About the Company

American Ballet Theatre is considered one of the greatest dance companies in the world, revered as a living national treasure since its founding in 1939. Few ballet companies rival ABT in size, scope, and outreach. Though located in New York City, ABT annually tours the United States –performing for 300,000 people annually – and is the only major cultural institution to do so. The Company has made more than 30 international tours to 45 countries in order to share American ballet with the world, and on many of these engagements ABT received sponsorship from the State Department of the United States Government.

In the Autumn of 1939, ABT was launched with the mission of developing a repertoire of the best ballets from the past, and the creation of new works by gifted choreographers, wherever they might be found. Under the direction of Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith (1945 – 1980), the Company more than fulfilled this mission.

Perhaps unmatched in the history of ballet, ABT’s repertoire includes full-length classics from the nineteenth century: Swan Lake, The Sleeping Beauty and Giselle; the finest works from the early twentieth century: Apollo, Les Sylphides, Jardin aux Lilas and Rodeo; and acclaimed contemporary masterpieces including Airs, Push Comes to Shove and Duets. Throughout the curation of this exquisite repertoire, ABT has commissioned works by the choreographic geniuses of the twentieth century: George Balanchine, Antony Tudor, Jerome Robbins, Agnes de Mille and Twyla Tharp, among others. Mikhail Baryshnikov became Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre in 1980, succeeding Lucia Chase and Oliver Smith. Under his leadership, numerous classical ballets were staged, restaged, and refurbished and ABT strengthened and refined the classical tradition. In 1990, Jane Hermann and Oliver Smith succeeded Baryshnikov and established an agenda dedicated to maintaining the great traditions of the past while aggressively pursuing a vital and innovative future.

In October 1992, former American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Kevin McKenzie was appointed Artistic Director and serves as such today. McKenzie, steadfast in his vision of ABT as “American”, is committed to maintaining the Company’s vast repertoire and bringing the art of dance theater to the great stages of the world. In upholding this mission, the Company has enjoyed successful engagements in Abu Dhabi, Brisbane, Havana, Hong Kong, Paris, Singapore and Beijing.

On April 27, 2006, by an act of Congress, American Ballet Theatre was designated America’s National Ballet Company®.

The original cast of Pillar of Fire (1942). Photo by Maurice Seymour.

AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE WEBSITE: https://www.abt.org/

ABOUT THE LEADERSHIP

KEVIN MCKENZIE

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, HAMILTON E. JAMES CHAIR

Photo by Fabrizo Ferri.

A native of Vermont, Kevin McKenzie received his ballet training at the Washington School of Ballet. In 1972, Mr. McKenzie was awarded a Silver medal at the Sixth International Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. He was a leading dancer with both the National Ballet of Washington and The Joffrey Ballet before joining American Ballet Theatre as a Soloist in March 1979. McKenzie was appointed a Principal Dancer the following December and danced with the Company until 1991.

As a Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre, McKenzie performed leading roles in all the major full-length classics including Solor in La Bayadère, Don Jose in Carmen, the Prince in Mikhail Baryshnikov’s production of the full-length Cinderella, Franz in Coppélia, Basil and Espada in Don Quixote (Kitri’s Wedding), Albrecht in Giselle, Romeo and Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet, Prince Désiré in The Sleeping Beauty, Prince Siegfried in Swan Lake, and James in La Sylphide. His repertoire also includes the Gentleman With Her in Dim Lustre, Her Lover in Jardin aux Lilas, the Friend in Pillar of Fire, the Champion Roper in Rodeo, leading roles in The Garden of Villandry, The Leaves Are Fading, Other Dances, Paquita, Raymonda (Grand Pas Hongrois), Les Sylphides, Sylvia Pas de Deux and Theme and Variations, and a featured role in Requiem. He created the role of Amnon in Martine van Hamel’s Amnon V’Tamar and a leading role in Clark Tippet’s S.P.E.B.S.Q.S.A.

During his performing career, McKenzie performed as a guest artist in cities throughout the world, including Spoleto, Italy, Paris, London, Tokyo, Havana, Moscow, Vienna and Korea, dancing with, among others, the London Festival Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, the National Ballet of Cuba and the Universal Ballet in Seoul. In September 1989, McKenzie was appointed a permanent guest artist with The Washington Ballet, and, in 1991, he was named Artistic Associate of that company. He also acted as Associate Artistic Director and a choreographer for van Hamel’s New Amsterdam Ballet.

McKenzie was appointed Artistic Director of American Ballet Theatre in October 1992. His previous choreographic credits include Groupo Zambaria (1984) and Liszt Études (1991), both for van Hamel’s New Amsterdam Ballet, and Lucy and the Count (1992) for The Washington Ballet. His choreography for ABT includes the full-length classics The Nutcracker (1993), a new production of Swan Lake (2000), and a new production of The Sleeping Beauty (2007, with Gelsey Kirkland and Michael Chernov). His staging credits include Don Quixote (1995, in collaboration with Susan Jones), Raymonda (2004, with choreography by Anna-Marie Holmes), and a new production of Raymonda Divertissements (2014, with Irina Kolpakova).

McKenzie holds honorary degrees of Doctor of Arts from Saint Michael’s College in Colchester, Vermont (1993) and Doctor of Fine Arts from Adelphi University (2019). He received the Dance Magazine Award in 1999. In addition, he appeared in two Emmy Award winning broadcasts, The Unicorn, the Gorgon and the Manticore (1970) and American Ballet Theatre in Le Corsaire (1998) both for PBS’ Dance in America series. McKenzie is a founding board member of Kaatsbaan International Dance Center in Tivoli, New York.

KARA MEDOFF BARNETT

EXECUTIVE DIRECTOR

Photo by Chris Taggart.

Kara Medoff Barnett was appointed Executive Director of American Ballet Theatre, America’s National Ballet Company, in February 2016 following nearly nine years as a senior executive at Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts. At ABT, Barnett has advanced innovation and inclusion, supporting a robust slate of new productions and increasing diversity in the training pipeline. Since 2016, the Company has performed in Paris, Muscat, Washington D.C., Los Angeles, Chicago, Detroit, Singapore and Hong Kong, bringing extraordinary art to audiences worldwide.

During her tenure at Lincoln Center, Barnett served as Director of Strategy and Business Development and Senior Director of the Capital Campaign for the transformative redevelopment of Lincoln Center’s iconic 16-acre campus. In 2012, Barnett became the founding Managing Director of Lincoln Center International (LCI), established to extend Lincoln Center’s brand, facilitate artistic exchange, and advise government leaders, philanthropists, and developers on the planning and management of cultural infrastructure projects around the globe. Under Barnett’s leadership, LCI launched the Lincoln Center Global Exchange, an annual conference for international leaders and change agents to advance the role of art and culture in addressing critical challenges facing our collective future.

Barnett has produced plays on and off Broadway, and she received a Tony® Award for the 2003 Broadway revival of Long Day’s Journey Into Night. She is a member of the Advisory Committee of the American Theatre Wing, a member of the Harvard Business School Alumni Board and a 2015 Henry Crown Fellow of the Aspen Institute. In 2014, she was named as a member of “40 Under 40” in Crain’s New York Business.

Barnett attended Duke University on a Trinity Scholarship, graduating summa cum laude, and received her M.B.A. from Harvard Business School.