The Sarasota Ballet is an American

ballet company A ballet company is a type of dance troupe which performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-round ba ...

based in

Sarasota, Florida Sarasota () is a city in Sarasota County on the Gulf Coast of the U.S. state of Florida. The area is renowned for its cultural and environmental amenities, beaches, resorts, and the Sarasota School of Architecture. The city is located in the sou ...

. It was founded in 1987 by former ballet dancer Jean Weidner Goldstein and is now acclaimed for its performances of Sir Frederick Ashton's ballets under its director

Iain Webb Iain Webb (born 30 March 1959) is an English ballet dancer who formerly danced for the Royal Ballet in London. He is currently Director of Florida's Sarasota Ballet where he has staged many of Frederick Ashton's ballets. Biography The son of a f ...

and assistant director Margaret Barbieri.

History

In 1987, Jean Weidner Goldstein founded The Sarasota Ballet as a presenting organization, establishing its status as a resident ballet company in 1990 with the appointment of Montreal choreographer Eddy Toussaint as its director. The first performance was presented on November 3, 1990, at the Sarasota Opera House. Robert de Warren, former director of ballet at Teatro alla Scala Milan, served as Artistic Director from 1994 - 2007. With the appointment of former

Royal Ballet The Royal Ballet is a British internationally renowned classical ballet company, based at the Royal Opera House in Covent Garden, London, England. The largest of the five major ballet companies in Great Britain, the Royal Ballet was founded in ...

dancer Iain Webb as director in 2007, the company has achieved national and international recognition, especially for its many productions of the ballets of

Sir Frederick Ashton Sir Frederick William Mallandaine Ashton (17 September 190418 August 1988) was a British ballet dancer and choreographer. He also worked as a director and choreographer in opera, film and revue. Determined to be a dancer despite the oppositi ...

. The Sarasota Ballet has been invited to perform at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., with the Suzanne Farrell Ballet and Ballet Across America III, at Fall for Dance at the New York City Center, the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and the Joyce Theater. At the Frederick Ashton Festival, staged at the Sarasota Opera House in May 2014, The Sarasota Ballet offered a wide selection of Ashton's works. These included ''

Birthday Offering ''Birthday Offering'' is a pièce d'occasion in one scene choreographed by Frederick Ashton to music by Alexander Glazunov, arranged by Robert Irving. The ballet was created in 1956, to celebrate the Royal Ballet's 25th anniversary. The first p ...

'', ''Illuminations'', '' Les Rendezvous'', ''Sinfonietta'', and ''Valses nobles et sentimentales''. Under Webb's leadership, the company performed 135 ballets and divertissements through the 2015 - 2016 season, including 36 world premieres and 7 American premieres. For their 25th anniversary season (2015–2016), The Sarasota Ballet became the first American company to present Ashton's ballets ''Marguerite and Armand'' and ''Enigma Variations''. During Iain Webb's directorship, ticket sales grew from $300,000 in 2007 to over $1.675 million in 2015. In February 2016, Joseph Volpe, retired general manager of the

Metropolitan Opera The Metropolitan Opera (commonly known as the Met) is an American opera company based in New York City, resident at the Metropolitan Opera House at Lincoln Center, currently situated on the Upper West Side of Manhattan. The company is oper ...

, was appointed executive director.

Ballet company

The company includes thirty-seven professional dancers and eight apprentices (as of 2019) from around the world, many of them young Americans. Among the principals are Danielle Brown, Kate Honea, Victoria Hulland,

Ricardo Graziano Ricardo Graziano (born in 1986) is a Brazilian ballet dancer and choreographer. After five years with the Tulsa Ballet, he joined Florida's Sarasota Ballet in 2010 where he is a principal dancer and choreographer. Early life Born in Mogi das Cruze ...

, Ricardo Rhodes and Luke Schaufuss. The Sarasota Ballet also maintains a Studio Company for supplementary performance support and cooperation with other local performing arts organizations. In August 2012, Margaret Barbieri, former principal dancer of the

, was appointed assistant director of The Sarasota Ballet. Barbieri has staged 22 ballets for The Sarasota Ballet, including Sir Peter Wright's ''Giselle'' and ''Summertide'';

's ''

The Two Pigeons ''The Two Pigeons'' (original French title: ''Les deux pigeons'') is a fable by Jean de la Fontaine (Book IX.2) that was adapted as a ballet with music by André Messager in the 19th century and rechoreagraphed to the same music by Frederick Ashto ...

'', ''

Façade A façade () (also written facade) is generally the front part or exterior of a building. It is a loan word from the French (), which means ' frontage' or ' face'. In architecture, the façade of a building is often the most important aspect ...

'', ''

'', '' Les Patineurs'', ''Les Rendezvous'', ''

La fille mal gardée LA most frequently refers to Los Angeles, the second largest city in the United States. La, LA, or L.A. may also refer to: Arts and entertainment Music * La (musical note), or A, the sixth note * "L.A.", a song by Elliott Smith on ''Figur ...

'', ''Valses nobles et sentimentales'' and ''Jazz Calendar'';

Dame Ninette de Valois Dame Ninette de Valois (born Edris Stannus; 6 June 1898 – 8 March 2001) was an Irish-born British dancer, teacher, choreographer, and director of classical ballet. Most notably, she danced professionally with Serge Diaghilev's Ballets Russes, ...

' '' Checkmate'' and ''The Rake's Progress'';

John Cranko John Cyril Cranko (15 August 1927 – 26 June 1973) was a South African ballet dancer and choreographer with the Royal Ballet and the Stuttgart Ballet. Life and career Early life Cranko was born in Rustenburg in the former province of Transv ...

's ''

Pineapple Poll ''Pineapple Poll'' is a Gilbert and Sullivan-inspired comic ballet, created by choreographer John Cranko with arranger Sir Charles Mackerras. ''Pineapple Poll'' is based on "The Bumboat Woman's Story", one of W. S. Gilbert's Bab Ballads, writt ...

''; Christopher Wheeldon's ''There Where She Loved'' and ''The American'';

Michel Fokine Michael Fokine, ''Mikhail Mikhaylovich Fokin'', group=lower-alpha ( – 22 August 1942) was a groundbreaking Imperial Russian choreographer and dancer. Career Early years Fokine was born in Saint Petersburg to a prosperous merchant an ...

's ''

Les Sylphides ''Les Sylphides'' () is a short, non-narrative '' ballet blanc'' to piano music by Frédéric Chopin, selected and orchestrated by Alexander Glazunov. The ballet, described as a "romantic reverie","Ballet Theater", until 1955. A compact disk ...

'' and ''

Petrushka Petrushka ( rus, Петру́шка, p=pʲɪtˈruʂkə, a=Ru-петрушка.ogg) is a stock character of Russian folk puppetry. Italian puppeteers introduced it in the first third of the 19th century. While most core characters came from Italy ...

'' and Rudolf Nureyev's ''Raymonda Act III''.

References

External links

* {{authority control Ballet companies in the United States Dance in Florida 1990 establishments in Florida Performing groups established in 1990 Companies based in Sarasota, Florida