They’ve been rehearsing for weeks, and on Friday, the curtain went up on the Miami City Ballet’s 40th season. It’s a special occasion for the ballet company, and a special birthday for its founder.
Inside Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center Friday night, a birthday bash for the Miami City Ballet, and its founder, Toby Lerner Ansin.
“Well, it’s like a dream come true,” said Toby.
Ansin founded the Miami City Ballet, and this weekend, celebrates four decades of the ballet company and her 85th birthday.
“As a little girl, I could never have imagined I’d be sitting here and be one of the people responsible for all those dancers and the ballerinas and men on the stage,” said Toby.
Dancers have been rehearsing for weeks ahead of the world premiere of “Into the Magic City,” and Friday’s performance of “Roses from the South – Three Roses for Toby.”
“Well, I mean, it’s a big year, 40 years, you know,” Gonzalo Garcia, Miami City Ballet’s artistic director, said when asked what this night means for Toby.
Garcia is leading the ballet into a new era, but Friday is for Toby.
“We take a moment to breath, and to celebrate Toby, and to celebrate the beautiful dancers and everything that this community has built,” said Garcia.
The Miami City Ballet began at Toby’s kitchen table as an idea that her three children said she made into a reality.
“When she was 40 years younger, she had this dream, and to her credit, she made it come true,” said Andrew Ansin, the CEO of Sunbeam Development and Television.
“It’s wonderful that she was able to get a world-class choreographer, Alex Ratmansky, to create an epic ballet for her, which has the style and grace and energy of my mother,” said James Ansin, the co-president and general manager of Sunbeam Television.
Toby Ansin spent most of her life studying ballet, and after she left the stage, her daughter Stephanie helped her mother turn that passion into this institution.
“I stuffed envelopes for her,” said Stephanie Ansin, who works with the charitable Ansin Foundation. “It’s really nice that my mom is so happy. She’s high on this, she’s already planning her 90th ballet.”
But first, the world premiere of this new creation dedicated to the person who brought Miami City Ballet to life decades ago.
“‘You’re crazy!’ That’s what I would’ve thought. No one could’ve imagined that this is what could’ve happened,” Toby said when asked if she ever imagined she’d be in this moment before all the work she’s done. “It’s like a dream come true.”
This performance premiered on Friday night and runs through Sunday. For information on show times and tickets, click here.