Joffrey Ballet Announces 2013-14 Season

Ashley C. Wheater, Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, announces the company's 2013-2014 season, titled "Masters of Dance." The season kicks off with a special addition to the Joffrey's home engagement line-up, a one-weekend-only program titled "Russian Masters" celebrating the centennial of Vaslav Nijinsky's ground-breaking 1913 ballet Le Sacre du Printemps (The Rite of Spring), along with George Balanchine's Allegro Brilliante and the return of Yuri Possokhov's Bells, September 19 - 22, 2013.

The season continues with the Joffrey's annual fall engagement, featuring the Company Premiere of Stanton Welch's new evening-length staging of the exotic, Indian-set La Bayadère, October 16 - 27, 2013, before continuing with the holiday classic, Robert Joffrey's The Nutcracker, December 6 - 27, 2013. For its winter program, the Joffrey presents a modern mixed repertory program, "Contemporary Choreographers," featuring the Company Premiere of Christopher Wheeldon's Continuum and the Chicago Premiere of Crossing Ashland by Chicago choreographer Brock Clawson, February 12 - 23, 2014. The spring program closes the "Masters of Dance" season with the U.S. Premiere of a contemporary, multi-media Romeo & Juliet choreographed by Krzysztof Pastor, April 30 - May 11, 2014.

All performances take place in the Joffrey's home venue, the historic Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, in downtown Chicago at 50 East Congress Parkway. The season features live orchestral accompaniment by the Chicago Philharmonic conducted by Scott Speck, Music Director of The Joffrey Ballet.

"Next season promises to be very special," said Wheater. "The programming is compelling. Our dancers are performing at the pinnacle of their art form. At its heart, though, dance thrives when it is shared. From the power of Russian music and dance to the splendor of La Bayadère, from contemporary masterpieces to a timeless Romeo & Juliet, we invite our audience to experience this season of beautiful dancing."

"The 2013-2014 season is global and comprehensive, encompassing a wide range of cultures and voices," added Joffrey Executive Director Christopher Clinton Conway. "The season's diversity echoes that of the company, Academy and history of The Joffrey Ballet. The Joffrey is a national leader in defining and creating contemporary ballet, in the vanguard of the major changes that the art form is undergoing. Our company is distinctive and capable of anything that comes its way."