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Los Angeles Ballet presents a company of outstanding dancers from local communities and around the world. LAB dance artists master classical as well as contemporary techniques. Abigail Gross Hometown St. Louis, MO Seasons with LAB 2023/2024, 2024/2025 Abigail attended the Miami City Ballet School and became an apprentice in 2021. She attended summer programs at Pacific Northwest Ballet, the School of American Ballet, Chautauqua Institution, and The Rock School. Abigail has performed repertoire by Alexei Ratmansky, John Cranko, George Balanchine, Durante Verzola, Melissa Barak, Stanton Welch, and Kara Wilkes.

Immerse yourself in the artistry and vision behind Memoryhouse, the emotionally powerful original work by LAB Artistic Director, Melissa Barak set to the album of the same name by Max Richter. Memoryhouse Special Event 2024/2025 Season / Memoryhouse Special Event / JANUARY 23 & 30, 2025 Welcome to the Memoryhouse Experience! An Exclusive Two-Day Event You are invited to an exclusive special viewing of Los Angeles Ballet's Memoryhouse and the making-of Documentary at The Wallis. Both film and live performance are featured in this multi-media event featuring the artistry and vision behind Memoryhouse , the emotionally powerful original work by LAB Artistic Director, Melissa Barak set to the album of the same name by Max Richter. This exclusive two-day event features: Day 1: The Making of Memoryhouse Documentary Screening Date: January 23, 2025 Time: 6:30pm Location: The Wallis, Beverly Hills Followed by an intimate post-documentary dinner at Wally’s in Beverly Hills Day 2: Opening Night Performance for Memoryhouse Date: January 30, 2025 Time: 7:30pm Location: The Wallis, Beverly Hills Ticket Packages: SILVER PACKAGE - $1000 (limited quantity) includes: One Premium seat for Memoryhouse Documentary at The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts on Thursday, January 23rd. Post-documentary dinner at Wally’s including specialty menu with wine pairings. One Premium seat for Memoryhouse Performance on opening night, Thursday, January 30th. GOLD PACKAGE - $2,500 (limited quantity) includes: One Premium seat for Memoryhouse Documentary at The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts on Thursday, January 23rd. Post-documentary dinner at Wally’s including specialty menu with wine pairings. One Premium seat for Memoryhouse Performance on opening night, Thursday, January 30th. Meet and greet with Creative Director Melissa Barak during intermission in the Founders Room. Complimentary drink included. PLATINUM PACKAGE - $5,000 includes: One Premium seat for Memoryhouse Documentary at The Wallis Annenberg Center for Performing Arts on Thursday, January 23rd. Post-documentary dinner at Wally’s including specialty menu with wine pairings. One Premium seat for Memoryhouse Performance on opening night, Thursday, January 30th. Meet and greet with Creative Director Melissa Barak during intermission in the Founders Room. Complimentary drink included. Exclusive Platinum Perks Beyond the Two-Day Event! Season tickets for Los Angeles Ballet 2025-2026 season. Invitation to donor reception for the launch of the 2025 season. One backstage experience for the performance of your choice. To take advantage of these exclusive benefits, please contact the LAB Box Office at (310) 998-7782 , Monday through Friday from 12:00 pm to 5:00 pm PST or tickets@losangelesballet.org Limited Capacity – Reserve Your Spot Today! This special event has been curated for a select audience and ticket availability is limited! Be part of this unique journey into the making of this extraordinary original ballet, and show your support for Los Angeles Ballet! For additional information or questions, please contact: Lindsay Rosenboom @ lrosenboom@losangelesballet.org PURCHASE YOUR TICKETS Can’t Attend? You Can Still Support the Art of Dance! If you’re unable to join us, you can still play a vital role. Your donation helps the Los Angeles Ballet continue to create and share transformative works like Memoryhouse. DONATE

Unlike certain 20th-century artists who found themselves miserable in Hollywood — F. Scott Fitzgerald comes to mind — George Balanchine was fond of the place in the 1930s. Balanchine's Palm-Fringed Muse May 17, 2013 New York Times by Victoria Looseleaf LOS ANGELES — Unlike certain 20th-century artists who found themselves miserable in Hollywood — F. Scott Fitzgerald comes to mind — George Balanchine was fond of the place in the 1930s. He loved the orange groves, Romanoff’s glamorous boîte and choreographing dances for movies. But after founding New York City Ballet with Lincoln Kirstein in 1948, the man who changed America’s dancescape became synonymous with the East Coast. Now, 30 years after his death, Mr. Balanchine is having another West Coast moment, through the prism of different ballet troupes. The Balanchine repertory is standard fare for the Los Angeles Ballet, founded in 2006 by the husband-and-wife team of Colleen Neary and Thordal Christensen. Yet this year, having grown to 35 dancers from 21, with an annual operating budget to $2.5 million, the directors felt the time was right for a full-fledged Balanchine Festival. The festival, which opened in March, is presenting seven works over four months. The remaining performances in the second and final installment, featuring “La Valse,” “Agon” and “Rubies,” will be presented at three theaters in May and June. The latter two works, set to Stravinsky, are also part of the program for July in Grand Park, in line with the Los Angeles Music Center’s yearlong Stravinsky celebration “Balanchine loved this city,” Ms. Neary said in an interview, “and it is my wish that the passion he felt in his work is given to L.A. in these programs.” Ms. Neary, 60, first met Balanchine as an 8-year-old student at the School of American Ballet, the official school of New York City Ballet. She joined City Ballet in 1969 and was a soloist from 1975 to 1979. In 1985 the George Balanchine Trust authorized her to teach and stage his ballets. Ms. Neary says she feels a responsibility to the choreographer, who created more than 400 works. “It’s my job to help dancers get to know him,” she said during a rehearsal break at the company’s Westside headquarters. “It’s not only teaching steps he taught us, and the intention, but also the ballets’ different styles. One thing I always say he told us is, ‘You shouldn’t save anything — you should give all your energies to what you’re doing now.’ ” On a recent afternoon in the Los Angeles Ballet’s 12,000-square-foot studios, Ms. Neary scrutinized her dancers, who range in age from 19 to 31, as they rehearsed the fiendishly difficult steps of “La Valse,” a 1951 ballet about death set to Ravel’s work.“Don’t bounce, glide,” Ms. Neary urged Allyssa Bross, the female lead in white, while Mr. Christensen, 47, leapt onto a chair to observe the unsettling funereal circling in the finale. Ms. Neary and Mr. Christensen’s 28-year partnership has included dancing with City Ballet, and their exchanges in the studio veer from detail-oriented simpatico to the occasionally prickly. “She’s been my boss, and I’ve been hers,” he said, “but because we know each other so well, there’s a certain aesthetic we try to pull from the dancers together.” Renae Williams Niles, the Music Center’s vice president for programming, suggested in an interview that promoting Balanchine’s legacy is strategically smart for a young dance company seeking a bigger profile. “When I think of Balanchine here, I think of Colleen, one of our local treasures,” she said. Preconcert talks are also part of the Balanchine Festival, and they help to shed light on the time he spent in Southern California. Audiences learn that Balanchine adored the climate, food markets and movie culture of Los Angeles, where he choreographed five films, all featuring Vera Zorina, then his wife, from 1938 to 1944. For the first, “The Goldwyn Follies” (1938), he worked with the composer Vernon Duke, a friend who wrote music for the “Water Nymph Ballet,” a Botticelli-esque sequence in which Ms. Zorina rose from a pool. The sequence is said to have been beloved by Samuel Goldwyn, the film’s producer. Hollywood also proved congenial for Mr. Balanchine’s collaborations with Stravinsky, with whom he worked on some 40 pieces over the years. Conversing in their native Russian over many a meal, the pair worked on masterpieces like “Orpheus,” which had its premiere in 1948 with Maria Tallchief. Another Los Angeles troupe seeking to lay claim to part of Balanchine’s legacy is the American Contemporary Ballet, now in its second season. The 10-member company is directed by the choreographer Lincoln Jones, a native Angeleno who returned here in 2010 after spending seven years performing and teaching in New York. While laying the groundwork for forming the company, he spent hours devouring all things Balanchine at the New York Public Library for the Performing Arts at Lincoln Center. “Dance is fairly limited as a storytelling medium, but as a musical one that works in a visual realm, it’s unlimited,” Mr.Jones said in an interview. “It was Balanchine’s realization of this — and his development of its musical vocabulary, aside from the works themselves — that was his greatest contribution.” Mr. Jones said he was drawn back to Los Angeles by its widening classical music scene. He took along his muse, the ballerina Theresa Farrell, who is now the company’s associate director; seeking to expand the audience for dance, they soon paired with Da Camera Society, a group that was founded four decades ago and performs chamber music at historic sites. Its top musicians accompanied American Contemporary Ballet last year when it gave its first concerts — two instrumental works interspersed with a pair of dances — in a warehouse in the city’s mid-Wilshire area. Next month four more concerts are scheduled over two nights. “The fact that they’re so good and just getting started, I feel I owe it to the art of dance to help build whatever I can,” said Martin Chalifour, the Los Angeles Philharmonic’s principal concertmaster, who donates his time to performing with the troupe. “Lincoln caters to the complexities of the musical score and, like Balanchine, that’s his inspiration. Music transports you, and when you augment that with beautiful dance, it becomes a unique sensory experience.” Another troupe with Balanchine ties is the Barak Ballet, founded by Melissa Barak, a Los Angeles native who danced with New York City Ballet for nine years. For now, no Balanchine works are planned for the ballet’s inaugural concert in October, she said, “but my choreography is influenced by him, and I’d like to think he may have seen something special in me.” While Los Angeles has metamorphosed into a sprawl-to-the-wall metropolis since Balanchine walked its palm treelined streets, his spirit lives on here for these choreographers. “When we’re teaching and talking about him, Mr. B is with us,” Ms. Neary said. “I believe that.” DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Seranade 2019 LAB Ensemble LAB Ensemble Petra Conti & LAB Ensemble LAB Ensemble Jasmine Perry & LAB Ensemble Jasmine Perry & LAB Ensemble Petra Conti & Eris Nezha Petra Conti & Eris Nezha & LAB Ensemble Bianca Bulle, Petra Conti & Jeongkon Kim Jeongkon Kim & Jasmine Perry Bianca Bulle, Petra Conti, Jasmine Perry & Jeongkon Kim Petra Conti & LAB Ensemble LAB Ensemble LAB Ensemble Petra Conti & LAB Ensemble LAB Ensemble Jasmine Perry & LAB Ensemble Jasmine Perry & LAB Ensemble Petra Conti & Eris Nezha Petra Conti & Eris Nezha & LAB Ensemble Bianca Bulle, Petra Conti & Jeongkon Kim Jeongkon Kim & Jasmine Perry Bianca Bulle, Petra Conti, Jasmine Perry & Jeongkon Kim Petra Conti & LAB Ensemble LAB Ensemble LAB Ensemble Petra Conti & LAB Ensemble LAB Ensemble Jasmine Perry & LAB Ensemble Jasmine Perry & LAB Ensemble Petra Conti & Eris Nezha Petra Conti & Eris Nezha & LAB Ensemble Bianca Bulle, Petra Conti & Jeongkon Kim Jeongkon Kim & Jasmine Perry Bianca Bulle, Petra Conti, Jasmine Perry & Jeongkon Kim Petra Conti & LAB Ensemble Balanchine / Tchaikovsky Previous Gallery Next Gallery All photos by Reed Hutchinson Click on image for a fullscreen presentation.

Los Angeles Ballet presents a company of outstanding dancers from local communities and around the world. LAB dance artists master classical as well as contemporary techniques. Julianne Kinasiewicz Hometown Portage, IN Seasons with LAB 2018/2019, 2019/2020, 2021/2022, 2022/2023, 2023/2024, 2024/2025 Julianne began her training at Ruth Page School of Dance in Chicago. After attending a summer course at The School of American Ballet, she was invited to join as a full-time student. While there she danced in lecture demonstrations, choreographic showcases, and performances with the New York City Ballet. Julianne joined LAB in 2018. Some of her favorite works she has danced are George Balanchine’s Serenade , Western Symphony , and Agon , Annabelle Lopez Ochoa’s Bloom , and Christopher Wheeldon’s Fool’s Paradise .

Los Angeles Ballet stepped into its sixth season with a delightful holiday performance of The Nutcracker at The Alex Theatre in Glendale last weekend. LAB alternately charmed and thrilled its audience with dancing that conveyed emotional depth, and bravura displays that combined strength and grace. ‘The Nutcracker’ is a Triumph for Los Angeles Ballet December 12, 2011 BurbankNBeyond by Greg Simay Los Angeles Ballet stepped into its sixth season with a delightful holiday performance of The Nutcracker at The Alex Theatre in Glendale last weekend. LAB alternately charmed and thrilled its audience with dancing that conveyed emotional depth, and bravura displays that combined strength and grace. Act I, Scene One (hallway) features wonderfully expressive acting by Clara (Mia Katz) and her annoying brother Fritz (Aidan Merchel-Zoric). The charm continues into Scene Two (The Party) with engaging choreography and a stunning performance by the Cossack Doll (Chehon Wespi-Tschopp): ten consecutive turns (tour a la seconde) followed by a quadruple pirouette. And Scene Three is both playful and serious in its dispatch of the Mouse King. Act II, Scene One is a feast of superb performances that range from exquisite to vigorous. And the final scene when Clara awakens marks Mia Katz as a gifted actress as well as dancer. Like The Wizard of Oz would do in the 20th century, Tchaikovsky’s 19th century masterpiece celebrates the amazing worlds a young woman unleashes in her dreams. In The Wizard of Oz, the heroine Dorothy creates a world that enables her to work through relationship issues with the adults around her. In The Nutcracker, our heroine Clara is a bit more ambitious. She dreams of a romantic ideal. The scene opens just before the guests arrive at the Christmas Eve party at the Stalbaum Family’s festive home.Clara is being tormented by her brother Fritz, who attempts to wrestle her baby doll away from her. Later on, when the party is underway, we see Fritz and other boys waving toy guns and running through the crowd as Clara and the girls hug their dolls all the more tightly. And so we see, through a child’s eyes, society’s central problem: how to harness the male energy so that it protects fragile life rather than destroys it. Clara’s dear Uncle Drosselmeyer presents Clara with a life-sized Nutcracker, an example of male energy properly harnessed: the Nutcracker is able to crack the shell without destroying the nut. And was it just a coincidence that Fritz got knocked over in his presence when he persisted in teasing Clara? That night, Clara’s dream is that of an innocent young girl, not yet sailing into the storms of adolescence. So, her vision of men behaving badly is not a gang of wolves or even rats, but overgrown mice. Uncle Drossmeyer, personifying the civilizing tradition, summons The Nutcracker, symbolizing the young hero who must defend civilization anew. The Nutcracker dispatches the Mouse King; man’s better nature has triumphed over his baser one. As a result, Uncle Drossmeyer can now usher both Clara and her Nutcracker into a world where the delicate things—like snowflakes—can safely dance. A world where strength serves beauty and grace. The Nutcracker is a young girl’s wonderful dream of civilization as it might be. And for a few hours, Los Angeles Ballet made that dream a glorious reality. If one of your New Year’s resolutions is to become more culturally involved, put LAB on your list. Then you’ll have at least one resolution you’re likely to keep long after the pounds have returned. The Nutcracker plays at Royce Hall, UCLA on Saturday the 17th and Sunday the 18th, at 1:00 p.m. and 5:00 pm. Then it plays at the Redondo Beach performing Arts Center on Thursday the 22nd at 7:30 p.m., Friday the 23rd at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday the 24th at 1:00 p.m. Call the Box Office at 310-998-7782 or visit www.losangelesballet.org . DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Ballet presents a company of outstanding dancers from local communities and around the world. LAB dance artists master classical as well as contemporary techniques. John Dekle Hometown Jacksonville, FL Seasons with LAB 2024/2025 John Dekle commenced his ballet training at the Douglas Anderson School of the Arts in Jacksonville, Florida. At the age of 16, he pursued additional training with the Florida Ballet. Subsequently, he received a full scholarship to the Miami City Ballet School, where he trained for two years. Upon completing his second year, he secured an apprenticeship for the 2023/2024 season. During this time, he performed in renowned productions, including Balanchine's The Nutcracker , Alexei Ratmansky’s Swan Lake , Romeo and Juliet , Concerto DSCH , and Firebird , among others.

Los Angeles Ballet offers two subscription opportunities for the 2021/2022 Season: Full-Season Subscription and Choose-2 Subscription. Patrons receive the best pricing and best seating of the Season offered before single tickets are on-sale. SUBSCRIPTION SERIES I Want to Renew My Subscription Thank you for your request to renew your Subscription for the 2024/2025 Season. Please provide the following information and the Los Angeles Ballet Box Office will contact you to assist with your Subscription details. * All fields are required 2024/2025 Season / Subscribe / Subscription Renewal Request / Number of Subscriptions Full Season Subscription Saturday Night Series Choose-2 Subscription Opening Night Series First Name * Last Name Email Phone Number Address Please check one of the following: * I will be MAKING CHANGES to my Subscription. I have NO CHANGES to my Subscription. Please contact me between: * 9:00 am - 11: 00 am 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm 6:30 pm - 8:00 pm SUBMIT

The Nutcracker 2021 Cloe Taneja with Camille Goldsborough & Luna Weintraub in The Nutcracker Cloe Taneja with James Zenghhua Li & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Marcos Ramirez Castellano & Kate Inoue with James Zenghua Li in The Nutcracker Ryo Araki LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker; LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Laura Chachich & Joshua Brown in The Nutcracker; - Jasmine Perry & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Petra Conti in The Nutcracker Petra Conti in The Nutcracker Petra Conti, Tigran Sargsyan & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Cloe Taneja with James Zenghhua Li & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Cloe Taneja with Camille Goldsborough & Luna Weintraub in The Nutcracker Cloe Taneja with James Zenghhua Li & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Marcos Ramirez Castellano & Kate Inoue with James Zenghua Li in The Nutcracker Ryo Araki LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker; LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Laura Chachich & Joshua Brown in The Nutcracker; - Jasmine Perry & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Petra Conti in The Nutcracker Petra Conti in The Nutcracker Petra Conti, Tigran Sargsyan & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Cloe Taneja with James Zenghhua Li & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Cloe Taneja with Camille Goldsborough & Luna Weintraub in The Nutcracker Cloe Taneja with James Zenghhua Li & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Marcos Ramirez Castellano & Kate Inoue with James Zenghua Li in The Nutcracker Ryo Araki LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker; LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Laura Chachich & Joshua Brown in The Nutcracker; - Jasmine Perry & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Petra Conti in The Nutcracker Petra Conti in The Nutcracker Petra Conti, Tigran Sargsyan & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Cloe Taneja with James Zenghhua Li & LAB Ensemble in The Nutcracker Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Previous Gallery Next Gallery All photos by Reed Hutchinson Click on image for a fullscreen presentation.

Giselle 2016 Ulrik Birkkjaer Allyssa Bross & Kenta Shimizu Allyssa Bross & Kenta Shimizu Alyssa Bross, Chelsea Paige Johnston & Zheng Hua Li Alyssa Bross, Chelsea Paige Johnston & LAB Ensemble Alyssa Bross Julia Clinquemani & LAB Ensemble Allyssa Bross & LAB Ensemble Julia Clinquemani & Dustin True Julia Clinquemani & LAB Ensemble Allyssa Bross, Ulrik Birkkjaer & LAB Ensemble Allyssa Bross & LAB Ensemble Ulrik Birkkjaer Kate Highstrete & LAB Ensemble Kate Highstrete & LAB Ensemble LAB Ensemble Kate Highstrete & LAB Ensemble Allyssa Bross, Ulrik Birkkjaer & LAB Ensemble Allyssa Bross, Kenta Shimizu, Kate Highstrete & LAB Ensemble Julia Cinquemani Allyssa Bross, Ulrik Birkkjaer & LAB Ensemble Julia Cinquemani & Ulrik Birkkjaer Julia Cinquemani & Ulrik Birkkjaer Ulrik Birkkjaer Allyssa Bross & Kenta Shimizu Allyssa Bross & Kenta Shimizu Alyssa Bross, Chelsea Paige Johnston & Zheng Hua Li Alyssa Bross, Chelsea Paige Johnston & LAB Ensemble Alyssa Bross Julia Clinquemani & LAB Ensemble Allyssa Bross & LAB Ensemble Julia Clinquemani & Dustin True Julia Clinquemani & LAB Ensemble Allyssa Bross, Ulrik Birkkjaer & LAB Ensemble Allyssa Bross & LAB Ensemble Ulrik Birkkjaer Kate Highstrete & LAB Ensemble Kate Highstrete & LAB Ensemble LAB Ensemble Kate Highstrete & LAB Ensemble Allyssa Bross, Ulrik Birkkjaer & LAB Ensemble Allyssa Bross, Kenta Shimizu, Kate Highstrete & LAB Ensemble Julia Cinquemani Allyssa Bross, Ulrik Birkkjaer & LAB Ensemble Julia Cinquemani & Ulrik Birkkjaer Julia Cinquemani & Ulrik Birkkjaer Christensen and Neary after Coralli, Perrot, Petipa/Adam Previous Gallery Next Gallery All photos by Reed Hutchinson Click on image for a fullscreen presentation.

Co-Artistic Director Thordal Christensen announced the promotion of Ms. Noelle to LAB Principal Dancer at the curtain call of the December 17th 1 pm performance of The Nutcracker at Royce Hall, UCLA. Allynne Noelle Appointed Los Angeles Ballet Principal Dancer December 1, 2011 Company News from the Staff at LAB Co-Artistic Director Thordal Christensen announced the promotion of Ms. Noelle to LAB Principal Dancer at the curtain call of the December 17th 1 pm performance of The Nutcracker at Royce Hall, UCLA. Home / News / New Item

Season 2007-2008 George Balanchine Melissa Barak Melissa Barak Melissa Barak Melissa Barak George Balanchine George Balanchine George Balanchine George Balanchine George Balanchine George Balanchine Lar Lubovitch Lar Lubovitch Jennifer Backhaus Jennifer Backhaus Jennifer Backhaus Jennifer Backhaus Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky George Balanchine Melissa Barak Melissa Barak Melissa Barak Melissa Barak George Balanchine George Balanchine George Balanchine George Balanchine George Balanchine George Balanchine Lar Lubovitch Lar Lubovitch Jennifer Backhaus Jennifer Backhaus Jennifer Backhaus Jennifer Backhaus Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Previous Gallery Next Gallery All photos by Reed Hutchinson Click on image for a fullscreen presentation.