Will the Joffrey Ballet Leave New York?
Say “Joffrey Ballet” to New York dancegoers, and you’re likely to hear a flood of happy recollections. But future balletomanes may not grow up with the feisty little company and its vital repertory of 20th-century classics. For it looks increasingly as if the Joffrey may move to Chicago this year. No one at the Joffrey Ballet will say more than that there are continuing negotiations. But there has been speculation about a possible move for several months as well as published reports recently about the likelihood of a move to Chicago. Daniel Duell, the director of Ballet Chicago, confirmed yesterday that “we continue to be in negotiations and remain optimistic” about a merger. A fixture in New York dance for more than three decades, the Joffrey has seemed perennially youthful when compared with its two older, bigger and generally more solemn siblings, American Ballet Theater and the New York City Ballet. Founded in 1956 as a company of 6 that toured the United States in a station wagon,
