Miami City Ballet Opens 2024/2025 Home Season With A Midsummer Night's Dream

(Miami, FL — September 1, 2024) – Miami City Ballet (Lourdes Lopez, Artistic Director; Juan José Escalante, Executive Director), one of the world’s foremost interpreters of the George Balanchine repertoire, is proud to open its 2024/2025 home season with a revival of the master choreographer’s delightfully fantastical A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The evening-length work, initially staged and last seen by MCB in 2016 for its 30th anniversary season, artfully demonstrates what the company does best: technical precision in classical dance presented with a distinct Miami flair. Transporting the story of Shakespeare’s mystical woodland lovers to the spellbinding underwater world of the Florida coast, the season opener will play South Florida venues from October 18-November 3. Tickets, flex passes, and season subscriptions are available online at miamicityballet.org/subscriptions or by phone at 305.929.7010 or toll-free at 877.929.7010.

This fall, welcome Miami City Ballet back to the stage and take a dip into the familiar story of feuding Titania and Oberon, a quartet of hapless romantics, and the fiendish Puck in George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream. The wildly imaginative interpretation of the contemporary ballet classic transports the action from Shakespeare’s fictitious magical woodlands to in and on the water of Miami’s own backyard. Widely acclaimed during its company premiere as part of MCB’s 30th anniversary season in 2016, the underwater escapades of the intricate plot are made crystal clear by Balanchine’s choreography and storytelling paired with the company’s dazzling and inventive production designed by blockbuster artist and Miami native, Michele Oka Doner.

This Midsummer, set in the Florida coast, utilizes Felix Mendelssohn’s mesmerizing score performed by the exquisite Miami City Ballet Orchestra under the direction of Gary Sheldon, setting the stage for mischief, merriment, and mismatched romances. MCB’s breathtaking company of dancers embody the challenging, classical movement in equal measures of whimsy and dazzling prowess, cloaked in Oka Doner’s transformative costumes and dancing amongst her ingenious sets. Local stages are magically turned into a floating motif of coral and seagrass populated by manatees, seahorses, and more underwater life, evoking the heart of South Florida’s treasured marine ecosystems. Remaining true to Shakespeare, Mendelssohn, and Balanchine, Miami City Ballet’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream brings the timeless tale of love, illusion, and reconciliation directly to the place that inspired this unique production in the first place: the port of Miami.

ABOUT MIAMI CITY BALLET

Miami City Ballet has a diverse roster of 53 dancers and a repertoire of more than 130 works. As one of the most renowned ballet companies in the country, Miami City Ballet performs for nearly 125,000 patrons annually during its South Florida home season in Miami, Fort Lauderdale, West Palm Beach and tours to major cities domestically and internationally, including recent visits to New York City, Washington, D.C., Chicago, Los Angeles, and Paris.

Miami City Ballet School, the official school of Miami City Ballet, is one of the most respected ballet training academies in America. The School trains students, ages 3-18 year-round, and grants more than $650,000 in scholarships annually.

Miami City Ballet’s Community Engagement programs, serving more than 12,000 people annually in schools and communities; our free programs use the power of dance to uplift, teach and bring joy.

Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez leads the company. Lopez was recently awarded the prestigious Dance Magazine Award in 2018 and was named one of “The Most Influential People in Dance Today.” She is on the Ford Foundation Board of Trustees, the first artist to ever serve on its Board.

Miami City Ballet was founded in 1985 by Miami philanthropist Toby Lerner Ansin and Founding Artistic Director Edward Villella. It is headquartered in Miami Beach, FL, at the Ophelia & Juan Js. Roca Center, a facility designed by renowned architectural firm, Arquitectonica.