Sacramento Ballet is a performing arts organization in Sacramento, California. It is the largest ballet company in California's capital city.
The Sacramento Ballet was founded in 1954 by Barbara Crockett and Deane Crockett. During Ms. Crockett's tenure as Company Director, Sacramento Ballet gained national recognition as one of the finest regional ballet companies. Through community support, the formation of the Ballet Guild, and grants from the Sacramento Metropolitan Arts Commission, California Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts, the Ballet grew to become a resident company of professional dancers.
In 1986, having accomplished her goal of making Sacramento Ballet a professional company, Ms. Crockett retired as Company Director.
In 1988 Ron Cunningham was engaged as Artistic Director, and was joined by his wife Carinne Binda the following year. They became Co-Artistic Directors in 1991. Sacramento Ballet is known for Cunningham's world premieres including Carmina Burana, The Rite of Spring and Bolero and his classic ballets, The Nutcracker , Romeo and Juliet , and Cinderella . Sacramento audiences have experienced a vast repertoire, including works by Septime Webre, David Parsons, Kathryn Posin, Agnes de Mille, Glen Tetley, Val Caniparoli, Trey McIntyre and Twyla Tharp. During 18 seasons, SacBallet added 13 full-length ballets, 18 Balanchine masterworks, 36 Sacramento premieres, and 34 world premieres.
Sacramento Ballet has been an integral member of the Sacramento arts community for nearly seven decades and remains the only Sacramento arts organization with a resident company of artists. Sacramento Ballet receives annual funding from corporations, foundations and government agencies to support its operational and artistic growth, including: California Arts Council, National Endowment for the Arts, Sacramento Regional Community Foundation, City of Sacramento Office of Arts & Culture, The James Irvine Foundation, California Walnuts, Target Stores, Raley's Stores, Kaiser Permanente, and Western Health Advantage. The company's operating budget has grown steadily and audience attendance has increased from 15,000 to more than 100,000 people representing diverse populations of every age.
Former Sacramento Ballet company dancer Amy Seiwert served in the role of Artistic Director from 2018-2020 and during her tenure provided audiences with an inspiring balance of repertoire and fresh new works including her full-length Nutcracker.
In July 2021 Anthony Krutzkamp was named Artistic/Executive Director of Sacramento Ballet. Krutzkamp has led the company with record breaking ticket sales for Nutcracker and in 2023, directed the world-stage worthy production of Swan Lake . He reintroduced choreography by George Balanchine and continues to program acclaimed contemporary works by Alejandro Cerrudo, Penny Saunders, Caili Quan, Jennifer Martinez, Adam Hougland, and Jermaine Maurice Spivey. In 2024 the company performs a world premiere from Marika Brussel, known for visually stunning contemporary works, State of Matter by Ihsan Rustem and Carry Me Anew, created by Ma Cong; as well as Val Caniparoli's Ibsen's House ballet and a world premiere from Louisville Ballet's resident choreographer Andrea Schermoly.
Ava Chatterson
Matisse D'Aloisio
Julia Feldman
Ugo Frediani
Kaori Higashiyama
Michelle Katcher
Dylan Keane
Daniel Kubr
Victor Maguad
Wyatt McConville-McCoy
Eugene Obille
Wen Na Robertson
Sarah Joan Smith
Richard Smith
Isabella Velasquez
Dominique Wendt
Enrico Hipolito
Maxence Devaux
San Francisco Ballet is the oldest ballet company in the United States, founded in 1933 as the San Francisco Opera Ballet under the leadership of ballet master Adolph Bolm. The company is currently based in the War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, and effective December 2022 under the direction of Tamara Rojo. It is among the world's leading dance companies, presenting more than 100 performances annually, with a repertoire that spans both classical and contemporary ballet. Along with American Ballet Theatre and the New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet has been described as part of the "triumvirate of great classical companies defining the American style on the world stage today."
Queensland Ballet, founded in 1960 by Charles Lisner, is the premier ballet company of Queensland, Australia, and is based in Brisbane. It is one of only three full-time, professional classical ballet companies in Australia. The company has had six previous Artistic Directors, and is currently led by Greg Horsman.
Philadelphia Ballet is the largest ballet company in Philadelphia. The company's annual local season features six programs of classic pieces, such as George Balanchine's The Nutcracker, in addition to presentations of new works. The company's artistic director is Angel Corella.
Carolina Ballet is one of America's arts organizations, programming traditional ballets and new works by contemporary choreographers. The Ballet was launched as a professional company in 1998 under the direction of Founding Artistic Director Robert Weiss. In 2019, Zalman Raffael became the Artistic Director/CEO joined by Michele Weathers as executive director. For more than 20 years, Carolina Ballet has garnered critical praise from the national and international media, staged over 100 world premiere ballets, and in 2018, chartered the School of Carolina Ballet. Since its inaugural season in 1998, Carolina Ballet and this community have accomplished something remarkable. The company has grown from a budget of $1.2 million featuring sixteen dancers and five apprentices in three programs to a $6.0 million budget featuring 38 dancers in eight programs including the holiday tradition, The Nutcracker.
The Minnesota Dance Theatre (MDT) dance company and school in Minneapolis, Minnesota was founded by Loyce Houlton in 1962 as the Contemporary Dance Playhouse. It was renamed the Minnesota Dance Theatre in 1969. Lise Houlton succeeded her mother as artistic director in 1995. September, 2023 Kaitlyn Gilliland, Lise Houlton's daughter took over as interim artistic director, being replaced by Elayna Waxse in 2024. In July 2024 MDT announce its new director, Lauren C Post, formally a ballerina of American Ballet Theater became Head of School on August 15, 2024.
The Cincinnati Ballet is a professional ballet company founded as Cincinnati Civic Ballet in 1958, based in Cincinnati, Ohio, United States. After being registered as a company, it had its first performance in 1964.
Ballet West is an American ballet company based in Salt Lake City, Utah. It was founded in 1963 as the Utah Civic Ballet by Willam F. Christensen, the company's first artistic director, and Glenn Walker Wallace, who served as its first president. Christensen had previously established the first ballet department in an American university at the University of Utah in 1951.
The Singapore Ballet is Singapore's national dance company, founded in 1988 by Anthony Then and Goh Soo Khim. The Artistic Director of the company is Janek Schergen.
The Oakland Ballet Company is a non-profit ballet company based in Oakland, California. OBC was founded in 1965 by Ronn Guidi, an Oakland native, and gained recognition through its historical reconstructions of ballets from the Ballets Russes of Serge Diaghilev; the mounting of classic works of Americana; and the creation of innovative contemporary choreography.
Ballet Theatre of Maryland is based in Annapolis, Maryland. Originally established as The Ballet Theatre of Annapolis, the organization was founded in November 1978 as a private non-profit corporation governed by a twelve-person Board of Trustees, with Danny Diamond as the first artistic director, and established residency at Maryland Hall for the Creative Arts in Annapolis. In 1996, the company achieved professional status. In 2000, the organization's name was changed to Ballet Theatre of Maryland, Inc. (BTM) to fulfill a new mission of serving the State of Maryland. Dianna Cuatto joined BTM as artistic director at the start of the 2003–2004 season. The current artistic director, Nicole Kelsch, was appointed for the 2020–2021 season after being a Principal Dancer, School Principal, and Ballet Mistress for 14 years.
Ballet Arizona is a professional ballet company in Phoenix, Arizona directed by Daniela Cardim. The company was created in 1986 by a merger of three smaller Arizonan dance companies that were struggling to survive. Today, the company of thirty-one dancers occupies a prominent place in American ballet. The company is also integrated into the School of Ballet Arizona.
Colorado Ballet encompasses a 31-member professional performing ballet company, a studio company for advanced dance students, an academy, and an education and outreach department. Based in downtown Denver, Colorado, Colorado Ballet serves more than 125,000 patrons each year.
Los Angeles Ballet (LAB) is a classical ballet company based in Los Angeles. While rehearsals take place at the Los Angeles Ballet Center, the company tours its performances to venues across the metropolitan area, including the Dolby Theatre, Pasadena Civic Auditorium, and Royce Hall. A typical LAB season consists of Tchaikovsky's The Nutcracker, a large or storybook ballet, and a mixed repertoire performance.
Molly Smolen is an American ballet dancer.
The Kansas City Ballet (KCB) is a professional ballet company based in Kansas City, Missouri. The company was founded in 1957 by Russian expatriate Tatiana Dokoudovska. The KCB presents five major performances each season to include an annual production of The Nutcracker. The KCB, its school, and its staff are all housed in, operate from, and rehearse at the Todd Bolender Center for Dance and Creativity, a renovated, seven-studio, office, and rehearsal facility in Kansas City, Missouri, that opened in August 2011. The company performs at and is the resident ballet company at the nearby Kauffman Center for the Performing Arts, a performance venue in downtown Kansas City that opened in September 2011.
Charlotte Ballet is the oldest professional ballet company in North Carolina. It was founded as North Carolina Dance Theatre in Winston-Salem by Robert Lindgren, who was then Dean of Dance at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts, in 1970. It moved to Charlotte in 1990 and rebranded as Charlotte Ballet in 2014. It currently has 26 dancers and is the parent company of the Charlotte Ballet Academy.
Val Caniparoli is an American ballet dancer and international choreographer. His work includes more than 100 productions for ballet, opera, and theater for over 50 companies, and his career as a choreographer progressed globally even as he continued his professional dance career with the San Francisco Ballet.
Richmond Ballet is a ballet company and 501(c)(3) organization, located in Richmond, Virginia. It was named the State Ballet of Virginia in 1990 by then Governor Douglas Wilder.
Nevada Ballet Theatre (NBT) is a regional ballet company located in Las Vegas, Nevada, United States. It is the Resident Ballet Company of The Smith Center for the Performing Arts and is one of the largest performing arts organizations in the state. Its professional company of dancers possesses a versatile repertoire ranging from well-known story ballets such as The Nutcracker, The Sleeping Beauty, and Swan Lake to works by George Balanchine, Twyla Tharp, Val Caniparoli, James Canfield, Thaddeus Davis and many more. The organization also operates an Academy out of its main facility in Summerlin, as well as an education & outreach program, Future Dance, that reaches over 16,000 students each year in schools throughout Southern Nevada.
Nashville Ballet is a professional ballet company in Tennessee. Founded in 1986 and based in Nashville, Tennessee, it presents a repertoire of classic and contemporary works by a variety of choreographers, including Artistic Director Paul Vasterling.