The New Orleans Ballet Association (NOBA) has announces its 2021-2022 Main Stage Dance Season at the Mahalia Jackson Theater for the Performing Arts. NOBA’s collection of vibrant dance offerings represent the best and brightest of what the dance world has to offer today, beginning with The Tango Fire Company of Buenos Aires’ Tango Fire, continuing with Ballet Hispánico’s Doña Perón: The Rise and Fall of a Diva, the first public performance of this brand-new work, and concluding with American Ballet Theatre’s Don Quixote.

“NOBA strives to present top-notch, diverse offerings for the communities which we serve,” said NOBA Board Chair Dottie Belletto, adding that “in addition to presenting this blockbuster season, it is with great pride that we celebrate the 30th Anniversary of the NORD/NOBA Center for Dance. Throughout our history, NOBA has been at the vanguard nationally for creating partnerships that strive to meet the needs of our community through innovative programs that address challenges that our citizens face. Our groundbreaking public-private partnership with NORD established a path in 1992 for a child to enter a neighborhood center and receive the training necessary to pursue a career in dance—all completely tuition-free.”

Launching on January 22, 2022, NOBA begins the season with global phenomenon Tango Fire presented by The Tango Fire Company of Buenos Aires, the world’s leading tango company. As one of the world’s most popular dance forms, this exhilarating spectacular melds rawness and sophistication with the seductive and sultry, mesmerizing audiences every step of the way. With a cast including world tango champions and dancers from the greatest tango houses in Buenos Aires, German Cornejo, international tango superstar and choreographer, and his partner, Gisela Galeassi, evoke the intoxicating passion of late-night Buenos Aires in an evening of dance the Financial Times deems “irresistible,” and The Telegraph (UK) proclaims “sensual, erotic, and authentically Argentinian.”

Tango Fire is accompanied by a live ensemble consisting of four of Argentina’s finest young musicians. Together, they give their interpretation of traditional and contemporary tangos. All virtuosos in their own right, the quartet powerhouse is an emotive element in an intricate and symbiotic relationship between music, sensuality of dance, and the poetry of song, which is Argentine tango.

On March 12, 2022, audience favorite Ballet Hispánico launches their national tour with a return to New Orleans and marks their 50th anniversary with the debut performance of Doña Perón: The Rise and Fall of a Diva, a brand-new, full-length ballet celebrating one of the most captivating women of South American history. New Orleans audiences will be the very first to experience this dynamic production choreographed by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, the internationally-renowned maker of the Scottish Ballet’s A Streetcar Named Desire. Doña Perón is an explosive portrait of Eva “Evita” Perón whose ambition and conflicting desires fed her life as an activist and feminist leader.

Ochoa, in collaboration with Nancy Meckler, explores the extremes of power at the forefront of Evita’s life as she ascended the ranks of Argentinian society while concealing a shameful past within a poor family. This invigorating new work, set to live music by Peter Salem, will hint at notes of tango, reinforcing the intensity of Evita’s diverging legacies.

“Ballet Hispánico is an example of what makes our country beautiful” shouts Broadway World.

From May 14 to 15, 2022, American Ballet Theatre (ABT) returns to New Orleans for the first time in nearly half a century bringing with its masterpiece Don Quixote, accompanied by the Louisiana Philharmonic Orchestra, to close out NOBA’s blockbuster season.

“Here is a ballet with a coherent story, a colorful cast of characters, a score that throws off one irresistible tune after another,” raves the Observer. Originally choreographed by Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus and presented by the Bolshoi Theatre in Moscow, Russia, the modern interpretation is staged by Alexander Gorsky and premiered on December 6, 1900. In this beloved ballet, Don Quixote lets his active imagination get the better of him along his travels with his trusted swordsman, Sancho Panza, often mistaking his dream world with what he sees and the people he meets in real life, resulting in an exuberant romantic comedy deemed “a veritable feast of classical dancing” by The Washington Post. Recognized as a living national treasure since its founding in 1940, ABT annually tours the United States, having performed in all 50 states, and a total of 45 countries, most recently with triumphant successes in Paris, Singapore and Hong Kong. On April 27, 2006, by an act of Congress, American Ballet Theatre was designated America’s National Ballet Company.

On May 13, 2022, BRAVO (the Ballet Resource and Volunteer Organization of NOBA) kicks off the ABT weekend with a spectacular gala dinner with the ABT dancers, hosted by the Hyatt Regency New Orleans. Details on this very special event will be announced at a later date.

NOBA season ticket subscribers save 20 percent off the single ticket price by purchasing a season ticket package. Subscribers also enjoy a variety of additional perks included in the price of the subscription. The Grand Series package of all three performances ranges from $120 to $500, based on seat location, and will be available for purchase beginning October 25, 2021 by calling NOBA at 504.522.0996, ext. 201, or online at nobadance.com.

Discounts are also available for students with a valid student ID. In order to secure seats for American Ballet Theatre, NOBA strongly suggests purchasing a season subscription package before individual tickets go on sale. Individual tickets for Tango Fire, Ballet Hispánico, and American Ballet Theatre will go on sale later this fall. For the most up-to-date ticketing information, and to learn more about subscribing and individual ticket on-sale dates, join our email list and visit nobadance.com.