In 1964, Alexandra Danilova, George Balanchine’s former classmate at the Imperial Ballet and a leading ballerina of Diaghilev’s Ballets Russes and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo joined SAB’s faculty. In 1965, Madame Danilova established SAB’s annual year-end Workshop Performances, giving the School’s advanced students an opportunity to participate in professionally staged, publicly performed productions of classic ballet works. Since its inception, the Workshop Performances have seen hundreds of SAB’s advanced students make their public debut as they prepare to leave SAB and go on to dance on the world’s top stages. The New York Times coined Workshop a “spot-them-before-they-are-stars showcase”. Scores of notable SAB alumni have performed at Workshop, including Merrill Ashley, Peter Boal, Maria Kowroski, Lourdes Lopez, Sara Mearns, Benjamin Millepied, Ethan Stiefel, and Wendy Whelan.

The 2014 Workshop Performances program will include Balanchine’s Serenade (staged by Suki Schorer); and excerpts from Coppélia (staged by Dena Abergel, Yvonne Borree, Kaitlyn Gilliland, Arch Higgins, Katrina Killian, Lisa de Ribere, Jock Soto and Sheryl Ware), Swan Lake (staged by Darci Kistler) and Western Symphony (staged by Susan Pilarre). Additional performances of the evening’s program will take place at Lincoln Center’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater on Saturday, May 31 at 2pm and 8pm.

Tickets for the 2014 Workshop Performances may be purchased online at www.sab.org/workshop. Ticket prices are $50 for May 31 (2pm and 8pm). The Peter Jay Sharp Theater is located at 155 W. 65^th Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway).