stage required us to be resourceful and look to our company dancers to create works on their peers, which turned out to be a silver lining of the pandemic. I look forward to finding additional opportunities for them to share their choreography in the future.”
The season opens September 16 with a mixed bill of three neoclassical works, including the Atlanta premiere of Peck’s In Creases set to a live performance of Philip Glass’ “Four Movements for Two Pianos.” Created in 2012 for New York City Ballet, In Creases marked the beginning of Peck’s hugely successful career as a choreographer. He is now resident choreographer at City Ballet and is considered a worthy heir to Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. He won a Tony award in 2018 for his work in the Broadway production of Carousel and choreographed Stephen Spielberg’s movie revival of West Side Story.
Wörtmeyer’s Significant Others will have its world premiere as part of the May 2023 mixed bill. Set to music by Clara and Robert Schumann, the ballet explores how three historical power couples achieved their creative potential through their relationships with each other: the Schumanns, writers Zelda and F. Scott Fitzgerald, and 20th century visual artists Robert and Sonia Delaunay. (Sonia was born in the Ukraine but lived most of her life in Paris.)
Also new to the company this season are Tomasson’s Concerto Grosso, a showcase for five male dancers that the San Francisco Ballet premiered in 2003, and Marston’s Snowblind, based on Edith Wharton’s 1911 novella Ethan Frome. London’s Dancing Times described Snowblind as memorably vivid and a “lean, dramatic interpretation . . . revealed solely through movement.”
Schreier’s as-yet untitled new work will premiere in May. This is her third commission for Atlanta Ballet. First Impulse was presented in the 2018-19 season; her Pleiades Dances was a critical success in the 2019-20 Silver Linings performances. Schreier is known for her astute musicality and contemporary style.
Rounding out the season are six works from the company’s repertory, including Possokhov’s light-hearted Don Quixote, first performed by Atlanta Ballet in February 2018 and scheduled for March 2023.
Other repertory works upcoming are Possokhov’s bravura Classical Symphony; Ricardo Amarante’s Love Fear Loss, set to the songs of Edith Piaf; Ben Stevenson’s Three Preludes; Kiyon Ross’ Sum Stravinsky and Balanchine’s 1935 Serenade. In keeping with its iconic status, Serenade was the first ballet New York City Ballet presented on September 21, 2021, that company’s first performance since the March 2020 lockdown.
In December, Atlanta Ballet will reprise Possokhov’s critically-acclaimed, high-tech version of The Nutcracker, accompanied by the Atlanta Ballet Orchestra. Atlanta Ballet 2 will present the family production Beauty and the Beast in February.
Both full-length ballets, and at least one work on each mixed bill, will be accompanied by live music. All performances will be at Cobb Energy Performing Arts Centre.
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September 16-18, Balanchine Inspired Program
Sum Stravinsky
Serenade
In Creases (Atlanta premiere)
December 9-26
The Nutcracker
February 10-12, 2023, Midwinter Dreams Program
Snowblind (Atlanta premiere)
Classical Symphony
Concerto Grosso
Love Fear Loss
February 18-19, 2023, Family Program
Atlanta Ballet 2 presents Beauty and the Beast
March 17-19, 2023
Don Quixote
May 12-14, 2023, Significant Others Program
Significant Others (world premiere)
Schreier World Premiere
Three Preludes
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Gillian Anne Renault has been an ArtsATL contributor since 2012 and was named Senior Editor for Art+Design and Dance in 2021. She has covered dance for the Los Angeles Daily News, Herald Examiner and Ballet News, and on radio stations such as KCRW, the NPR affiliate in Santa Monica, California. In the 1980s, she was awarded an NEA Fellowship to attend American Dance Festival’s Dance Criticism program.
