The Ballet Bible

Boston Ballet

Boston Ballet, founded in 1963 by E. Virginia Williams, was the first professional repertory ballet company in New England. Under the leadership of Artistic Directors Violette Verdy (1980-1984), Bruce Marks (1985-1997), and Anna-Marie Holmes (1997-2000), the Ballet’s national and international reputation has grown. The Company is now one of the major ballet companies in North America and among the top companies in the world. Current Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen was selected to lead Boston Ballet in September 2001. Under his exceptional artistic direction, Boston Ballet presents choreography of the highest caliber and offers great variety in repertoire, allowing dancers to grow in new directions. In 2002, Valerie Wilder was appointed the Company’s new executive director, establishing an outstanding leadership team with Nissinen to carry the Company into the future.

Throughout its history, Boston Ballet has been a pioneer. In 1979, Boston Ballet opened the Nervi Festival in Italy, and in 1980 was the first American dance company to perform in the People’s Republic of China. The Company made its London premiere in 1981, with a full-length production of Swan Lake. In 1983, Boston Ballet presented Don Quixote on Broadway with Rudolf Nureyev as special guest artist, after touring the United States, Mexico, France, and Italy. The Company collaborated with choreographer Mark Morris for the first time in 1986, performing his Mort Subite at the PepsiCo Festival in Purchase, New York. The following year Boston Ballet was the first ballet company to perform at the prestigious BESSIE Dance and Performance award ceremony at City Center in New York. Boston Ballet was the first major dance company to commission works from contemporary choreographers Mark Morris, Susan Marshall, Ralph Lemon, and Elisa Monte. 

In May 1990, Natalia Dudinskaya and Konstantin Sergeyev, along with then-artistic director Anna-Marie Holmes, staged a new production of Swan Lake featuring Boston Ballet dancers performing the leading roles with dancers from The Kirov Ballet and The Bolshoi Ballet. This historic production attracted international attention and brought Boston Ballet to the forefront of the international dance scene. In recent years the Company has added Michael Corder’s award-winning Cinderella, the American premiere of Le Corsaire, and John Cranko’s Onegin and The Taming of the Shrew to its repertoire.

The Company made a triumphant debut at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in January 1990. In July 1991, Boston Ballet toured throughout Spain.

Boston Ballet’s primary performing venue is the 3,600-seat Wang Theatre in Boston, Massachusetts, where the Company performs six programs each season. Boston Ballet’s month-long production of The Nutcracker, updated in 1995 with new scenery, attracts an annual attendance of more than 120,000 people. It is the most widely attended ballet production in the world. 

Boston Ballet is committed to maintaining a repertoire that combines timeless classics such as The Sleeping Beauty, Giselle, Swan Lake, and Romeo and Juliet, with the imaginative visions of today’s most innovative choreographers. To preserve the integrity of the classics, the Company invites legendary dancers and choreographers to assist with staging and coaching, thus assuring that their talents and experiences are handed down through the generations. 

The Company does much more than just offer performances. Boston Ballet operates an affiliate school with more than 2,000 students; in addition to dance classes for ages 3 through 21, the Boston Ballet Center for Dance Education offers numerous educational and outreach activities for the community. Programs include Boston Ballet School, Education and Outreach, Young Dancers’ Summer Workshop, Summer Dance Program, Citydance, Taking Steps, Dance Lab, and Adaptive Dance. Every year Boston Ballet performs three special The Nutcracker matinees for nearly 12,000 school children.
 
The Company’s headquarters at 19 Clarendon Street in Boston’s South End neighborhood is one of the largest and best-equipped dance spaces in the country. Designed by renowned architect Graham Gund, this five-story, 60,000-square-foot building is an important hub for dance in New England.
 
The Company’s achievements, coupled with the generous and prestigious support of numerous local and national funding sources, have dramatically strengthened Boston Ballet’s position as a world-class ballet company within the local, national, and international arts communities. Boston Ballet celebrates this special season with six dazzling programs that pay tribute to the Company’s past while reaching forward to the future.