DC dancing

Posted on September 5, 2017

The Washington Ballet, which last year celebrated its 40th anniversary, is now under the artistic direction of Julie Kent, former principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre. Kent has announced an excellent repertoire for the 2017–18 season, which opens at the John F Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington DC on October 4 with a mixed bill that includes Mikhail Fokine’s Les Sylphides, George Balanchine’s Prodigal Son and Alexei Ratmansky’s Boléro. Continuing until April 2018, the company is also scheduled to perform John Cranko’s Romeo and Juliet, new ballets by Gemma Bond, Clifton Brown and Marcelo Gomes, and an enticing triple bill of Balanchine’s Serenade, Frederick Ashton’s Symphonic Variations and Jerome Robbins’ The Concert.

1: The Washington Ballet’s EunWon Lee and Gian Carlo Perez in Le Corsaire Pas de Deux. 2: Rolando Sarabia and Victoria Arrea in Symphonic Variations. 3: Rolando Sarabia as the Poet in Mikhail Fokine’s Les Sylphides. 4: Rolando Sarabia and EunWon Lee in Les Sylphides. 5&6: Dancers of The Washington Ballet in Les Sylphides. 7&8: EunWon Lee in Le Corsaire. 9: EunWon Lee and Gian Carlo Pere in Le Corsaire Pas de Deux.

Photographs by Dean Alexander

Jonathan Gray

Jonathan Gray is editor of Dancing Times. He studied at The Royal Ballet School, Leicester Polytechnic, and Wimbledon School of Art where he graduated with a BA Hons in Theatre Design. For 16 years he was a member of the curatorial department of the Theatre Museum, London, assisting on a number of dance-related exhibitions, and helping with the recreation of original designs for a number of The Royal Ballet’s productions including Danses concertantes, Daphnis and Chloë, and The Sleeping Beauty. He has also contributed to the Financial Times, written programme articles for The Royal Ballet and Birmingham Royal Ballet, and is co-author of the book Unleashing Britain: Theatre gets real 1955-64, published in 2005.