April 23-25 & April 30 – May 2, 2027 at Peter Martin Wege Theatre
One of the most famous works in the American theater, Jerome Robbins’ Fancy Free follows three sailors on shore leave in New York City. Created in 1944 with a score by Leonard Bernstein, this ballet inspired the movie “On The Town” and features bravura dancing and heartfelt charm that harkens back to another time.
Also on the program will be a world premiere from company dancer Yuka Oba-Muschiana, celebrating her 16th season with the company, as well as a return of Justin Peck and Sufjan Stevens’ In The Countenance of Kings.
Dates & Tickets
KNOW BEFORE YOU GO
Estimated Run Time: 2 hours with one intermission
Seating: Reserved seating
Accessibility: Accessible and companion seating available
Third-party ticket notice: Don’t get scammed! If you buy your tickets anywhere other than the GRB Box Office or ticketmaster.com, you will pay more than the value of your ticket and miss important pre-show information. Some third-party sellers don’t even send the tickets, leaving patrons seatless and out of pockets.
To avoid Ticketmaster fees: Please contact the Grand Rapids Ballet Box Office for tickets by phone at 616.454.4771 ext 110, or in person. The box office is open Monday through Friday from 11:00 A.M. to 5:00 P.M.
Please contact the Grand Rapids Ballet Box Office with any questions about this event via phone or by email at boxoffice@grballet.com.
FANCY FREE | CREATORS
Jerome Robbins
Biography
The Belgian-Colombian Annabelle Lopez Ochoa is a prolific, award-winning, and sought-after choreographer that has created more than a 100 works for 81 dance companies around the world. A versatile choreographer, Lopez Ochoa creates regularly within the dance field but also for theatre, opera, and musical theatre. Her wide-ranging body of work includes short conceptual pieces, full-length narratives, and dance films. Ochoa completed her dance education at the Royal Ballet School of Antwerp. After a 12-year long career in several European dance companies, such as Djazzex, and the Scapino Ballet where she danced as a soloist for 7 years, Annabelle decided in 2003 to focus solely on choreography. That same year she is hailed as the “rising star of the Dutch dance scene” (NRC newspaper) and only 7 years later the Temecula Performing Arts Examiner wrote; ”Ochoa is truly a masterful choreographer with an edge for what dance can and should be in this constantly changing industry”. She has been creating new works and new forms ever since and is also frequently invited to teach.
Annabelle is one of the world’s busiest choreographers (a quote from Wendy Perron, Dance Magazine 2016). In 2006, she imagines a dance for the celebrated Dutch fashion designer Viktor & Rolf’s project at the van Gogh Museum in Amsterdam. Between 2005 and 2015, as a member of the Dance-Theatre collective “Fantasten” she successfully created physical theater plays, which have been performed in numerous theaters and festivals throughout the Netherlands. In 2016, the Jacob’s Pillow Summer School invited Lopez Ochoa to join the faculty as a guest contemporary choreographer, and classical ballet choreographer in 2018. In 2019, Annabelle is appointed as the program director of the Contemporary Ballet Summer Intensive of the School at Jacob’s Pillow. Annabelle has been appointed artist in residence at Ballett Dortmund in Germany starting from the season 2025/26. She will share the position with choreogrpaher Edward Clug under the ballet intendant direction Jaš Otrin.
During the pandemic of 2020-21, Lopez Ochoa pioneered remote choreography and dance film creations premiered online. She created in total 22 dance films. Her online work has attracted significant attention; publications including Dance Magazine, Pointe Magazine, Backtrack, TV5 Monde, Dance Gazette has interviewed Lopez Ochoa about her new dance films and the developing genre. In 2023, Annabelle’s notoriety made her to be invited as a judge on the TV show The Greatest Dancer of Vlaanderen. The show aired on Belgian National TV for 9 episodes in February/March 2023.
