Dance @ DetroitOpera Launches New Season with Stars of American Ballet, Oct 18–19

DETROIT, September 16, 2025 – Detroit Opera’s 2025–26 dance season will kick off with two performances by Stars of American Ballet® at the Detroit Opera House on October 18 and 19. Artists from top North American ballet companies will come together on the Opera House stage to pay tribute to iconic American choreographers George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Gerald Arpino, and Twyla Tharp. Stars of American Ballet® is founded and directed by Daniel Ulbricht, a principal dancer with New York City Ballet since 2007 who has been lauded as “one of the best male ballet dancers in New York” by Dance Magazine’s Wendy Perron. 

The 2025–26 Dance @ Detroit Opera series is a salute to American dance by American dance companies. Three major forces of American dance include George Balanchine, the father of American ballet; Tony Award-winning Broadway choreographer Bob Fosse; and Paul Taylor, a pioneer of American modern dance. They each created a new vocabulary for dance, uniquely their own, and uniquely American. Their works and influences will be seen throughout the season. From ballet to contemporary to modern, the 2025–26 Dance season is a celebration of what American dance has contributed to this important artform. The dance series is part of Detroit Opera’s season-long exploration of American identity as the nation celebrates the 250th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence in 2026. 

The Stars of American Ballet program in Detroit will open with In the Night by Jerome Robbins, who made his mark on American culture with iconic creations in film, on Broadway, and for ballet. In the Night premiered in 1970 at New York City Ballet, a year after Robbins’s brilliant Dances at a Gathering; both works feature piano music of Frédéric Chopin. In the Night is a poignant exploration of romantic relationships through three distinct pas de deux, each representing a different stage of love, set to four Chopin nocturnes. The ballet opens with a youthful, innocent couple whose tender movements express joy and discovery. The second couple displays the depth and restraint of a long-established relationship, subtly conveying both elegance and history. The third couple’s interactions portray their physical and emotional struggles playing out in a fiery pas de deux. The ballet concludes with a brief, polite acknowledgment between the couples. In the Night “continues to resonate with audiences, keeping the emotional depth and technical precision of Robbins’ work alive” (Art News Now, February 2025). In the Night will be performed with live piano accompaniment. 

In Brel, revolutionary choreographer Twyla Tharp explores the idea of hero in the experienced body of a virtuosic dancer, no longer young yet armed with a different kind of vibrancy. Brel is set to five songs written and recorded live by Belgian singer/songwriter Jacques Brel: “Quand on n’a que l’Amour,” “Ne me quitte pas,” “Amsterdam,” “Les Marquises,” and “Marieke.” The New York Times noted, “Tharp has chosen recordings of Brel that include the sound of audience applause, and in this way the solo becomes a performance about performing, alluding to the psychological toll of a life in the spotlight.” Brel is already an audience favorite; Critical Dance wrote that it was met with a “collective roar [that] possibly registered on the Richter Scale" at its 2024 premiere at the Joyce Theater in New York. 

In George Balanchine’s Who Cares?, George Gershwin’s radiant melodies serve as the basis for syncopated group dances and balmy, romantic duets. Balanchine’s history with George Gershwin goes back to 1937, when Gershwin asked Balanchine to come to Hollywood to work with him on Goldwyn’s Follies (released 1938). In 1970, Balanchine choreographed Who Cares? to sixteen songs Gershwin composed between 1924 and 1931. The songs are orchestrated by Hershy Kay, orchestrator of musicals such as On The Town, Peter Pan, Candide, and A Chorus Line. Balanchine uses the songs as a basis for a dynamic that is uniquely American and, more specifically, evocative of New York City: Balanchine’s choreography brings out the exuberance of city life. The title dance sequence “Who Cares?” is set to a song George and Ira Gershwin wrote for the irreverent Depression Era musical satire Of Thee I Sing. Other numbers in Balanchine’s Who Cares? include “Strike up the Band, “Somebody Loves Me,” “Bidin’ My Time,“’S Wonderful,” “Lady Be Good, “I’ll Build a Stairway to Paradise,” “Embraceable You,” and “I Got Rhythm.” 

Gerald Arpino’s Light Rain, set to music by Douglas Adams and Russ Gauthier, has been a favorite with audiences since its premiere in 1981 by the Joffrey Ballet. Arpino created Light Rain’s seven pas de deux to showcase new young dancers of the Joffrey Ballet, the company he co-founded in 1956 with Robert Joffrey. The New York Times’s Anna Kisselgoff wrote that Light Rain is "one of those ballets where Mr. Arpino functions so well as a documentary journalist. He has a perfect gift for catching the trend of the moment." Mass Review’s Nicole Duffy Robertson noted in 2019 that Light Rain “captures the zeitgeist of the times: disco dancing, jazz dancing, sexual freedom, fascination with Middle Eastern mysticism, Jungian philosophy, and the self-absorption and preening of every generation of teenagers.” 

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About Stars of American Ballet® 

Since it began, Stars of American Ballet® has presented over 90 works including repertory by Petipa, Balanchine, Robbins, Millipied, Wheeldon, Peck and more. Stars travels all over the United States and abroad to bring the highest caliber of dancers and performances to places that are hungry for world-class dance. Stars of American Ballet® is founded and directed by Daniel Ulbricht, a principal dancer with New York City Ballet since 2007 who has been lauded as “one of the best male ballet dancers in New York” by Dance Magazine’s Wendy Perron. The mission of Stars of American Ballet® is to see people entertained, educated, uplifted, and inspired by the art of ballet and great dancing. 

About Detroit Opera

Detroit Opera is a national leader in the arts, embodying the innovative spirit and diverse perspectives of our city. We weave together incredible artistry, spellbinding drama, magical stagecraft, and stories that hit home—all in a historic, spectacular venue. Detroit Opera is creating an ambitious standard for American opera and dance that emphasizes community, accessibility, artistic risk-taking, and collaboration. Founded in 1971 as Michigan Opera Theatre by the late Dr. David DiChiera, Detroit Opera is led by President and CEO Patty Isacson Sabee, Barbara Walkowski Artistic Director Yuval Sharon, Music Director Roberto Kalb, Artistic Advisor for Dance Jon Teeuwissen, and Board Chairman Ethan Davidson. For more information, visit www.detroitopera.org. Follow the company on Facebook and Instagram (@DetroitOpera) and LinkedIn (Detroit Opera).