New York Theatre Ballet or NYTB was founded in 1978 by Diana Byer, who became its artistic director. Dedicated to the principles of the Cecchetti-Diaghilev tradition, the company both reprises classic masterworks and produces original ballets.
New York Theatre Ballet has performed works by choreographers including Richard Alston, Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Gemma Bond, August Bournonville, Michel Fokine, David Gordon, José Limón, John Taras, and Antony Tudor.[ citation needed ] The company tours its family and adult programs both nationally and abroad, and has become the most widely seen chamber ballet company in the United States.
The British ballet teacher Margaret Craske was ballet mistress for New York Theatre Ballet from its foundation until late in her life.[ citation needed ] Craske was succeeded by Sallie Wilson, a student of hers, [1] who was ballet mistress [2] until 2008.[ citation needed ] Wilson staged works by Antony Tudor for New York Theatre Ballet [3] and also choreographed her own pieces.
New York Theatre Ballet runs LIFT, a community program to give underprivileged children the chance to learn to dance. [4] [5] [6] [7] Steven Melendez, a former Project LIFT student, is the current director of the project. [4] [8]
In the summer of 2013 New York Theatre Ballet began a fight against eviction [9] from its home of over 30 years in the historic Parish House of the Madison Avenue Baptist Church at 30 East 31st Street in Manhattan, after the building was sold to a private developer. [7] [10] The eviction generated interest as far away as Serbia, [11] however, in early 2015, the company moved into the space formerly occupied by Richard Foreman's Ontological-Hysteric Theater in St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery in the East Village. [12]
Alvin Ailey Jr., was an American dancer, director, choreographer, and activist who founded the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater (AAADT). He created AAADT and its affiliated Ailey School as havens for nurturing Black artists and expressing the universality of the African-American experience through dance. His work fused theater, modern dance, ballet, and jazz with Black vernacular, creating hope-fueled choreography that continues to spread global awareness of Black life in America. Ailey's choreographic masterpiece Revelations is recognized as one of the most popular and most performed ballets in the world.
American Ballet Theatre (ABT) is a classical ballet company based in New York City. Founded in 1939 by Lucia Chase and Richard Pleasant, it is recognized as one of the world's leading classical ballet companies. Through 2019, it had an annual eight-week season at the Metropolitan Opera House in the spring and a shorter season at the David H. Koch Theater in the fall; the company tours around the world the rest of the year. The company was scheduled to have a 5-week spring season at the MET preceded by a 2-week season at the Koch Theater beginning in 2020. ABT is the parent company of the American Ballet Theatre Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, and was recognized as "America's National Ballet Company" in 2006 by the United States Congress.
Glen Tetley was an American ballet and modern dancer as well as a choreographer who mixed ballet and modern dance to create a new way of looking at dance, and is best known for his piece Pierrot Lunaire.
Antony Tudor was an English ballet choreographer, teacher and dancer.
Nora Kaye-Ross was an American prima-ballerina known for her ability to perform dramatic roles. Called the Duse of Dance after the acclaimed actress Eleonora Duse, she also worked in films as a choreographer and producer and performed on Broadway.
Martha Clarke is an American theater director and choreographer noted for her multidisciplinary approach to theatre, dance, and opera productions. Her best-known original work is The Garden of Earthly Delights (1984), an exploration in theatre, dance, music and flying of the famous painting of the same name by Hieronymus Bosch. In 1990, Clarke received a MacArthur Award, better known as the Genius Grant.
The Joyce Theater is a 472-seat dance performance venue located in the Chelsea neighborhood of New York City. The building opened in 1941 as the Elgin Theater, a movie house, and was gut-renovated and reconfigured in 1981-82 to reopen as the Joyce Theater. The Joyce is a leading presenter of dance in New York City and nationally.
Robert Garland is a former Principal Dancer with the Dance Theatre of Harlem and their first official Resident Choreographer, creating dances for the Dance Theatre of Harlem Company and their School Ensemble. He has also choreographed for the New York City Ballet, The Royal Ballet, and the Oakland Ballet among many others.
Sallie Wilson was a ballerina who appeared with New York City Ballet where she danced opposite Martha Graham in the premiere of Graham and George Balanchine's collaboration at NYCB, Episodes in May, 1959, and subsequently with American Ballet Theatre, where she was associated with several ballets created by Antony Tudor. In 1966, she achieved a triumph as Hagar in ABT's revival of Tudor's ballet Pillar of Fire, set to the music of Arnold Schoenberg's Transfigured Night. The ballet is loosely based on the poem that inspired the Schoenberg piece rather than the Biblical story of Hagar.
Walter Patrick Bissell was an American danseur. He was a leading principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre. On his death at age 30 from a drug overdose, he was described by the artistic director of the American Ballet Theatre and personal ballet eminence Mikhail Baryshnikov as "without a doubt one of the brightest lights in American Ballet Theater's history, or, for that matter, in the entire ballet world". Bissell was noted for his height and athleticism. His most famous role was as Solor in La Bayadère. His death prompted investigations into the alleged widespread drug use within the American Ballet Theatre.
Luna Negra Dance Theater was a dance ensemble that celebrated the richness and diversity of Latino culture through the creation of works by contemporary Latino choreographers. Founded by Cuban-born dancer and choreographer Eduardo Vilaro, the company steered away from folkloric representations and utilized a variety of dance form styles such as Flamenco, Tango or Salsa with contemporary dance movement.
Hugh Laing was one of the most significant dramatic ballet dancers of the 20th-century. He danced with Marie Rambert's Ballet Club and New York City Ballet. He was the partner of choreographer Antony Tudor.
Evgenia "Genia" Melikova was a well-known ballet dancer in Europe in the 1950s and 60s who then established a long and prestigious teaching career in the United States.
Alfredo Corvino was an Uruguayan ballet dancer and ballet teacher.
David Vaughan was a dance archivist, historian and critic. He was the archivist of the Merce Cunningham Dance Company from 1976 until the company was disbanded in 2012.
Cynthia Harvey is an American former ballet dancer, ballet mistress and educator. She joined the American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1974 and was promoted to principal dancer in 1982. In 1986, she joined The Royal Ballet, becoming the company's first American principal dancer. She returned to ABT two years later, and retired in 1996. She then started teaching and staging ballets across the world. In 2016, she was named artistic director of the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School, the affiliated school of ABT.
Margaret Craske was a British ballet dancer, choreographer and teacher of ballet.
Patrice M. Regnier is an American choreographer, director, producer and inventor. She is the developer of the TERP system, a patented and trademarked technology to facilitate choreographed movement without rehearsal.
Steven Melendez is an American classical dancer. He is a principal artist with the New York Theatre Ballet. Formerly, he was a principal artist with the Estonian National Ballet and a soloist with Ballet Concierto in Buenos Aires, Argentina.
Stephanie Dabney is an African American dancer who performed as a prima ballerina with Dance Theatre of Harlem from 1979 through 1994. Dabney is best known for her performances in John Taras' The Firebird, which she performed all over the world, as well as at the opening ceremony of the 1984 Summer Olympics in Los Angeles.