Miami City Ballet (Lourdes Lopez, Artistic Director; Juan José Escalante, Executive Director) announced today the five awe-inspiring programs that make up the company’s 2024/2025 home season. Bringing the joy and magic of dance to three South Florida venues with company and world premiere works, along with signature George Balanchine ballets and pieces from more masters of today’s ballet. Two of the dance world’s most vital voices, Pam Tanowitz and Annabell Lopez-Ochoa, each bring a world premiere work to the stunning company of dancers, alongside pieces from Jerome Robbins, Alexei Ratmansky, and José Limón, and of course, audience favorite George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®.  

Miami City Ballet opens its thrilling new season with back-to-back evening length works from the master choreographer of modern-day ballet, George Balanchine. Continuing its commitment to being the world’s foremost interpreter of the Balanchine repertoire, MCB kicks things off with A Midsummer Night’s Dream, an enchanting tale of love renewed with a distinct Miami flair. This revitalized version of Shakespeare’s comedic masterpiece transports the Bard’s mystical woodland lovers to the spellbinding underwater world of the Florida coast, using Michele Oka Doner’s transformative costumes and sets and Mendelssohn’s mesmerizing score to set the stage for mischief, merriment, and mismatched romance. The company follows up with George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker®, the beloved holiday tradition that always delights. The Land of Sweets sets up in Miami for the most magical time of year, bringing the joy of the Sugarplum Fairy and the wonder of graceful snowflakes to sunny South Florida in an always-festive holiday spectacle. 

After the holiday season, Miami City Ballet starts 2025 with a trio of works from two 20th century masters on the bill with a world premiere from one of the 21st century’s most distinct choreographic voices. For its Winter Mix, Balanchine continues on the bill with Walpurgisnacht Ballet, in which two dozen women display their virtuosity and bring his quote “Ballet is woman” directly to the stage. Celebrating its 20th anniversary in MCB’s repertoire, the haunting, disintegrating waltz at the heart of Balanchine’s La Valse gets a company revival. Balanchine collaborator Jerome Robbins is also on the bill with the intimate Concertino, featuring a compellingly connected trio accompanied by a suspenseful Stravinsky score. Completing the bill is world premiere from the boundary-pushing Pam Tanowitz, highlighting her signature whimsical complexity and intentional unpredictability that put the full range of Miami City Ballet dancers’ talents on thrilling exhibition. 

Spring 2025 begins with a combination of company premieres and a Jerome Robbins classic. Bringing the electrifying rhythm of metropolitan life to the stage, Robbins’s Glass Pieces navigates the shifting patterns of Philip Glass’s intoxicating score in an exciting mashup of postmodern and classical sensibilities. The first company premiere on the bill continues the storied legacy of José Limón and his native Mexico. The solo work Chaconne, originally danced by its creator, captures control and freedom of expression in a single work, set to an emotion-laden Bach work for violin. Alexei Ratmansky’s Pictures at an Exhibition completes the triple bill, a company premiere of abstract ballet that sees ten dancers explore the full range of motion and emotion. 

Closing the company’s 2024/2025 season is a world premiere evening-length work from one of the world’s most in-demand choreographers. Colombian-Belgian dance maker Annabelle Lopez Ochoa draws from every facet of her heritage and training for the debut of her latest evening length work, Carmen. Bizet’s Spanish-inflected score receives a fresh update thanks to new arrangements and orchestrations from Colombian-born composer Rodolfo Acosta, bringing Latinx flair to one of the most popular operas ever written. Bursting with love, seduction, jealousy, and tragedy, Ochoa imbues the enduring piece with sensuality and spirit as only she can, delivering the heat of southern Spain to today’s South Florida audiences.