1997

1998

1999

2000

2001

2002

2003

2004

Carolina Ballet, Inc. was founded in 1984 as Raleigh Dance
Theatre, Inc. by Ann Vorus, owner of the Raleigh Dance Theatre.
As a student company, its purpose was to provide performance opportunities for students of the school. Over several years, both
the school and the company grew in reputation and stature in its metamorphosis as Carolina Ballet Theatre, a pre-professional regional company under Ms. Vorus and her successor as Artistic Director, Mary LeGere. Performances of the company began to attract favorable notice from area dance critics. In the fall of 1993, Raleigh lawyer Ward Purrington suggested to Ms. Vorus and the Raleigh Dance Theatre board that the company aspire to professional status. Market research suggested a professional dance presence in the Triangle region was not only needed but desired as well.

After exhaustive planning and subsequent interviewing of candidates from all over the country, Robert Weiss, former principal dancer with New York City Ballet and past artistic director of Pennsylvania Ballet, was selected in April 1997 as the founding artistic director of the new professional company, known as Carolina Ballet, Inc.

Upon the advice of other successful ballet companies, Mr. Weiss spent the fiscal year 1997-98 building awareness in the community and raising a three-year reserve on which to grow. During this planning year the company was dark, with the exception of the March 1998 Gala which featured dancers from New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Kirov Ballet and Miami City Ballet, and which kicked off Carolina Ballet’s first subscription campaign.

In August 1998, 21 dancers from around the world began to rehearse. They were selected earlier that year from a national audition tour. The company’s inaugural season opened in the fall of 1998 with more than 2,600 subscribers. During Carolina Ballet’s first season the company attracted the acclaim of critics and audiences alike. The season began with a performance of George Balanchine’s Square Dance at Cary’s Regency Park, attended by over 2,500 people; followed by an All Balanchine production in tribute to Mr. Weiss’ mentor at Raleigh Memorial Auditorium. The company then performed a world premiere staging of Handel’s Messiah with choreography by Robert Weiss and additional choreography by Sacramento Ballet’s Amy Seiwert, Duke University’s Tyler Walters and Carolina Ballet’s own Timour Bourtasenkov. This work was performed in collaboration with members of the Raleigh Oratorio Society, the Opera Company of North Carolina, the National Opera Company and North Carolina Symphony. In March 1999, a world premiere collaboration with the Ciompi Quartet was performed at Duke University’s Reynolds Auditorium. Innovations, an eclectic repertoire of modern works, was presented in April and the classic full-length Romeo & Juliet, with new choreography by Robert Weiss, was performed in May in collaboration with North Carolina Symphony.

Carolina Ballet’s second season was an unqualified success as well. Presenting both new, innovative ballets and classic works, the company of 26 dancers performed 30 times before 34,283 audience members in four North Carolina locations – Raleigh, Durham, Winston-Salem and Greenville. The season opened with An Evening Direct from New York, a production of three ballets originally choreographed for the New York City Ballet. Robert Weiss completed his Messiah adding choreography for parts II and III. The ballet quickly took its place among other Triangle area Christmas traditions. The Kreutzer Sonata, a unique combination of theater and ballet, premiered in February 2000 with original choreography by Robert Weiss. Based on Leo Tolstoy’s novella, The Kreutzer Sonata, this work was set to the music of Leos Janacek and Ludwig van Beethoven and specially commissioned music by J. Mark Scearce and used actors to tell the story as the dancers acted it out. A second collaboration with Ciompi Quartet included a new ballet by Duke University dance professor Tyler Walters whose choreography was funded by a national Choo-San Goh Foundation grant. In May, the company presented the premiere of Robert Weiss’ full-evening production of Carmen, only the second known choreography and the first by an American artist. The season was capped by a June program featuring Cabaret, a unique collaborative effort joining the grace and beauty of ballet choreographed by the renowned, Tony Award nominee Lynne Taylor-Corbett with the elegance and charm of acclaimed cabaret singer Andrea Marcovicci performing live on stage with the dancers. In recognition of the North Carolina Museum of Art’s Rodin exhibition, Carolina Ballet also performed Margo Sappington’s brilliant Rodin, Mis en Vie. The company’s work was praised in several national publications, including The New York Times, The Washington Post and Time.

The 1999-2000 season marked the beginning of Carolina Ballet’s role as cultural ambassador as it began its first touring season in Winston-Salem, presenting Robert Weiss’ Romeo & Juliet and a repertory program of Balanchine’s Square Dance and The Kreutzer Sonata. The company also traveled to Greenville as part of the East Carolina University’s Performing Arts series.

In the third season, Carolina Ballet increased in size to 30 dancers and continued to perform exciting and innovative ballets that included Weiss’ new version of Coppelia, Messiah (again to sold out audiences), new ballets with the Ciompi Quartet by Christopher Wheeldon, Tyler Walters and Richard Tanner and a Classics program of Concerto Barocco, Tarantella, The Lilac Garden, and The Moor’s Pavane. Lynne Taylor-Corbett created a new Carmina Burana on Carolina Ballet that received rave reviews locally and from Clive Barnes in Dance Magazine. The program also included two of Taylor-Corbett’s earlier works – Great Galloping Gottschalk and Chiarscuro. In Winston-Salem Carolina Ballet revived Carmen and presented Messiah for the first time as an Easter celebration.

The fourth season brought two significant moves for Carolina Ballet. The company moved into a new studio in Raleigh where for the first time the administrative, and artistic arms of the company were under one roof. And Carolina Ballet moved from being a regional touring company to a national and international touring company. Carolina Ballet truly became an ambassador for the state of North Carolina when it preformed on the "Works & Process" series at the Guggenheim Museum and participated in the II Dance Festival in April 2002 in Budapest, Hungary. Another significant milestone for the fourth season was the premiere of Weiss’ new $1 million Nutcracker, sponsored by Progress Energy and presented with North Carolina Symphony at Christmastime to over 30,000 patrons. This premiere production of Nutcracker included 128 children from the Triangle community. Two special productions were presented for free to Wake County public school children.

The season opened with a reprise of Romeo & Juliet and included a second collaboration with Andrea Marcovicci and choreography by Lynne Taylor-Corbett for Cabaret II. The program included the two segments of the earlier collaboration and added a third segment of ballet to the "spoken word", the poetry of Noel Coward, read by Ms. Marcovicci. The fourth Ciompi Quartet program presented new works by Tyler Walters (his third premiere with Carolina Ballet), Damian Woetzel, Timour Bourtasenkov and Lynne Taylor-Corbett (in collaboration with the North Carolina School of the Arts.) A second week of ballets from the repertoire was also part of the Ciompi program. The season ended with Robert Weiss’ new Firebird on a program with Balanchine’s Who Cares? and Valse Fantaisie, and Peter Martins’ Valse Triste.

The 2002-2003, fifth season at Carolina Ballet opened with 34 dancers in the company. Of that number twelve dancers (plus ballet master Marin Boieru) were founding members of Carolina Ballet. The fifth season appropriately highlighted several of Robert Weiss’ triumphs and offered new ballets by the artistic director and some of his top guest choreographers. The fall opened with a reprise of Carmen, Nutcracker played for 19 performances (including two free performances for the Wake County elementary school students) and Messiah was repeated at Easter. Two of the most important aspects of the season were Weiss’ new Stravinsky’s Clowns (all new choreography for Jeu de Cartes, Petruschka and Pulcinlla) that The Wall Street Journal called "an evening of real brilliance" and The Fairy Tales of Hans Christian Andersen which closed the season. Weiss invited Lynne Taylor-Corbett and Damian Woetzel to each choreograph a ballet with him for this program. Damian Woetzel received a Choo-San Goh grant for his choreography for the fairy tale The Nightingale. Carolina Ballet added Rocky Mount, Wilmington and Pinehurst to its list of North Carolina cities where it performs.

After the successes of the first five years, Carolina Ballet continued to grow. The company had 37 dancers at the start of the sixth season and adopted the system of ranking the dancers with seven principals, ten soloists, 15 corps members and five apprentices. The company added tours to Asheville and Pinehurst to our already established second home in Winston-Salem. The highlight of the sixth season was the 100th anniv-ersary celebration for George Balanchine's birth. Carolina Ballet presented two weeks of ballets from Balanchine's vast repertory including Apollo, The Four Temperaments, Prodigal Son and La Sonnambula; and in the spring Carolina Ballet presented Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream. The 2003-2004 season marked the launching of Carolina Ballet's education program "Dancers in Schools." This program was made possible through support from GlaxoSmithKline. Carolina Ballet dancers reach over 10,000 third, fourth and fifth graders in the public schools around the state, taking ballet into the classrooms to introduce the art form; and to discuss the importance of exercise and good nutrition in young people's lives.  

With the overwhelming success of Balanchine Celebration, Carolina Ballet opened its seventh season with Balanchine Masterworks: The Celebration Continues for which Robert Weiss chose several of the favorite Balanchine ballets to reprise, and for this tribute he choreographed a new ballet, Symposium (The Masks of Dionysos) , as an homage to his mentor George Balanchine. The News & Observer said of Symposium "the ballet is lovely, moving and perfectly matched to the music;" and called the new ballet "one of Weiss' best creations."   Francis Mason said on WQXR-FM (the radio station of the New York Times ) of Symposium , Weiss is "making the Balanchine legacy live with new work like this."  

2005

Also during the 2004-2005 season, Carolina Ballet collaborated with The Red Clay Ramblers, the Tony award winning blue grass string band from Chapel Hill, on a production choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett called Carolina Jamboree. The season ended with a brand new Swan Lake choreographed by Robert Weiss. George Balanchine always said if you name every ballet Swan Lake , people will come. And this was the case for Carolina Ballet's new Swan Lake , the production was sold out. Weiss' Swan Lake was inspired by a children's book by Austrian writer and illustrator Lisbeth Zwerger in which the Swan Princess has only eight friends making it possible to tell the story with fewer dancers.

During the eighth season, Carolina Ballet presented the Raleigh premiere of Balanchine's Agon on a program with Robert Weiss' Petruschka and a brand new ballet, Petit Ballet Romantique, that Weiss choreographed to music of Leo Delibes. The 2005-2006 season featured eight premieres: five choreographed by Weiss and the other three by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, Tyler Walters, Timour Boutasenkov. In February, Carolina Ballet presented Shakespeare Suite with Weiss' new Tempest Fantasy to the Pulitzer Prize winning score by Paul Moravec, and Love Speaks choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett. Jose Limon's The Moor's Pavane was also on this program. In the spring, as an Easter celebration, Carolina Ballet presented four new works to spiritual music: Ipse Dixit by Tyler Walters, Vivaldi's Gloria by Timour Bourtasenkov and Poulenc's Gloria by Weiss. The fourth new work was a pas de deux choreographed by Weiss to music by J. Mark Scearce, Endymion's Sleep. The season ended with a brand new Cinderella to music by Karl Moraski. The New Republic said of Weiss' Cinderella it was "beautifully wrought." The News & Observer said "its artistic achievement sets it apart: choreography fitted perfectly to each moment and each dancer."

September 2006 marked a huge milestone for Carolina Ballet as the company embarked on a three week, seven city tour of the People's Republic of China where it presented eleven performances of Swan Lake. The trip was a huge success and Carolina Ballet was very proud to be representing the state of North Carolina as a cultural ambassador. It was also a wonderful opportunity for Hong Yang and Wei Ni to perform with their American company in their homeland.   While in China, Robert Weiss became intrigued by the music of the Guzheng, an ancient stringed instrument, and was inspired to choreograph a ballet to the unique sounding music.   He asked Guzheng musician Jennifer Chang (whom he had met at a reception announcing the Chinese tour) to select several pieces from her repertoire to be used on a program (called Choreocalligraphy ) of new choreography by Weiss, ballet master Marin Boieru and soloist dancer Attila Bongar.  

Second only to the tour to China, the highlight of Carolina Ballet's ninth season was Monet Impressions , a collaboration with the NC Museum of Art. Carolina Ballet presented a new program inspired by the paintings of Claude Monet which were being exhibited at the museum. Lynne Taylor-Corbett selected Monet's scenic painting "Dejeunier sur l'Herbe" to bring to life in new choreography for Picnic on the Grass, and Weiss selected several of Monet's more abstract paintings of water lilies, irises and roses for his ballet The Gardens of Giverny. Raleigh native and Tony Award winner William Ivey Long created the costumes for Picnic on the Grass and David Heuvel designed the costumes for The Gardens of Giverny. Roy Dicks wrote in his review for Pointe Magazine "the program was a crowd-pleaser in the best sense.These were truly beautiful ballets, visually resplendent and imaginatively conceived."

During the 2006-2007 season Carolina Ballet joined with the North Carolina Dance Theatre, Opera Carolina, and Piedmont Opera in a program called cARTwheels, a statewide educational initiative sponsored by the NC Department of Cultural Resources. On six occasions, Carolina Ballet presented a shortened version of Swan Lake attended by nearly 11,000 students from 21 counties around the state.

2008

In 2007-2008 Carolina Ballet celebrated its tenth anniversary.  The company had grown to 32 dancers and performed seven productions (over 50 performances) during the year plus the annual Nutcracker in Chapel Hill and Raleigh.  The year was a celebration on all fronts – celebrating the work of principal guest choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett with presentations of three of her ballets choreographed on Carolina Ballet throughout the years, Carmina Burana, Cabaret with Andrea Marcovicci and Carolina Jamboree accompanied by the Red Clay Ramblers.  Celebrating the significance of Robert Weiss’ mentor George Balanchine with the Raleigh premiere of Raymonda Variations on a program with Valse Fantaisie and Apollo.  Celebrating original choreography by Robert Weiss – Oblique Dreamscape to music of Stravinsky; The Waltzes of Old Vienna to music of Johann Strauss II ; and Peter and the Wolf to music of Prokofiev.  The season ended with the premiere of Carolina Ballet’s production of The Sleeping Beauty after the original Petipa with additional choreography by Weiss.  The News & Observer called the ballet “visually stunning and strongly danced…becoming the crown jewel in the company’s repertoire.”  Other highlights of the season included an elegant Ballet Ball attended by over 400 patrons, and the successful completion of a three-year, $10 million campaign to stabilize the company.  

Carolina Ballet’s second decade opened with world premieres by Lynne Taylor-Corbett (Code of Silence) and Robert Weiss (Time Gallery) in September; and a world premiere production of Don Quixote – in a collaboration with Duke University’s Nasher Museum of Art - choreographed by Weiss in October.  Highlights of the season included the return of Messiah at Thanksgiving; Carolina Ballet’s first presentation of a Jerome Robbins work, Fancy Free; the return of the live music of the Ciompi Quartet with Tempest Fantasy and The Kreutzer Sonata; a revival of the ever popular Coppelia; and the premiere of Robert Weiss’ Beauty and the Beast, along with an additional new ballet by Weiss, Serenata to Dvorak’s Serenade for Strings to close the season.  Despite the national economic downturn Carolina Ballet finished the season with a very strong showing for Beauty and the Beast exceeding the goal for ticket sales.