Director's Notes

It is my pleasure to mark the opening of our sixth season of Dance at the Music Center with the much anticipated return of Miami City Ballet (MCB) led by Edward Villella, one of our first American-born male ballet stars. Over the past four years, three of our Center-debuted engagements have received overwhelming audience praise, MCB definitely being one of them. There are several companies I hope to bring back to the Music Center, although venue and company logistics can make such dreams elusive. Thankfully, the stars were truly aligned for this return engagement.

Nightspot," featuring Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra, includes music by Elvis Costello and costumes by Isaac Mizrahi. Photo by Joe Gato. Click to Enlarge

The Center is honored to present the West Coast premiere of NIGHTSPOT, a dream Miami City Ballet and I first began talking about in 2006, literally backstage following the company's Center debut engagement. It is a work which allows us to see a different performance quality from the dancers and provides an energetic element to the entire program. I eagerly await your response to the work of Christopher Wheeldon, the young British choreographer who has been deemed the next Balanchine by many dance critics. He has a way with partnering that is refined and mesmerizing and Liturgy reflects his gift for tailored duets. Recently cited for his work with San Francisco Ballet, the Wall Street Journal critic stated that Wheeldon illustrates a "remarkable gift for devising artful groupings and distinctive individual postures making for a decidedly pleasurable experience."

We can't have MCB here without the performance of Balanchine. Very few companies interpret George Balanchine's work with the passion and sincerity of MCB, which has much to do with the keen direction of Mr. Villella. Symphony in Three Movements is set to a percussive score by Igor Stravinsky, a long time collaborator of Balanchine's.

I hope you enjoy today's program and I look forward to seeing you again in December when we present the Kirov Ballet's The Nutcracker. This will be the first Nutcracker presentation as part of the dance series. The treat of this engagement will definitely be performances by the company's up and coming young talents for each performance.

Sincerely,
Renae Williams Niles
Director of Dance Presentations