American Ballet Theatre
Kevin McKenzie, Artistic Director
 
with the
Kennedy Center Opera House Orchestra
 
Mixed Repertory Program (Apr. 9 & 10)
Symphony in C (Balanchine/Bizet)
The Moor's Pavane (Limón/Purcell)
Symphony #9 (Ratmansky/Shostakovich)
 
Le Corsaire (Apr. 11–14)
Choreography by Konstantin Sergeyev after Marius Petipa
Staging by Anna-Marie Holmes after Petipa and Sergeyev
Music by Adolphe Adam, Cesare Pugni, Leo Delibes, Riccardo Drigo, and Prince Oldenbourg
 
"One of the world's great classical troupes"
--The New York Times
 
Continuing a tradition of unsurpassed passion, athleticism, and originality, American Ballet Theatre proves "why dance is not a luxury or a frill but a necessity of life" (The Washington Post) with seven performances, including a classic tale of dashing pirates and kidnapped maidens and a dramatic mixed repertory program.

Discover a treasure of virtuoso dancing in the swashbuckling adventure Le Corsaire, returning to the Kennedy Center 15 years after its ABT premiere with brand new sets and costumes. The New York Post raves Le Corsaire is filled with "technical fireworks" and "nonstop bravura dancing… a showcase for ABT's virtuosity!" This exotic fable of captive maidens, rich sultans, suspenseful abductions, and dramatic rescues culminates in a shipwreck that's one of the most breathtaking spectacles in all of ballet. Boasting 120 performers, Le Corsaire is a perfect showcase for explosive dancing from ABT's star-studded roster of principal dancers.

PRINCIPAL CASTING - Le Corsaire - (Medora, Conrad, Gulnare, Lankendem, Ali the Slave, Birbanto)
Thu., Apr. 11: Herrera, Gomes, Abrera, Radetsky, Cornejo, Salstein
Fri., Apr. 12: Part, Stearns, Kajiya, Matthews, Whiteside, Scott
Sat., Apr. 13 mat.: Reyes, Cornejo, Lane, Simkin, Phillips, Ribagorda
Sat., Apr. 13 eve.: Murphy, Gomes, Boylston, Doble, Vasiliev, Ilyin
Sun., Apr. 14 mat.: Osipova, Vasiliev, Lane, Cornejo, Simkin, Phillips

Performance Timing: Two hours, 20 minutes--Act I - 39 min.; Act II - 33 min.; Act III - 27 min.; with two 20-minute intermissions between acts 
 
The company's mixed repertory program will include Balanchine's expansive Symphony in C with music by Georges Bizet. This ballet in four movements, each featuring a different ballerina, danseur, and corps de ballet, gathers all 48 dancers for an unforgettable finale. The Moor's Pavane, José Limón's stunning masterwork, seizes the intensity of Shakespeare's Othello, in a powerful depiction of love, jealousy, and betrayal, performed to the music of Henry Purcell. The company will dance the DC premiere of Symphony #9, a new work by Artist in Residence Alexei Ratmansky set to Shostakovich's Symphony No. 9 that received its world premiere in October 2012. The New York Times calls it an "ebullient and pure-dance work…its dance language, its unfolding structure, and its moods are dynamic, as if the terrain about it were continually shifting, like a kaleidoscope."

PRINCIPAL CASTING - Mixed Repertory Program 
Tue., Apr. 9
Symphony in C (34 min.) - Herrera, Whiteside, Seo, Hammoudi, Boylston, Simkin, Lane, Matthews 
The Moor's Pavane (21 min.) - Gomes, Stearns, Abrera, Kent 
Symphony #9 (26 min.) - Part, Bolle, Matthews, Messmer, Salstein 

Wed., Apr. 10
Symphony in C - Abrera, Tamm, Part, Gomes, Kajiya, Gorak, Messmer, Salstein
The Moor's Pavane - Zhurbin, Forster, Messmer, Reyes
Symphony #9 - Boone, Hammoudi, Matthews, Paris, Scott

Performance Timing: Two hours, with two 20-minute intermissions between ballets