After three decades, Richmond Ballet returns to the VMFA this month

With renovations to the Leslie Cheek Theater nearing completion, the Virginia Museum of Fine Arts (VMFA) and Richmond Ballet formally announced that beginning March 20, 2025, the ballet company will move its repertory series, rebranded as Moving Art, to the museum’s theater.

“The Virginia Museum of Fine Arts welcomes the return of Richmond Ballet to the newly enhanced Cheek Theater,” said VMFA Director and CEO Alex Nyerges. “We’re delighted to be the new home for the Ballet’s innovative Moving Art performance series, which presents exciting opportunities for our audiences and artists.”

Richmond Ballet last performed in VMFA’s theater in the 1990s. For more than four years, museum officials have been in discussions with the ballet company about returning. Before its first Moving Art performance next month, Richmond Ballet will have time to rehearse on the new stage to ensure an exceptional audience experience.

“It is truly such an honor to once again perform within the walls of VMFA,” said Richmond Ballet Founding Artistic Director Stoner Winslett. “It has been a dream of mine to one day return to the Leslie Cheek Theater, and we are so grateful that the recent renovation has made this dream into a reality. We could not be more thrilled to forge a strong partnership with VMFA, and we look forward to the countless opportunities that it will present for our community.”

Richmond Ballet’s Moving Art performances, formerly called the Studio Series, will feature both contemporary and classical ballet in an intimate theater setting. Kicking off the return to the Cheek Theater, Moving Art One running March 20 to 30, 2025, will include three distinct ballets on the program.

In Pentaptych, a painter takes the stage alongside the dancers, using brushstrokes influenced by their movements to create a wholly unique painting. A true piece of moving art, Pentaptych is choreographed by Richmond Ballet Artistic Director Ma Cong with original music composed by Ryan Lott. The pas de deux from Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain explores the connection between two dancers. Set to music by Arvo Pärt, this mesmerizing duet evokes a sense of longing, intimacy and vulnerability through subtle and tender choreography. A joyous and exuberant celebration of life, Val Caniparoli’s Lambarena fuses the structure of classical ballet with the grounded rhythms of West African dance. Inspired by a score of the same name, this ballet blends traditional African music with extended passages from compositions by Johann Sebastian Bach.

Moving Art Two — also featuring three works each performance — will run between May 8 and May 18, 2025. Joshua L. Peugh’s Slump is a quirky ballet that explores the concept of modern courtship through lively choreography and complex partnering. Slump is set to a culturally diverse score ranging from klezmer to jazz music. Premiered at VMFA in 1996, Stoner Winslett’s Echoing Past has evolved into a signature Richmond Ballet work and was part of the company’s New York City debut. The hauntingly beautiful music by Fanny Mendelssohn-Hensel carries one woman through a reflection on her journey to a peaceful conclusion, finding everlasting riches along the way. Yury Yanowsky returns to Richmond to complete Fading Creatures, the popular piece that he began at Richmond Ballet’s 2023 New Works Festival. Drawing inspiration from the melting clocks of Salvador Dalí’s surrealist painting The Persistence of Memory, this world premiere will be a bold finish to an exhilarating season.

“The Moving Art series will allow Richmond audiences to witness the full breadth of our artform,” said Ma Cong. “It is my goal to bring some of the world’s most sought-after contemporary ballets, as well as cutting-edge world premieres and classics of enduring value, to our community. By performing this series in the legendary VMFA, we are delighted to celebrate and uplift the arts in Virginia.”

Tickets for Moving Art performances at the Cheek Theater are available exclusively through Richmond Ballet at www.RichmondBallet.com or by calling (804) 344-0906, extension 224.

In addition to being the venue for the Moving Art performance series, VMFA is the official partner for Richmond Ballet’s Minds In Motion community engagement program this school year. Through this important initiative, Richmond Ballet creates a bridge for students, starting in fourth grade, to gain a greater understanding of themselves through dance, classroom curriculum, community partnerships and professional performances.

“One of the defining goals of Minds In Motion is to make the program an integral part of the school curriculum,” said Minds In Motion Director Jordan Glunt. “Partnerships with community organizations like VMFA are a crucial link in integrating the program with the school curriculum and supporting classroom teachers by offering field trips and supplemental learning materials to them, all at no cost to the schools. The 2024/2025 school year marks the 30^th anniversary of Minds In Motion. VMFA was the program’s first community partner, and it is so special to once again partner with the organization this momentous year.”