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Woolf Works

New York Premiere


Pride Night

June 26, 2024 at 7:30 pm

Metropolitan Opera House
New York, New York

The Royal Ballet in Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works. Photo: Asya Verzhbinsky.
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Woolf WorksNew York Premiere


Concept, Direction, and Choreography by Wayne McGregor
Music by Max Richter
Design by Ciguë ("I now, I then"), We Not I (“Becomings”), and Wayne McGregor (“Tuesday”)
Costume Design by Moritz Junge
Lighting Design by Lucy Carter
Film Design by Ravi Deepres
Make-Up Design by Kabuki
Dramaturg: Uzma Hameed
Sound Associate: Chris Ekers
Associate Lighting Designer: Simon Bennison
Staged by Amanda Eyles, Mikaela Polley, and Antoine Vereecken

Wayne McGregor’s award-winning ballet triptych Woolf Works re-creates the emotions, themes, and fluid style of three of Virginia Woolf’s novels: Mrs. Dalloway, Orlando, and The Waves. With inspiration also enmeshed with elements from her letters, essays, and diaries, Woolf Works expresses the heart of an artistic life driven to discover a freer, uniquely modern realism. It brings to life Woolf’s world of “granite and rainbow”, where human beings are at once both physical body and uncontained essence. Created for The Royal Ballet in 2015, Woolf Works is an ambitious, brave, and thoughtful ballet set to challenge our expectations and take us to exhilarating new places.

Woolf Works has received notable recognition and outstanding critical acclaim. The full-length contemporary ballet won the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, and McGregor was awarded the Critics Circle National Dance Award for Best Classical Choreography for the work.

Advisory:
This production contains references to suicide. Lasers will be projected into the auditorium.

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Join ABT for Pride Night

Celebrate Icons of Past and Present

American Ballet Theatre is proud to announce the fourth annual Pride Night on Wednesday, June 26. This year’s pride celebration takes place around Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works, a ballet triptych which depicts the life and works of queer literary icon Virginia Woolf and explores questions of sexuality and gender identity and expression.

Join us for a joyful evening honoring the trailblazers of America’s National Ballet Company®. Come for the ballet, visit the exhibit honoring ABT’s first Hair and Makeup Supervisor Leopold Allen, who was a cornerstone of ABT for over ten years, and end your evening on the Lincoln Center Plaza for ABT’s Silent Disco.

ABT dancers Anabel Katsnelson and Zimmi Coker signing ABT’s Pride Flag.
Photo: Bethany Beacham.

Pride Flag Auction

Signed by ABT dancers and brought on stage during bows of Wayne McGregor’s Woolf Works on Wednesday, June 26, 2024, the Pride Flag being auctioned is a symbol of the Company’s commitment to community and inclusivity. Money raised from this auction will benefit ABT RISE – American Ballet Theatre’s DEI initiatives centered on the belief that Representation and Inclusion will Sustain our Excellence.

The auction runs until midnight on June 30, 2024. Don’t miss your chance to bid on this exclusive item!

Leopold Allen and Martine van Hamel
Photo: Paul B. Goode.

Honoring Leopold Allen
(1945-1989)

A legend, a light, a trailblazer – Leopold Allen was a fixture in the Company for over 10 years, working closely with many ABT icons including Susan Jaffe and Mikhail Baryshnikov. An artist of the highest caliber, Leopold always filled the room with laughter and made everyone in his chair feel ready to take the stage. In 1989, Leopold sadly lost his life to AIDS.

During ABT’s 2024 Summer season, please take a moment to visit our exhibit to honor his legacy at the vitrine in the South TV Lounge, near List Hall in the Metropolitan Opera House.

Read more about Leopold Allen