Jorden Morris will remain artistic director of Orlando Ballet for three more years, the company announced this week as it revealed its 2024-25 season.
Morris became artistic director in December 2021 after Robert Hall stepped down in August of that year. He created a new production of “The Nutcracker” for Orlando Ballet in 2023, which will return in the upcoming season alongside an encore of his version of “Peter Pan.”
Currently, Morris is also serving as the company’s interim executive director while Orlando Ballet conducts a search to fill that position. In March, the company announced it would not renew the contract with Cheryl Collins, who had been executive director since 2020.
In announcing the season this week, Orlando Ballet board chair Jonathan Ledden said Morris was the person to lead the ballet to future heights.
“Orlando Ballet is poised for a strong and stunning future and eloquently represents the power and value of performing arts thriving in a growing community,” Ledden said. “So much of the credit goes to Jorden’s imagination and ability to execute. We really could not be happier about his past three seasons and even more so for the three new seasons ahead.”
Orlando Ballet’s “Uncorked” series, which offers behind-the-scenes looks at the company, its shows and the creative process of dance, will offer three programs during the season — Orlando Ballet’s 51st. They will take place Sept. 26 and Nov. 7, 2024, and Jan. 23, 2025, at Harriett’s Orlando Ballet Centre, 600 N. Lake Formosa Drive in Orlando.
Classic ballets on the schedule include “Romeo & Juliet” and “Giselle,” other choreographers represented throughout the season include Martha Graham and George Balanchine.
Performances take place in Steinmetz Hall at the Dr. Phillips Center for the Performing Arts, 445 S. Magnolia Ave. in Orlando. For more information, go to orlandoballet.org.
Orlando Ballet parts ways with executive director Cheryl Collins
Here’s a chronological look at Orlando Ballet’s 2024-25 mainstage season.
ROMEO & JULIET: Oct. 17-20. Shakespeare’s tragedy of young love amid feuding families features a score by Sergei Prokofiev, performed by the Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra. James Sofranko, artistic director of Grand Rapids Ballet in Michigan, will choreograph.
THE NUTCRACKER: Dec. 6-22, 2024. Morris’s new version of the perennial holiday favorite debuted last year.
PETER PAN: Feb. 20-23, 2025. Morris also choreographed this whimsical version of J.M. Barrie’s story about the boy who wouldn’t grow up and his Neverland adventures with the Darling family. Orlando Ballet last presented the production in 2021.
MIXED REPERTOIRE: AMERICAN CLASSICS: March 27-30, 2025. The program includes George Balanchine’s “Divertimento No. 15,” set to the composition by Mozart. Also on the program, honoring the upcoming 100th anniversary of the Martha Graham Dance Company, is Graham’s “Maple Leaf Rag” with a score by Scott Joplin and costumes designed by Calvin Klein. The bill also includes “Skyward” from Alysa Pires, in which 11 dancers focus on movement and discipline.
GISELLE: May 1-4, 2025. The Orlando Philharmonic Orchestra returns to play Adolphe Adam’s music, which scores the ghostly story of a young woman who is treated poorly in love in this world but set for revenge in the next.
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