Lourdes López: Her past accomplishments with MCB and upon leaving, what’s to come

Lourdes López rehearsing George Balanchine’s “The Nutcracker” with principal dancer Katia Carranza. (Photo by Alexander Iziliaev, courtesy Miami City Ballet)

“When I returned to Miami thirteen years ago, I made a promise to myself. I promised myself that I would only serve two groups: you, our Miami audience, and the dancers of Miami City Ballet, our artists. I promised myself that I would bring you only the best in dance,” said Lourdes López during her final speech as artistic director of Miami City Ballet (MCB) at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami.

The occasion was the world premiere on Friday, April 25, of the ballet “Carmen,” conceived by Annabelle López Ochoa for MCB. But the ovation she received when she first entered onstage of the Ziff Ballet Opera House was a heartfelt, moving display of appreciation for the battles she undertook to fulfill those initial promises.

Two days later, López would receive another standing ovation along with flowers, balloons, and shouts of “Bravo!” while a voiceover reminded those present of her tenure’s significant achievements.

Lourdes López (at the center with Toby Lerner Ansin, founder of MCB) and the company, on Sunday, April 27, at the Arsht Center of Miami. (Photo by Alexander Iziliaev, courtesy Miami City Ballet)

Her tenure exceeded expectations set in 2012, when the former ballet dancer, virtually unknown to Miami audiences despite having spent her childhood in the city, was named Edward Villella’s replacement as artistic director of the group.

On a spring afternoon in her home in Coconut Grove, we spoke with the 66-year-old and now-former artistic director of MCB. What did she consider her three greatest moments during her years with the company?

“Regarding the works, and in no particular order of preference,” says López, “I would start with the new ‘Nutcracker’ because it’s a ballet that attracts a large audience, and all the companies have beautiful productions. The MCB’s version was already 30 years old, and something different was needed. So, I asked Rubén and the late Isabel Toledo to create a ‘Nutcracker’ that spoke not of the North but of the South, and they did it.”

She tells of another important moment.

“(It) was ‘A Midsummer Night’s Dream,’ and to this day, I remain the only person The George Balanchine Trust has allowed to reimagine it completely. The staging you see in New York is completely different from what we do here. The fact that they gave me the opportunity and permission to do it meant a lot to me. It meant they knew I understood what Balanchine’s ‘Midsummer Night’s Dream’ is about and wasn’t going to change its purpose or its essence.”

Lourdes López in conversation with Cuban American designers Rubén and Isabel Toledo during an Open Barre session at MCB’s studios on Miami Beach. Isabel passed away shortly after, in 2019. (Photo by Alexander Iziliaev, courtesy Miami City Ballet)

And, then, she says there are the works of Alexei Ratmansky.

“ . . . Especially ‘Swan Lake.’ Just imagine what it means for a company the size of MCB to have permission for a production like that, a creation by one of the greatest living choreographers in the world. Having permission to dance the entire ‘Swan Lake’ is no small feat. ‘Swan Lake’ is ‘Swan Lake’!”

“I think ‘Swan Lake’ establishes a company as a worthy organization,” she concludes. “It gives it a mark of quality. And that’s what I wanted for Miami City Ballet… that mark that said, ‘We are a real ballet company.’ And we achieved that.”

Balanchine’s reimagined version of “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” premiered in 2016, succeeded by the reimagined version of his “Nutcracker” the following year. The North American premiere of Ratmansky’s “Swan Lake” took place in February 2022.

Lourdes López at home, with a book about Cuba on the coffee table directly in front of the sofa. (Photo by Salvador Gómez)

It’s always risky to predict the historical significance of events as they unfold. Still, we can openly celebrate now that during Lopez’s prodigious years at the helm of MCB, she “reimagined” the world of ballet for Miamians — not only Balanchine’s works.

Furthermore, she freed MCB from the stigma of being considered “a smaller, southern satellite of New York City Ballet” (as described in Marina Harss’s book “The Boy from Kyiv: Alexei Ratmansky’s Life in Ballet”) and was instrumental in placing the company among the top ten in North America. On the Dance Data Project’s 2020 list of “Top 50 U.S. Ballet Companies,” MCB appears in ninth place.

Her tenure was also notable for her interest in supporting and promoting lesser-known choreographers, as well as for her dedicated attention to the development of each of the company’s dancers as versatile performers.

Lourdes López rehearsing George Balanchine’s “Agon” with MCB principal dancers Dawn Atkins and Stanislav Olshanskyi. (Photo by George Skouras)

In this regard, she asserts that it’s all part of a learning process. “People talk about emerging choreographers and talk about the audience, but for me, it’s not about that. My intention wasn’t so much to create repertoire as to facilitate the creation process for young choreographers who are the future of dance. And to allow dancers to have a unique experience: being in the studio with someone who is creating something new using your body. Someone from their same generation, in most cases.”

When we shared with her that some people criticized MCB for dancing Martha Graham’s “Diversion of Angels” or José Limón’s “Moor’s Pavane,” by saying, “Yes, but they’re not modern dancers,” her response was immediate:

“That’s true; they’re not modern dancers. I understand. It’s a completely different technique. But the reason for dancing them was to allow the dancers to do something different. And for the audience, it was the opportunity to see a Martha Graham ballet and a Limón work! So, everyone would understand that dance is much more than dancing the same thing over and over again.”

Lourdes López, in ‘work clothes,’ at the Koch Theater of the Lincoln Center for the Performing Arts in Manhattan, during MCB’s successful 2016 tour to New York. (Photo by George Skouras)

Her announcement of leaving the helm of MCB took many by surprise. So, why leave now?

“The decision to leave the company [her contract with MCB was for 15 years] was very difficult, but I believe I fulfilled what the Board of Directors who hired me asked of me, which was to take the company to the next level”.

“I love this art form,” she proclaims. “Of all the arts, dance is the most perfect. I don’t think I would have given 53 years of my life to it or made the sacrifices I did if I didn’t feel that way. And I love MCB and what it has done for this community. But the world has truly changed, and it’s clear to me that the performing arts need a new path forward. The call for a new paradigm is being felt across arts organizations everywhere, and Miami is no exception”.

Are the arts organizations in need of a new business model? “The answer isn’t as straightforward because it is not just a question of going digital, activating new spaces, relying on recognizable titles, or even pricing or budget size. What’s needed is an existential shift.”

And she wants to be part of it, “I want to be in the room and at the table, with those who are thinking about that shift, who see what I see and feel. Perhaps this is the final sacrifice— and the most meaningful one —I make for the art form that gave me purpose, and I’d like to do this in Miami.”

Lourdes López in a class with MCB dancers. (Photo by Alexander Iziliaev, courtesy Miami City Ballet)

Does she have another job lined up? Her answer was a resounding no. This doesn’t mean she doesn’t have a few projects underway.

One of them is “The Art of Partnering” at the New World Center with the legendary principal dancer Peter Martins, former artistic director of the New York City Ballet. It is a video archive that explores the evolution of Balanchine’s pas de deux work. The project was brought to her by Barbara Horgan, the founding Trustee of The George Balanchine Trust, and she hopes to get it to fruition this summer.

Whether independently or as part of another organization, López plans to remain dedicated to the same goal: continuing to raise the cultural level of dancers and audiences. Obviously, with a preference for Miami.

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