Dance
Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez Is Leaving The Miami City Ballet, So What’s Next?
Lourdes Lopez is leaving her post as artistic director of Miami City Ballet to pursue a collaborative vision for Miami’s arts. (Photo by Daniel Azoulay/courtesy of Miami City Ballet)
Just a day after the Miami City Ballet announced its 40th anniversary season, Lourdes Lopez, only the second artistic director since the company was founded in 1985, announced she is stepping down at the end of the season.
Speaking from her Coconut Grove home, Lopez says she first wanted to dispel rumors.
“I’m in totally great health. I have energy, vitality, all that. My family is great. My husband is great. My daughters are great, knock on wood.”
Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez rehearsing with Miami City Ballet dancers. (Photo by Daniel Azoulay/courtesy of Miami City Ballet)
Lopez, 66, who was hired by the Miami City Ballet in 2012 and officially became the artistic director in May of 2013, had two years left on her contract and says her departure was not a decision she took lightly. However, she felt there was something more she could do for the arts in Miami.
While her new vision is still in what she calls “the hypothetical stage,” Lopez wants to be a centrifugal force in building a stronger collaborative infrastructure for all arts groups in Miami to work together.
“There’s a vitality to Miami, it’s an international city, and there are these pockets of neighborhoods but there are also certain things within its infrastructure that make it difficult for the arts to truly flourish,” she says.
She rattles off names of some of Miami’s professional companies – Nu Deco, Miami New Drama, New World Symphony, Florida Grand Opera, and, of course, Miami City Ballet.
Lourdes Lopez became artistic director of Miami City Ballet in 2012. (Photo by George Kamper/courtesy of Miami City Ballet)
“They are producing some high-level quality work on our stages, really impressive programming,” but she concludes that everyone is fighting for the same audience. “We have the same donors, the same boards. We’re all sort of eating each other’s lunch. Is there a way to pull our resources together and put all of that under one roof?”
She cites an example of Florida Grand Opera presenting “Carmen,” the first major production to be directed by its new general director Maria Todaro in April and only weeks before Miami City Ballet presents its world premiere of Bizet’s “Carmen” by internationally known Colombian-Belgian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa.
“But what if, in a perfect world, or a different world it would be possible for both companies to work together – some kind of shared idea where we aren’t competing against each other but working together?”
She sums up her new vision: “I want to figure out the arts in Miami.”
Lopez was born in Cuba in 1958. Her parents defected from the island in 1959 and she and her sisters came to the United States two years later. When she was 11, she received a full scholarship to the School of American Ballet (SAB), the New York City Ballet’s official school, splitting time between Miami and New York City. At 14, she devoted to full-time studies at SAB, and, at 16 she joined the corps de ballet at the New York City Ballet. She was with NYCB for more than two decades, interpreting many of George Balanchine’s and Jerome Robbins’s roles as a principal dancer.
Choreographer Alexei Ratmansky, Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez and Stanislav Olshanskyi rehearsing “Swan Lake” for Miami City Ballet. (Photo by Alexander Iziliaev/courtesy of Miami City Ballet)
The role of artistic director for the Miami City Ballet was her first time managing a large organization, she says.
“(There was) an extraordinary board, group of dancers and artistic team that, when I arrived and I said, ‘I have a vision of what the ballet school and the company might look like,’ they didn’t blink.”
During her tenure, she curated groundbreaking programming, including the U.S. premiere of Alexei Ratmansky’s “Swan Lake” and expanded the company’s repertory with world premieres including bringing a fresh look to Balanchine’s 1962 narrative masterpiece, “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” for the company’s 30th anniversary in 2016. She enlisted Miami-born award-winning artist Michele Oka Doner to redesign the ballet’s set and re-design the costumes and Liberty City-born Oscar-winner Tarrell Alvin McCraney to guide the dancers through the dramaturgy.
She also led the company through the pandemic and ensured that the holiday staple “The Nutcracker” wouldn’t miss its annual performance developing an outdoor COVID-19 safe “George Balanchine’s Nutcracker in the Park” in downtown Doral in 2020.
Artistic Director Lourdes Lopez and Jordan-Elizabeth Long rehearsing “La Valse.” Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust. (Photo by Alexander Iziliaev/courtesy of Miami City Ballet)
Acknowledging her challenges, opportunities and successes in moving the Miami City Ballet forward, Lopez believes every organization comes to a place where change is necessary.
“After a while, all organizations need new leadership, a company needs new energy, a new way of looking at the dancers, a new way of looking at the community.”
Jeff Davis, chair of MCB’s board of trustees, in a prepared statement, said that the company has flourished under Lopez’s leadership.
“MCB’s Board of Directors recently adopted a strategic framework with valuable input from Lourdes. The plan outlines initiatives centered on three main objectives: elevating Miami’s profile as a national arts and cultural leader; growing artists and arts enthusiast; and building an endowment for future sustainability. This strategic direction will help guide our search for the next artistic director.”
The company has an annual operating budget of about $25 million. The board will begin the process of a search for a new artistic director although no timeline has been set, according to the company.
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