Robert Joffrey News

Anne L. Kaplan, Joffrey Board Chair, and Greg Cameron, President and CEO of The Joffrey Ballet, are pleased to announce the appointment of Nichelle Hughley Mayberry and Sarah Wills to the Joffrey Board of Directors, effective immediately, for the 2022–2025 term; and the appointment of Zachary Lazar and Maureen Dwyer Smith as Joffrey Life Directors, effective immediately. 

The Joffrey Ballet's 2023–2024 Season at Lyric Opera House, has been announced featuring a Chicago debut of a full-length gothic masterpiece set in the dawn of modern science; a mixed rep program featuring a world premiere, and more.

The Joffrey Ballet will close its 67th season with the long-awaited Chicago premiere of John Neumeier's hauntingly beautiful interpretation of The Little Mermaid.

January 14, 2023 marks the 100th birthday of Gerald Arpino, one of the 20th century's most influential artists.

This winter, The Joffrey Ballet remounts Yuri Possokhov's blockbuster Anna Karenina for the first time since its crowd-pleasing world premiere in 2019.

The Joffrey Ballet's critically-acclaimed reimagined classic, The Nutcracker by Tony Award-winning choreographer Christopher Wheeldon, returns to the Lyric Opera House, 20 North Upper Wacker Drive, in 25 performances, December 3 – 27, 2022. Set in Chicago's World's Fair in 1893, Wheeldon's The Nutcracker highlights the rich cultural heritage of Chicago and the wonder of the season.

The Entertainment Community Fund has announced five recipients of the 2022 Alex Dubé Scholarship Program. This year, the Entertainment Community Fund will award $10,000 scholarships to David Gonsier, Himerria Wortham, Matthew Walsh Bade, Theodore Watler, and Yayoi Kambara. 

Island Moving Company, Newport’s Contemporary Ballet, under the direction of new Artistic Director, Danielle Genest, announced details of its Forty-First season today. Expect Transformation!  Tickets are now on sale now.

The Joffrey Ballet and the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union that represents the Joffrey's 46 Company Artists and Joffrey stage management, have reached a new five-year collective bargaining agreement, beginning July 1, 2022, and running through June 30, 2027.

The Joffrey Ballet announced today the world premiere of Rita Finds Home, a family-friendly program and collaborative project between the Joffrey and Miami City Ballet, which will make its debut at the Navy Pier Lake Stage, July 9–10, 2022.

The Joffrey Ballet School will relaunch the Joffrey Ballet Concert Group this upcoming September 2022, under the artistic direction of renowned performer, choreographer, and educator, Bradley Shelver. 

As the centerpiece of its 2021-22 season, The Joffrey Ballet will present a spring program featuring the world-premiere adaptation of John Steinbeck’s Of Mice and Men by choreographer Cathy Marston, set to a score by Academy Award-nominated composer Thomas Newman, his first-ever work for ballet.

Ashley Wheater MBE, The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director of The Joffrey Ballet, today announced the Joffrey’s 2022–2023 Season at Lyric Opera House, featuring a world premiere from a rising choreographic star, a revival from a Joffrey icon, the return of a Joffrey blockbuster, and a full-length story ballet of such grand scale that it is rarely seen in the United States.

Starting February 5th Memoirs of Blacks in Ballet (MoBBallet.org) will launch four new orbits to its popular The Constellation Project: Mapping the Dark Stars of Ballet: Raven Wilkinson, the First Negro Classic Ballet Company, American Ballet Theatre's Negro Unit and Agne de Mille's The Four Marys, and Janet Collins. 

The Marybelle and Sebastian P. Musco Center for the Arts at Chapman University continues its 2021-22 Season of Reopening with dancer-choreographer Micaela Taylor and her TL Collective dance company performing three original pieces.

In celebration of Pride month, Backstage Babble is releasing a series of episodes with LGBT artists that fulfill it's mission-painting a picture of what it has been like to be gay in the theater world from the 1950s up until the present day. It is hosted by 13-year old Charles Kirsch.

Broadway's Lawrence Leritz will discuss the topic 'Success As A Dancer,' as he joins the free livestream event ONE-HOUR SERIES - to be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube on Sunday, June 13 at 5pm EST.

The Joffrey Ballet has announced the establishment of new studio space and training facilities at 1920 South Wabash Avenue (formerly the Chicago Dance Academy studios), expanding the Joffrey's reach to the South Loop and beyond, and marking a major step towards the completion of the organization's five-year “Joffrey for All” strategic plan.

Lawrence Leritz joins the free livestream event 'One-Hour Series' - to be streamed live on Facebook and YouTube on Monday, March 29 at 7pm EST.

The Joffrey Ballet has announced the world premiere of Boléro, named after the acclaimed orchestral piece by composer Maurice Ravel and choreographed by Joffrey Company Artist Yoshihisa Arai February 12, 2021 at 7:00 p.m. Boléro, to be performed by 15 members of the Company.