It was 1985 when Toby Lerner Ansin, an arts advocate and divorced mother of three, set out to secure a professional ballet company in South Florida. For her mission, she would enlist dance world-luminary Edward Villella as artistic director and the backing of kindred spirits.
Almost 6,000 miles across the globe, Alexei Ratmansky, a ballet talent pulsing with creative longing to move beyond Soviet strictures, was starting on his career path in Kyiv, Ukraine. Just a few years later in Zaragoza, Spain, high-spirited eight year old Gonzalo Garcia, was enrolled in ballet classes by his mother, who’d noticed how moving to music brightened her son’s days. As destiny would have it, María de Ávila’s prestigious dance academy was steps away from their family home.
These three figures come together in both a celebration of MCB’s 40th anniversary and the visionary’s 85th birthday.
“Into the Magic City,” the company’s winter program, is a layered treat of two significant George Balanchine works and a world premiere by Ratmansky entitled “Roses from the South, Three Waltzes for Toby,” set to a Johann Strauss II score.
MCB performs the program Friday through Sunday, Feb. 20 to 22 at Miami’s Adrienne Arsht Center and in West Palm Beach at the Kravis Center Saturday, Feb. 28 and Sunday, March 1.
“When my children asked me what I wanted for my birthday,” says Lerner Ansin, “I immediately said a new ballet.“
Anyone who has known Ansin for any length of time would not be surprised by her answer. She began ballet lessons as a child to help strengthen her ankles, but what started as therapy became a lifelong passion that stayed with her into adulthood.
“To this day,” she says, “I’m carried away by the magic of ballet — its beauty and musicality. As a girl, it captured my imagination. From the first time I walked into a studio, that’s all I wanted to do.”
When she realized she would not become a professional dancer, she didn’t abandon the art form. She held on to the enrichment ballet offered, which made her both an enthralled theatergoer and a dedicated presence in boardrooms — a true champion of the arts, ensuring ballet continues to flourish. She acknowledges that her own tenacity has been indispensable in drawing allies to her cause.
“I just wouldn’t take no for an answer,” she says, reflecting on the persistence it took to bring Miami City Ballet wider recognition.
Now Ratmansky’s aptly titled “Roses from the South” is giving MCB’s founder her flowers.
The efforts of former Miami City Ballet artistic director Lourdes Lopez and the sponsorship of The Ansin Family Foundation brought back the renowned choreographer to the company. Ratmansky, who was artist-in-residence at American Ballet Theatre and has held the same role at New York City Ballet since 2023, premiered his “Symphonic Dances” at MCB in 2012 and staged his version of “Swan Lake” for its first North American production here four years ago.
Lerner Ansin is captivated by Ratmansky’s choreographic approach. “He came last November,” she says, “and while he set the ballet, I watched for hours in the studio over most of three weeks. Alexei had no notes — he just came in and created, very interactive with the dancers. If something didn’t feel right, they tried something else. He added twists and turns and some comical touches the audience will love. The music is so festive it later made me dance around my bedroom.”
At a recent studio run-through, MCB rehearsal director Joan Latham oversaw the cast’s energetic response to three compositions from 1880s Vienna: “Lagoon Waltz” (for eight women), “Roses from the South” (for eight men), and “Emperor Waltz” (bringing both groups together). Leisurely passages broke into a gallop, but that cavalcade was never devoid of convivial configurations.
“This is my first choreography to Strauss,” says Ratmansky. “It wasn’t just him but Arnold Schoenberg’s arrangements that also interested me. Strauss, of course, is very danceable, but he can get a little too sweet. These versions give the music deeper layers.” In 1921, modernist master Schoenberg arranged the waltzes to raise funds for his performance society, bridging new music and the past.
Inspired by Lerner Ansin’s vision for MCB, Ratmansky crafted celebratory movements. “I’m trying to gently portray the special quality of the company, which resembles a supportive family. I like that these are great professionals who are also humble in how they present themselves. I want to give each one a moment to shine.”
Garcia, who as a principal at New York City Ballet originated roles in Ratmansky’s “Concerto DSCH” and “Pictures at an Exhibition”—both now in MCB’s repertory—says interpreting these works is “a high-caliber experience that can propel the dancers. The common denominator among Alexei’s ballets is how confident he is—how specific—from the comical to the melancholy. You have to work hard, be very present in the room, but he knows what you’re capable of and how to make you better.”
Although Garcia did not curate this MCB season, his perspective on the programming is invaluable. In fact, he added a piece not originally planned for the show. Alongside Balanchine’s “Serenade” to Tchaikovsky—a work he prizes for its historical significance and beauty (it was Balanchine’s first U.S. creation in 1935)—he included the fireworks of “Tarantella,” a 1964 bravura duet originally choreographed at New York City Ballet for Edward Villella. “Apart from its historical significance,” Garcia says of the fast, virtuosic piece set to music by New Orleans composer Louis Moreau Gottschalk, “this is a great showcase for company talent.”
As a young dancer at San Francisco Ballet, Garcia was once called on at short notice to substitute for a “Tarantella” lead. “When the legs started to scream, I learned how to deal,” he recalls. “But the ensuing performances taught me how to deepen characterization and economize energy.” That intimate understanding of this and other works is something he now passes on to MCB dancers, while giving them space to make each role their own.
“They learn quickly and work hard,” he adds. “With a good eye, they shoot for the highest level.”
The impact of this achievement—a communal one, as Lerner Ansin notes, her aspirations realized through successive generations—carries a message Ratmansky finds especially meaningful today.
“It’s notable that these dancers come from different places,” Ratmansky says, pointing to company members with roots in Japan, Latin America, Canada, Ukraine, and the United States. “This is what America is about. Each person brings something special, and there should be a space—with respect and appreciation—for all.”
”WHAT: Miami City Ballet’s “Into the Magic City”
WHEN: 7:30 p.m. Friday, Feb. 20; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 21; 2 p.m. Sunday, Feb. 22
WHERE: Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami
ADDITIONAL PERFORMANCES: Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, Feb. 28; 1 p.m. Sunday, March 1
COST: $45-$265, depending on show time and venue.
INFORMATION: 305-929-7010 or miamicityballet.org
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