The Company

In just over a decade, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet has evolved from an educational program of the Kennedy Center to a highly lauded, ballet company, hailed by the New York Times' Chief Dance Critic in 2007 as "one of the most courageous projects in ballet today."

In 1994, the Education Department of The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts began a series of ballet master classes for students from the metropolitan Washington region with the legendary Suzanne Farrell. This series provided intermediate to advanced-level ballet students the opportunity to study with one of the greatest ballerinas of the 20th century.  Due to overwhelming interest and the popularity of the program, the Kennedy Center expanded the program to a national scale in 1995.  Since 2003 the program has included international students from countries including Mexico, Japan, China, Czech Republic, Bulgaria, UK, and Switzerland.   This intensive three-week program, Exploring Ballet with Suzanne Farrell, takes place each summer and remains a prestigious and well-known program for talented young dancers.|

In the fall of 1999, Ms. Farrell took cues from the masters of ballet with whom she studied to direct the Kennedy Center's production of, Suzanne Farrell Stages the Masters of 20^th Century Ballet.  This performance celebrating the Kennedy Center's Millennium Season was a smashing success and considered the birth of The Suzanne Farrell Ballet.

In the fall of 2000, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet now produced by the Kennedy Center, debuted during the Kennedy Center's Balanchine Celebration.  After earning rave reviews, the Company again performed in early 2001 at Seven Days of Opening Nights at Florida State University, where Ms. Farrell is a tenured Eppes Scholar professor in the Dance Department.

Since 2001, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet has performed annually at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and has toured both nationally and internationally.  Notably, the Company accepted an invitation to perform as a tribute to Ms. Farrell, a 2005 Honoree, as part of the nationally televised Kennedy Center Honors gala.  To date the Company has over 35 ballets in its repertoire including works by Ms. Farrell's mentors George Balanchine, Maurice Béjart, and Jerome Robbins. 

In June 2005, the Company collaborated with The National Ballet of Canada to restage Balanchine's Don Quixote.  Not performed in over twenty-five years, this evening-length ballet was originally created in 1965 by George Balanchine specifically for Ms. Farrell and is unique to The Suzanne Farrell Ballet.  The Company traveled to the Edinburgh International Arts Festival in 2006 to present this landmark revival.

Committed to carrying forth the legacy of George Balanchine through performances of his classic ballets, The Suzanne Farrell Ballet announced the formal creation of the Balanchine Preservation Initiative in February 2007.  This initiative serves to introduce "rarely seen" or "lost" Balanchine works to audiences around the world. Many of these works have not been performed in nearly forty years. The Initiative is produced with the knowledge and cooperation of The George Balanchine Trust.  To date, the Company's repertoire includes nine Balanchine Preservation Initiative Ballets including Variations for Orchestra (Balanchine/Stravinsky), Divertimento Brillante (Balanchine/Glinka), and Pithoprakta (Balanchine/Xenakis).

In November 2007, the Company launched an Artistic Partnership outreach program.  Showcasing her teaching gifts Suzanne Farrell brought together her Company and Cincinnati Ballet, a nationally recognized company from her hometown, to present Chaconne.   Featuring dancers from both companies, the ensemble performed in both Cincinnati and Washington, DC in November 2007.  The mission of this initiative is to salute, support, and galvanize ballet companies throughout the United States.  The inaugural partnership with Cincinnati Ballet was so successful that the Farrell Ballet has chosen to repeat this project with Ballet Austin during the 2008/2009 season.