NEW YORK CITY BALLET ANNOUNCES SEASON

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DRAFT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 16, 2018 NEW YORK CITY BALLET ANNOUNCES 2018-19 SEASON Highlights to Include Six World Premiere Ballets Including Two Works by NYCB Resident Choreographer JUSTIN

1 DRAFT FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE April 16, 2018 NEW YORK CITY BALLET ANNOUNCES SEASON Highlights to Include Six World Premiere Ballets Including Two Works by NYCB Resident Choreographer JUSTIN PECK GIANNA REISEN S Second Work for the Company and First-Ever Works for NYCB from Choreographers KYLE ABRAHAM, MATTHEW NEENAN, and EMMA PORTNER The Entire Season Which Will Also Mark NYCB s 70 th Anniversary to Encompass 21 Weeks of Performances and a Total of 65 Ballets Featuring 30 Works by NYCB Co-Founder GEORGE BALANCHINE Including his Full-length Productions of Jewels, A Midsummer Night s Dream and the Annual Holiday Season of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker The Season Will Also Include 11 Works by NYCB Co-Founding Choreographer JEROME ROBBINS Including Two Special 50 th Anniversary Performances of Dances at a Gathering PETER MARTINS Stagings of La Sylphide and The Sleeping Beauty and Additional Works by MAURO BIGONZETTI, WARREN CARLYLE, WILLIAM FORSYTHE, ALEXEI RATMANSKY and CHRISTOPHER WHEELDON Principal Dancer JOAQUIN DE LUZ Will Give His Farewell Performance with NYCB on Sunday, October 14, the Closing Performance of the 2018 Fall Season The Travelers Companies, Inc. is the Global Sponsor of New York City Ballet New York City Ballet will open its season at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, September 18 and will continue with 21 weeks of performances, through Sunday, June 2, and will feature 65 ballets by 13 different choreographers.

2 NEW YORK CITY BALLET Season Announcement Page 2 Highlights of the season will include six World Premiere ballets, including three by choreographers working with NYCB for the first-time ever Kyle Abraham, Matthew Neenan, and Emma Portner as well as two new works by NYCB Resident Choreographer Justin Peck and a premiere by Gianna Reisen, who will be making her second work for NYCB. The season will begin with a four-week Fall Season that will open with nine all-balanchine performances, including six of the full-length Jewels (September 18, 19, 20, 22 matinee, 23, and 25) and three performances of a program consisting of Balanchine s Concerto Barocco, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, and Symphony in C (September 21, 22 evening, and 26). The Company s annual Fall Fashion Gala will take place on Thursday, September 27 and will feature World Premiere ballets by Abraham, Neenan, and Reisen. (The designers who will create the costumes for the Fall Fashion Gala will be announced at a later date.) The 2018 Fall Season will also include five performances of Peter Martins staging of August Bournonville s La Sylphide, and additional works by George Balanchine, Justin Peck, Alexei Ratmansky, Jerome Robbins and Christopher Wheeldon. The Fall Season will also include a Short Stories program consisting of George Balanchine s Prodigal Son and Jerome Robbins Fancy Free and West Side Story Suite (October 10 and 13 evening). On Thursday, October 11, which is both the 70 th anniversary of NYCB s first performance at New York s City Center in 1948 and the 100 th anniversary of Jerome Robbins birth, the Company will present a Robbins Tribute consisting of Robbins Afternoon of a Faun, Other Dances, and Moves, as well as Warren Carlyle s tribute to Robbins Broadway work, Something to Dance About, which will premiere at NYCB s 2018 Spring Gala on Thursday, May 3. The Robbins Tribute will receive additional performances on October 12 and 13 matinee. The final performance of the 2018 Fall Season on Sunday, October 14, will mark the Farewell Performance for NYCB Principal Dancer Joaquin De Luz. Born in Madrid, Spain, where he trained at the Victor Ullate School of Ballet, De Luz danced with the Victor Ullate Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre before joining NYCB as a soloist in He was promoted to Principal Dancer in 2005 and during his career with NYCB De Luz has created featured roles in works by Jorma Elo, Martins, Wayne McGregor, Peck, Ratmansky, and Wheeldon, as well as dancing an extensive repertory of works by Balanchine, Robbins, Martins, and others.

3 NEW YORK CITY BALLET Season Announcement Page 3 Internationally De Luz has appeared as a guest artist with numerous companies including Compañia Nacional de Danza, San Francisco Ballet, and Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón, among others, and has been the recipient of several awards including a Gold Medal at the Second Nureyev International Ballet Competition (1996), the Benois de la Danse Award (2009), and the National Dance Award by the Spanish Ministry of Education, Culture, and Sports (2016). The repertory for De Luz s Farewell Performance will be announced at a later date. The year of performances will continue with NYCB s annual holiday engagement of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker, which will take place from November 23 to December 30. The 2019 Winter Season will open on Tuesday, January 22 and will continue for six weeks of performances through Sunday, March 3. The Winter Season will be highlighted by the January 31 New Combinations Evening which will feature World Premiere ballets by Justin Peck and Emma Portner, who will be making her first-ever work for a ballet company. The opening night of the Winter Season will mark the 115th anniversary of George Balanchine s birth (January 22, 1904), with a performance of the Stravinsky/Balanchine Greek Trilogy, consisting of the ballets Apollo, Orpheus, and Agon, which will be given five performances on January 22, 24, 26 (eve), February 1, and 2 (matinee). The opening weeks of the Winter Season will also feature six performances featuring three Balanchine ballets to the music of Tschaikovsky -- Serenade, Mozartiana, and Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2 which will be performed on January 23, 25, 26 (matinee), 27, 29, and 30. From Wednesday, February 13 through Sunday, February 24, the company will present a two-week run of Peter Martins full-length production of The Sleeping Beauty. Created in 1991, The Sleeping Beauty is set to Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky s beloved score and features sets by David Mitchell, costumes by Patricia Zipprodt, and lighting by Mark Stanley. The Winter Season will also feature the return to the repertory of William Forsythe s complete Herman Schmerman, which the Company has not performed in its entirety since Created for NYCB in 1992, Forsythe added a pas de deux to the work the following year, and since 1994, NYCB has only performed the pas de deux. Set to a commissioned score by Thom Willems, the ballet features costumes by Gianni Versace and lighting by Mark Stanley. The Winter Season will include additional works by Balanchine, including Duo Concertant, Liebeslieder Walzer, Prodigal Son, and Variations pour une Porte et un Soupir; and an all-robbins program consisting of In the Night, Interplay, and N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz; with additional works by Mauro Bigonzetti, Justin Peck, and Christopher Wheeldon.

4 NEW YORK CITY BALLET Season Announcement Page 4 The 2019 Spring Season will open on Tuesday, April 23 and continue with six weeks of programming through Sunday, June 2. The Spring Season will open with a week of contemporary repertory including such works as Justin Peck s Rodeo: Four Dance Episodes, and Alexei Ratmansky s Pictures at an Exhibition and Concerto DSCH. The Spring Season will close with seven performances, May 28 through June 2, of Balanchine s full-length A Midsummer Night s Dream. The Spring Season will be highlighted by the annual Spring Gala performance on Thursday, May 2 which will feature a World Premiere by Justin Peck, as well as the season s only performance of Balanchine s Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3. The Spring Season will include a total of 15 works by Balanchine including Scotch Symphony, Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, Union Jack, and Western Symphony; and three works by Jerome Robbins, including Brandenburg, which premiered in 1997 and was the final ballet Robbins created before his death in 1998, and two special 50 th anniversary performances of Dances at a Gathering (May 21 and 22), the landmark work that marked Robbins return to NYCB, and premiered on May 22, All performances will take place at the David H. Koch Theater at Lincoln Center, which is located at West 63 rd Street and Columbus Avenue. Subscription tickets for the Season will be available beginning April 16, single tickets for repertory performances will go on sale on August 5 at noon, and single tickets for performances of George Balanchine s The Nutcracker will go on sale in September. Tickets will be available online at nycballet.com, by phone at , or in person at the David H. Koch Theater Box Office SEASON WORLD PREMIERE BALLETS Kyle Abraham World Premiere September 27, 2018 (Fall Gala) Kyle Abraham, a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, will choreograph his first-ever work for a ballet company with a World Premiere for NYCB s 2018 Fall Fashion Gala on Thursday, September 27. The score for the ballet will be announced at a later date. Born in Pittsburgh where he began his dance training at the Civic Light Opera Academy and the Pittsburgh Creative and Performing Arts School, Abraham went on to study dance at SUNY Purchase and received an MFA from the Tisch School of the Arts at New York University. Abraham founded his acclaimed modern dance company Abraham.In.Motion (now called A.I.M.) in 2005.

5 NEW YORK CITY BALLET Season Announcement Page 5 In addition to the MacArthur Fellowship, Abraham is a 2016 Doris Duke Award recipient and a 2012 USA Ford Fellow, and has also received such awards as the Jacob s Pillow Dance Award in 2012, and both the Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance and a Princess Grace Award for Choreography in Abraham was the resident artist at New York Live Arts from 2012 to 2014, has created pieces for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, and was one of four choreographers who collaborated with former NYCB Principal Dancer Wendy Whelan on Restless Creature in Abraham is also a recipient of a Creative Residency at The Joyce Theater, where his company A.I.M. will perform a one-week engagement next month, from May 1 through 6. Matthew Neenan World Premiere September 27, 2018 (Fall Gala) Matthew Neenan, the Choreographer in Residence of the Pennsylvania Ballet and Co-Founder of Philadelphia s BalletX, will create his first work for NYCB with a World Premiere for the Company s annual Fall Fashion Gala on Thursday, September 27. The score for Neenan s new work will be comprised of music for string quartet by composer Antonín Dvořák (Waltzes, Op. 54, B105, No. 1 and No. 4; and String Quartet No. 1 in A Major, Op. 2). Neenan began his dance training at the Boston Ballet School and later attended New York s LaGuardia High School of Performing Arts and the School of American Ballet (the official school of NYCB). From Neenan danced with the Pennsylvania Ballet where he performed numerous principal roles in works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins, Paul Taylor, Jorma Elo, Jessica Lang, and Christopher Wheeldon. In 2005, Neenan co-founded Philadelphia s BalletX with fellow dancer Christine Cox, which has toured extensively featuring Neenan s work. His choreography has also been performed by numerous companies including The Washington Ballet, Ballet West, and The Juilliard School, among many others. Future commissions for include Pacific Northwest Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and the Glorya Kaufman School of Dance at the University of Southern California. In 2003 Neenan participated in a working session of the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of New York City Ballet, and received the NYCI s Fellowship Initiative Award in 2006 to support the development of new work at the Pennsylvania Ballet.

6 NEW YORK CITY BALLET Season Announcement Page 6 Gianna Reisen World Premiere September 27, 2018 (Fall Gala) Gianna Reisen, choreographer and a Ballet Semperoper Dresden apprentice, will choreograph her second ballet for NYCB with a Fall Fashion Gala World Premiere on Thursday, September 27. The score for the ballet will be comprised of excerpts from John Adams 1994 composition John s Book of Alleged Dances. Reisen was born in Wyckoff, New Jersey, and trained at In the Spotlight Dance Studio for four years. In 2010, she began studying at the School of American Ballet, the official school of NYCB, and danced in George Balanchine s The Nutcracker for two years while in the School s children s division, and also performed in five of the School s annual June workshop performances. Reisen participated in SAB s Student Choreography Workshop as a dancer in 2014 and as both a dancer and choreographer in She has also participated in the New York Choreographic Institute s spring 2015 and spring 2016 working sessions as a dancer, and made her first piece of choreography for the Institute during the fall 2016 working session. She became the youngest choreographer in history to make a work for NYCB with her first work for the Company, Composer s Holiday, which premiered at the 2017 Fall Fashion Gala. Justin Peck World Premieres January 31, 2019 (New Combinations Evening), and May 2, 2019 (Spring Gala) NYCB Resident Choreographer Justin Peck will create two World Premiere ballets for NYCB during the Season. The first will premiere at the Company s annual New Combinations Evening on Thursday, January 31, and will be set to a commissioned score for full orchestra by frequent Peck collaborator Sufjan Stevens, with orchestrations by composer and pianist Timo Andres; and scenic design by Mimi Lien, the acclaimed designer of sets and environments for theater, dance, and opera, who won a 2017 Tony Award for her designs for Natasha, Pierre, & The Great Comet of 1812, and was also a 2015 MacArthur Fellow. The second Peck World Premiere will take place at the Company s 2019 Spring Gala on Thursday, May 2. (The score and other details for the second premiere will be announced at a later date.) As a choreographer Peck has worked with a range of artistic collaborators including composers Dan Deacon, Bryce Dessner, Philip Glass, Steve Reich, and Sufjan Stevens; visual artists Jules de Balincourt, Marcel Dzama, Shepard Fairey, Karl Jensen, Stephen Powers, and Sterling Ruby; and fashion designers Tsumori Chisato, Prabal Gurung, Mary Katrantzou, Humberto Leon, and Dries Van Noten.

7 NEW YORK CITY BALLET Season Announcement Page 7 He has created more than 30 works for a range of institutions including New York City Ballet, the Paris Opéra Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and L.A. Dance Project; and is the choreographer of the 2018 revival of Rodgers and Hammerstein s Carousel currently running on Broadway. A native of San Diego, California and a dancer with New York City Ballet since 2007, Peck participated in the New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of NYCB, in 2009, and received the NYCI s first year-long choreographic residency in Peck was named NYCB s Resident Choreographer, the second in the Company s history, in July Emma Portner World Premiere January 31, 2019 (New Combinations Evening) Emma Portner will create her first-ever work for a ballet company with a World Premiere for NYCB s annual New Combinations Evening on Thursday, January 31. The score for the ballet will be announced at a later date. Portner is a boundary-breaking choreographer and dancer who has created a unique repertory of works for multiple disciplines including live performances, film, and social media platforms. She is also the youngest woman in history to a choreograph a musical for the West End, with her work on Bat Out of Hell The Musical, which Portner choreographed in 2017 at the age of 22, and is currently running at London s Dominion Theater. Born in Ottawa, Canada where she began training at Leeming Danceworks, she also trained with Canada s National Ballet School summer programs and graduated from Ottawa s Canterbury High School of the Performing Arts. At the age of 16 Portner moved to New York City to train at The Ailey School, the official school of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. Portner s 2012 video Dancing In the Dark, which she created with Los Angeles-based dancer Matt Luck, went viral on social media and led to Portner being asked to choreograph a music video for Justin Bieber s 2015 music video project PURPOSE: The Movement. Her piece for the project, set to Bieber s Life is Worth Living, features Portner in a duet she choreographed for herself and dancer Patrick Cook, which has now been viewed more than 50 million times. Portner also created choreography for Bieber s Purpose World Tour.

8 NEW YORK CITY BALLET Season Announcement Page 8 In 2012 the American Dance Awards named Portner Young Choreographer of the Year, and in addition to producing and directing short films and managing her own dance projects, she has also worked with members of Batsheva Dance Company, Dorrance Dance, Kidd Pivot, RUBBERBANDance, and Nederlands Dans Theater. Portner is currently L.A. Dance Project s first-ever artist in residence. Major funding for New York City Ballet programming is provided by the Harriet Ford Dickenson Foundation/Miss Gillian Attfield, Zoë Baird and Bill Budinger, Emily and Len Blavatnik, Ford Foundation, The Florence Gould Foundation, The Hearst Foundations, Holland and Knight LLP, Geoffrey C. Hughes Foundation, JPMorgan Chase & Co., Lincoln Center Corporate Fund, Martha and Bob Lipp, Mastercard, The New York Community Trust - Mary P. Oenslager Foundation Fund, The Paiko Foundation, PUMA, The Shubert Foundation, Joseph and Sylvia Slifka Foundation, Denise R. Sobel, Michael and Sue Steinberg, The Travelers Companies, Inc., and John L. and Barbara Vogelstein. Programming is made possible by public funds from the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs, in partnership with the City Council, and in part by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew M. Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and by the National Endowment for the Arts. The Travelers Companies, Inc. is the Global Sponsor of New York City Ballet. -30-

NEW YORK CITY BALLET ANNOUNCES SEVEN PROMOTIONS

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE October 13, 2018 NEW YORK CITY BALLET ANNOUNCES SEVEN PROMOTIONS Joseph Gordon Promoted to Principal Dancer Daniel Applebaum, Harrison Coll, Claire Kretzschmar, Aaron Sanz, Sebastian