“...seated at stage level, just feet from the bounding ballerinas... This was ballet unfiltered...”
— L.A. Times

“…one of America’s most adventurous and exciting ballet companies…”
—Jim Svejda, KUSC

MISSION

To produce and present choreographic works of the highest quality which exemplify ballet as a musical art form, and to provide new insight into—and unparalleled engagement with—the art for today’s audience.

VISION

To reignite a cultural passion for ballet by combining the greatest achievements of ballet’s history with a contemporary artistic imagination.

ABOUT

American Contemporary Ballet, based in Los Angeles, was founded by choreographer Lincoln Jones and dancer Theresa Farrell to produce original contemporary classical ballets by Jones, and to present masterworks that exemplify dance as a musical art form. The company performs over 60 shows each season, spanning a repertory which includes works by George Balanchine, Fred Astaire, Lincoln Jones, and reconstructions of the seminal works of ballet's history.

ACB is the only ballet company in Los Angeles to perform exclusively to live music, played by some of the city’s finest classical musicians. Audiences are seated at stage level, allowing for a rare visceral connection with the beauty and athleticism of ballet. Every performance is followed by a reception with the dancers and musicians, and audiences can engage further with the art form through the company’s Conversations and Dancing School programs.

HISTORY

Artistic Director and choreographer Lincoln Jones founded American Contemporary Ballet in New York City in 2004. In the company’s first year, he was joined by dancer Theresa Farrell, and together they chose Jones’ hometown of Los Angeles as ACB’s permanent home, co-founding the company there in 2011.  

ACB’s first performances were presented in collaboration with LA’s The Da Camera Society in non-traditional spaces throughout Los Angeles. Of the company’s first public performances, Los Angeles magazine said: “The result was a seductive and engaging synthesis of dance and music.”  

The company’s initial programs combined live music and dance with educational talks by Jones. In its review of one of these programs featuring Balanchine’s Raymonda Variations, the Los Angeles Times said, “…Lincoln Jones made the most complex issues seem like child’s play in a beguiling Dance + Design.” The company later developed these programs into an educational series designed to allow audiences to connect intellectually and critically with ballet.

Jones’ original choreography has provided Los Angeles audiences with innovative, captivating performances. In its fourth season, ACB performed Jones' original ballet to Alexander Glazunov’s “The Seasons,” of which dance reviewer Christina Campodonico said, “…Lincoln Jones is a magnificently musical and imaginative choreographer with a gift for elegant economy. Never wasting a beat or note, he always pulls the best balletic phrasing out of every bar.”

ACB regularly works with highly respected artists from a number of disciplines. Early performances featured players such as Martin Chalifour, Principal Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Philharmonic, and Tereza Stanislav, Assistant Concertmaster of the Los Angeles Chamber Orchestra. ACB twice collaborated with dance historian Doug Fullington to reconstruct and perform choreography from Lev Ivanov’s original The Nutcracker and Petipa’s Raymonda -- neither of which had been seen on stage for over 100 years. In Season 9, ACB presented the world premiere of Burlesque, a ballet by Jones set to ACB’s first commissioned score, a work for two pianos by Pulitzer-Prize-winning composer Charles Wuorinen. The premiere prompted KUSC’s Jim Svejda to call ACB “one of America’s most adventurous and exciting ballet companies.” ACB is also noted for its arresting season imagery, most recently has been created by Jones and renowned fashion photographer Victor Demarchelier.

Audiences continue to embrace the company’s highly original vision and approach to contemporary classical ballet. In 2017 ACB expanded to a year-round season that added three immersive productions to its programming: Jones’ Inferno, fan favorite Astaire Dances, and the world’s first immersive staging of The Nutcracker Suite, for which the company has had to continually increase performances to meet audience demand. In the spring of 2020, ACB launched Outsiders, a podcast that brings the company's groundbreaking cultural programming to a worldwide audience.