New York City Ballet (NYCB) has unveiled a star-studded line up of guest artists for its ongoing 75th Anniversary Season. The guest artists will include dancers from the American ballet companies with close ties to NYCB as well as the acclaimed actor Terrence Mann who will take on the role of the Narrator in Christopher Wheeldon’s Carnival of the Animals during select performances in early March.
Among the guest dancers is Ashton Edwards of Pacific Northwest Ballet which has been under the artistic direction of former NYCB Principal Dancer Peter Boal since 2005. Edwards will feature in Justin Peck’s The Times Are Racing this January.
In the Spring, Gillian Murphy and Aran Bell from American Ballet Theatre (ABT) are scheduled to perform Jerome Robbins’ Other Dances. Robbins, who was a dancer and choreographer at ABT before joining NYBC in 1949 as Associate Artistic Director, created Other Dances for legendary dancers Natalia Makarova and Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1976 while they were both with ABT.
Later in the Spring Taylor Naturkas and Brooks Landegger of Miami City Ballet will perform the Divertissement in the second act of Balanchine’s full-length production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Miami City Ballet has shared a connection with NYCB since its inauguration in 1985 when former NYCB Principal Dancer Edward Villella became its founding Artistic Director, a role held by former NYCB Principal Dancer Lourdes Lopez since 2012.
Jonathan Stafford and Wendy Whelan, NYCB’s Artistic Director and Associate Artistic Director, expressed their enthusiasm, stating, “We are thrilled to welcome these wonderful dancers to our stages during New York City Ballet’s 75th Anniversary Season to showcase their artistry as well as the close connections between NYCB and these great American companies.” Mann’s participation adds a familial touch, as he is the son-in-law of former Principal Dancer Jacques d’Amboise and the father of current corps de ballet member Shelby Mann.
