New York City Ballet Winter Recap:

NYCB performances from this past season

By the numbers

• 42 performances

• 7 programs

• 13 Swan Lake (with 5 principal debuts!)

Exits:

Bouder in Firebird

• Ashley Bouder’s retirement performance as the titular role in Balanchine’s The Firebird took place on February 13. Bouder got her apprenticeship with NYCB in 1999. This past year, she has notably performed the lead in Scotch Symphony and the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Nutcracker, leading the land of sweets, including her daughter asone of the Angels.

• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/22/arts/dance/ashley-bouder-retiring-new-york-city-ballet.html

• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/12/arts/dance/ashley-bouder-retiring-new-york-city-ballet.html

Entrances:

• Corps member Becket Jones was promoted to her current position from her apprenticeship, which she earned in August 2024. While studying at the School of American Ballet, she received the 2024 Mae L. Wien Award for Outstanding Promise. As a student at the School of American Ballet, Jones danced lead roles in Balanchine’s Serenade and Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2.

  Promotions:

• Miriam Miller was promoted to principal dancer in January, following debuts in Concerto Barocco, Variations pour un Pore et un Soupir, and leading up to her debut as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake.

• Gilbert Bolden III was promoted to principal dancer in February, following a winter season with 5 debuts!

At the Lake:

Nadon in Swan Lake

• Unity Phelan, Miriam Miller, and Mira Nadon debuted as Odette/Odile in Swan Lake.

• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/02/25/arts/dance/miriam-miller-swan-lake-new-york-city-ballet.html

• Roman Mejia and Chun Wai Chan as Siegfried

Paquita:

Chan and Mearns w/ corps + soloists in Paquita

Starting with a restage Minkus Pas de Trois by George Balanchines, the following dance, to music from the Act III Grande Pas, was choreographed by Alexei Ratmansky.

In Ratmansky’s ‘Paquita,’ Worlds Collide to Make a Ballet Big Bang - The New York Times

Ratmansky’s New and Not So Improved ‘Paquita’ for New York City Ballet, A Review | by Richard Philion | Feb, 2025 | Medium

Review: Ratmansky’s ‘Paquita’ for NYCB is a Bright and Tender Thing | Observer

Sylvia:

• Premiered in 1950, Maria Tallchief, Nicholas Magallanes, traditional pas

Mystic Familiar:

Kikta and Corti in Mystic Familiar

• New work to music by Dan Deacon, choreographed by Justin Peck.

• Bradley, Corti, Kikta, M.T. MacKinnon (replaced by Grace Sheffel for 1/31/25 show), T. Peck, Targosz, M. Williams, Bolden, Coll, Gabriel, Klesa, Stanley, Takahashi, P. Walker [Conductor: Sill; Guest Artist, Vocals and Electronics: Deacon]

• https://www.nytimes.com/2025/01/30/arts/dance/review-justin-peck-mystic-familiar-new-york-city-ballet.html

• https://artsmeme.com/2025/02/03/rarefied-air-justin-pecks-new-work-at-new-york-city-ballet/

Notable debuts:

• Emily Kikta at the title role in Firebird

• Indiana Woodward and Jovani Furlan in Scotch Symphony

• Miriam Miller in Concerto Barocco

• Dominika Afanasenkov as Odette/Odile for Family Saturday and Inside NYCB performances.

Returns:

• Ashley Laracey in Stravinsky Violin Concerto

• Ashley Hod in the Firebird

• Alexa Maxwell in the Cage

• Miriam Miller as the Bride in FB

• Mira Nadon with Miller in Concerto Barocco

Looking forward

• The company tours to the Kennedy Center starting March 25- Principal dancer Indiana Woodward is finally getting her Coppelia debut!

• The spring season (Starts April 22) will include performances of A Midsummer Nights Dream and an All Ravel program to celebrate the French composer.

https://criticaldance.org/nycb-winter-2025-part-2-a-paquita-a-sylph-two-nymphs-two-firebirds-and-a-farewell/#:~:text=Make%20no%20mistake%3A%20Alexei%20Ratmansky's,evening%20following%20its%20world%20premiere.

https://www.nytimes.com/2025/03/04/arts/dance/new-york-city-ballet-ashley-bouder-alexei-ratmansky.html

@caul1flower11 on reddit posts helpful casting stats for every season- here are the sheets for NYCB’s ballerinas and danseurs this season: