The New Jersey Ballet 2023-2024 season marks the 65th anniversary of the Florham Park based ballet company, now entering its second full year under the leadership of former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Maria Kowroski.
Commemorating the milestone, classical ballets such as The Nutcracker and The Sleeping Beauty will be complemented with works by Jerome Robbins, George Balanchine, Justin Peck, Harrison Ball, and Lauren Lovette.
New Jersey Ballet 2023-2024 Season Schedule
A Night on The Town | November 4-5, November 17, 2023 & April 27, 2024
Two River Theatre, Mayo Performing Arts Center & New Brunswick Performing Arts Center
- Fancy Free by Jerome Robbins
- Rubies by George Balanchine
- TBA
Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free, which was the inspiration for the full-length musical On the Town, was Robbins’ first collaboration with composer Leonard Bernstein. Choreographed in 1944, Robbins and Bernstein aspired to bring a modern American sensibility to ballet with the concept of sailors on shore leave in New York City.
Set to Igor Stravinsky’s Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, George Balanchine’s Rubies (from the full-length ballet Jewels) sends dancers racing across the stage to reflect Stravinsky’s jazz-inflected piano with movements that incorporate sassy style and sharp attack. Rubies premiered at New York City Ballet in 1967, where New Jersey Ballet’s long-time Artistic Advisor, Edward Villella was part of the original cast.
Once Upon a Time | November 12, 2023
The Lackland Performing Arts Center
- Excerpts from The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake and Romeo & Juliet
Once Upon a Time is a family show taking its audience on a comical tour through some of classical ballet’s greatest stories. Part educational, part dance, the performers will dissect classic tales, providing insight into the movement while giving you a fun and entertaining peek behind the balletic curtain.
The performance will be hosted by British actor and former Royal Ballet Principal dancer Martin Harvey.
Tickets for New Jersey Ballet 2023-2024 Season Performances ⤞
The Nutcracker | December 2 – 3, December 10 & December 15-27, 2023
Bergen Performing Arts Center, Union County Performing Arts Center & Mayo Performing Arts Center
- The Nutcracker
New Jersey Ballet’s Nutcracker is the longest running original professional production in the state having debuted in Millburn in 1971. Since then, the company has given approximately 800 performances in theatres throughout New Jersey with more than 5,000 dancers and children, and over a million viewers.
Performances at MPAC will feature the New Jersey Symphony.
Leap Into Spring | March 9-10, 2024
Mayo Performing Arts Center
- Concerto Barocco by George Balanchine
- TBA
One of Balanchine’s greatest masterpieces, Concerto Barocco is music made visible as two elegant yet dynamic lead ballerinas each depict one of the instrumental soloists in a virtuosic double violin concerto. It is considered the quintessential Balanchine ballet of its period, its manner entirely pure, its choreography no more, and no less, than an ideal response to its score, Bach’s Double Violin Concerto in D Minor.
The Sleeping Beauty | April 21 & May 18-19, 2024
Bergen Performing Arts Center & Mayo Performing Arts Center
- The Sleeping Beauty by Maria Kowroski after Marius Petipa
Restaged by Artistic Director, Maria Kowroski, the Company will present the updated production of The Sleeping Beauty modeled after the original choreography of Marius Petipa.
The fairy tale opens with a Prologue in which the King and Queen welcome their firstborn, Princess Aurora. The royal aide, Catalabutte, has regretfully forgotten to invite Carabosse, and in an act of rage, the wicked fairy interrupts the celebration and casts an evil spell, putting Princess Aurora into a century-long slumber; a slumber only to be broken by true love’s first kiss.
As the magical story unfolds, Aurora dances the famous Rose Adagio – a technical and artistic feat celebrated as one of the most testing challenges in classical ballet.
New Jersey Ballet Spring Gala | May 2, 2024
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
- TBA
Repertory Evening | May 3-4, 2024
New Jersey Performing Arts Center
- Purcell Suite by Harrison Ball
- Murder Ballades by Justin Peck
- World Premiere by Lauren Lovette
With its 65-year legacy of excellence, New Jersey Ballet is poised for a new era of creative energy under the leadership of Artistic Director Maria Kowroski. Get a glimpse of her vision for the company’s future at this performance, which includes: Purcell Suite, with choreography by one of the most exciting talents of this generation, Harrison Ball and costumes by renowned fashion designer Zac Posen; Murder Ballades, an exuberant piece inspired by dark American folk songs with choreography by Justin Peck; and a world premiere work by Lauren Lovette.
Featured Photo for the New Jersey Ballet 2023-2024 Season of Raleigh Ledford in George Balanchine’s Rubies. Photo courtesy of New Jersey Ballet.
