Boston Ballet

2005

A look at milestones from the year 2005. More to come....

Jorma Elo named Resident Choreographer
01 January 2005

Finnish-born Jorma Elo became resident choreographer for Boston Ballet in 2005. A world reknown choreographer and former dancer with the Finnish National Ballet and Netherlands Dance Theatre, Elo’s association with Boston Ballet goes back to 2002 when artistic director Mikko Nissinen invited him to choreograph his first piece for the company. The piece, Sharp Side of Dark, premiered on September 19, 2002.

Since 2002, Elo has choreographed eight world premieres for the company, including Plan to B (2004), Brake the Eyes (2007), and Awake Only (2012). In 2011, Boston Ballet presented the first full-length evening of his work, Elo Experience.

World Premiere of Jorma Elo’s Sharper Side of Dark, circa 2012
Jorma Elo, Boston Ballet principal dancer Lia Cirio, soloists Sabi Varga, and Whitney Jensen
Photograph by Rosalie O’Connor
Boston Ballet Archives
Sarabande and Falling Angels
17 March 2005

Boston Ballet presented the company premieres of Jiří Kylián’s Falling Angels and Sarabande. Boston Ballet had the honor of being the first company outside Kylián’s Netherland’s Dance Theatre to perform the works. The performance also marked the first time Boston Ballet had added Kylián’s to work to the repertoire since the 1987 company premiere of Symphony in D.

Since 2005, Boston Ballet has become one of the few American companies to have such a vast number of Kylián works in its repertoire, which has included two full-length performance evenings and several American premieres of his work.

Boston Ballet in Jiří Kylián’s Falling Angels, 2005
Photograph by Eric Antoniou
Boston Ballet Archives