Press release - LONDON CITY BALLET TO OPEN AUTUMN SEASON AT THE JOYCE THEATER, NEW YORK

[Jan McNulty]

PRESS RELEASE – Wednesday 22 May 2024   Youtube: londoncityballet / Instagram: thelondoncityballet / www.londoncityballet.com LONDON CITY BALLET TO OPEN AUTUMN SEASON AT THE JOYCE THEATER, NEW YORK LONDON CITY BALLET ANNOUNCES IT WILL OPEN THE AUTUMN SEASON AT THE JOYCE THEATER, WITH SEVEN PERFORMANCES FROM SEPTEMBER 17-22 2024 LONDON CITY BALLET WILL PRESENT A PROGRAMME OF FOUR US PREMIERES FROM BRITISH CHOREOGRAPHERS: ASHLEY PAGE, LIAM SCARLETT, ARIELLE SMITH, AND CHRISTOPHER MARNEY THIS MARKS THE FIRST NEW YORK PERFORMANCES IN THE COMPANY’S HISTORY AND ADDS TO THE INTERNATIONAL TOUR, ALREADY INCLUDING STOPS ACROSS THE UK, PORTUGAL, AND CHINA London City Ballet has today announced an extension to its international 2024 tour with seven performances opening the Autumn Season at New York’s highly renowned Joyce Theater. The Joyce Theater Foundation is a leading presenter of dance in New York City with an international reputation for cultivating and honouring emerging and established dance companies and artists. London City Ballet's Artistic Director, Christopher Marney said: “To be programmed by The Joyce is a dance company’s dream realised and I am grateful to Danni Gee, director of programming at The Joyce, and her team for believing in London City Ballet and its vision, at this inception stage. By bringing British choreographers' work to the fore, all as US premieres, I hope to capture the interest of The Joyce’s existing following and reach an audience who are new to our work. Aspiring to build a strong foundation between organisations, we will strive to deliver further compelling work from the UK.” London City Ballet’s upcoming tour will begin in the UK at Bath Theatre Royal (July 17-20), followed by Cambridge Arts Theatre (July 23-25), Latitude Festival (July 27), Cheltenham Everyman (August 2-3), and Windsor Theatre Royal (August 9-10). Then to Shanghai, Beijing, Guangzhou, Shenzhen, Foshan, Zhongshan, Tianjin, and Hangzhou, before heading back to the UK to visit York Theatre Royal (Sept 6-7), and Sadlers Wells London (Sept 11-14). The tour will then travel to the Joyce Theater, New York (Sept 17-22). On July 6-7 dancers from London City Ballet will feature at the International Ballet Gala at the Palácio de Seteais, Portugal. Tickets for the tour are available here.   NOTES TO EDITORS Dates: PALÁCIO DE SETEAIS, PORTUGAL 6-7 July BATH THEATRE ROYAL 17-20 July CAMBRIDGE ARTS THEATRE 23-25 July LATITUDE FESTIVAL, SUFFOLK 27 July CHELTENHAM EVERYMAN 2-3 August WINDSOR THEATRE ROYAL 9-10 August CHINA 16 August-1 September YORK THEATRE ROYAL 6-7 September SADLERS WELLS, LONDON 11-14 September THE JOYCE THEATER, NEW YORK 17-22 September Running time: 1 hour 40 minutes (including one 20 minute interval). For more visit www.londoncityballet.com London City Ballet London City Ballet is a touring company of international dancers presenting engaging stories through dance to audiences across the world. Alongside creating newly commissioned work by upcoming, plus established, Choreographers and emphasis will also be on resurrecting older works that may no longer be in the mainstream repertoire. London City Ballet strives to present engaging and entertaining works whilst ensuring the history which came before them is not forgotten.   The original iteration of the company closed in 1996 having formerly been the resident company of Sadler’s Wells, and internationally recognised as one of the world’s leading dance collectives, patronised by Diana, Princess of Wales. It was sensitively reformed in 2023 after a 30-year hiatus, under the Artistic Direction of Christopher Marney. The inaugural 2024 tour will pay homage to the company’s early beginnings, shining a bright light on a new chapter.   Christopher Marney  Chris is a Choreographer, Teacher and former Artistic Director of the Joffrey Ballet Studio Company Chicago and Central School of Ballet in London As a dancer Chris worked internationally for Balletboyz, Gothenburg Ballet Sweden, Ballet Biarritz France, Bern Ballet Switzerland and Matthew Bourne’s New Adventures where he has danced many principal roles around the world.  During his time in these companies he performed in works by choreographers William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Nacho Duato and John Cranko to name a few. He danced with the Michael Clark Company in The Rite of Spring and Les Noces and his final performance in 2017 was with Ivan Putrov’s Men in Motion where he danced the Faun in Nijinsky’s L’Apres Midi d’un Faun.  The Critics Circle National Dance Awards nominated him for Outstanding Performance in Modern Dance two years running as well as being included in Dance Europe’s Outstanding Male Dancer 2013 list.  As a choreographer he has created works for Ballet Black, English National Ballet’s Emerging dancer, ‘The Four Seasons’ for the Joffrey Ballet Studio Company, Nutcracker at the British Museum, ‘Eve’ at Sadler’s Wells and ‘Lady Macbeth’ at the New National Theatre in Tokyo.  His London West-End credits include choreography for McQueen The Play at the Theatre Royal Haymarket and Tell Me on a Sunday at the St. James. As a Director Chris has had the pleasure of programming diverse tours across the UK & US commissioning new work as wells as presenting repertoire by choreographers George Balanchine, Jasmin Vardimon, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Kenneth MacMillan, Liam Scarlett, Frederick Ashton and Matthew Bourne, amongst others.  He was named associate artist of the UK Foundation for Dance, holds a Masters degree in Choreography and was associate Choreographer for Matthew Bourne’s Sleeping Beauty. Chris is patron of the Chelmsford Ballet Company and a guest teacher for ballet companies worldwide.  The Joyce Theater The Joyce Theater Foundation (“The Joyce,” Executive Director, Linda Shelton), a non-profit organization, has proudly served the dance community for more than four decades. Under the direction of founders Cora Cahan and Eliot Feld, Ballet Tech Foundation acquired and renovated the Elgin Theater in Chelsea. Opening as The Joyce Theater in 1982, it was named in honor of Joyce Mertz, beloved daughter of LuEsther T. Mertz. It was LuEsther’s clear, undaunted vision and abundant generosity that made it imaginable and ultimately possible to build the theater. Ownership was secured by The Joyce in 2015. The theater is one of the only theaters built by dancers for dance and has provided an intimate and elegant home for over 475 U.S.-based and international companies. The Joyce has also expanded its reach beyond its Chelsea home through off-site presentations at venues ranging in scope from Lincoln Center’s David H. Koch Theater, to Brooklyn’s Invisible Dog Art Center, and outdoor programming in spaces such as Hudson River Park. To further support the creation of new work, The Joyce maintains longstanding commissioning and residency programs. Local students and teachers (1st–12th grade) benefit from its school program, and family and adult audiences get closer to dance with access to artists. The Joyce’s annual season of about 48 weeks of dance includes over 300 performances for audiences of over 100,000.

 

[Peanut68]

More evidence that there is a thirst for more ballet beyond the ‘mainstream government funded’ ones! Bravo LCB! 
They are showing how you do it…. Go seek audiences where they actually are & give them what they want! 

[Scheherezade]

What a wonderful start to their reincarnation. I am so looking forward to seeing them at Sadler's Wells in September and wish them every success going forward! We need more of this sort of thing.