An Original Ballet Choreographed by Claire Kretzschmar to be Performed

It has been nearly a year since Claire Kretzschmar stepped away from a prominent and admired role with the New York City Ballet, aiming to grow in new ways - in a career already brimming with accomplishment - by crafting new chapters with characteristic enthusiasm, creativity, and skill.

One of those chapters is being written in Hartford, amidst the company of Ballet Hartford.

Her stellar credentials, and already multi-faceted career, speak volumes. Claire Kretzschmar is a dancer, teacher, choreographer, podcast host and highly regarded former soloist with New York City Ballet (NYCB). She grew up in Winston-Salem, NC where she began her dance training at the Academy of Dance Arts and Wake Forest Community Ballet. As a teenager, she continued her training at the University of North Carolina School of the Arts and the School of American Ballet in New York City.

In 2010, she joined NYCB as an apprentice and progressed through the ranks to become a soloist dancer in 2018. With NYCB, Claire performed featured roles in works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Alexei Ratmansky, Justin Peck, and Kyle Abraham. She is the recipient of the 2017 Janice Levin Award and the 2015 Martin E. Segal Award for rising artists.

Having earned a bachelor’s degree in communications from Fordham University in 2018, Claire currently teaches creative movement and ballet in New York, and helps organize and curate programming for a NY-based arts collective called Arthouse2B. That’s not all. She co-hosts the "The Rosin Box" segment of NYCB's podcast and has choreographed on multiple occasions for the New York Choreographic Institute and for “The Tiny Garage Show” – a performance series born out of the pandemic and set from inside her family's garage.

Even with all that, Claire has made a return engagement with Ballet Hartford a scheduling priority. She dipped her toes into the pond of Ballet Hartford in the Spring of 2023, resetting the choreography of the popular “Peter and the Wolf,” with the result delighting audiences (young and older) and dancers alike. The experience drove a desire to reprise her time in Connecticut’s Capital City.

“With Ballet Hartford, I sincerely look forward to each ballet class and rehearsal. The dancers and artistic staff pursue excellence and promote respect in all that they do, making Ballet Hartford a rare combination of talent, integrity, and spirit. I’m so excited to work with the company this fall,” says Claire.

“Claire brings an incredibly rich career, unique perspective, and a thorough understanding of art and choreography to the company,” commented Leyna Doran, Artistic Director of Ballet Hartford. “We are absolutely thrilled to have her with us for the journey to create something new, and to explore the potential and possibilities with her in building a piece that will be memorable for us and for our audiences.”

“I will be choreographing a new ballet set to Benjamin Britten’s music, ‘A Ceremony of Carols,’ which will showcase the talented dancers of Ballet Hartford while illuminating scenes from the nativity story,” Claire explains. “I hope and believe that it will be a ballet filled with great joy and resonance – a piece that audiences will want to see again and again at the holiday season.”

The opportunity to choreograph a new ballet to music that inspires her, coupled with the chance to work with the expanding Ballet Hartford company, is pleasingly irresistible. And it shows.

“It is with great humility that I eagerly pursue this opportunity, and it is awesome to work with Leyna, costume designer Nicole Elaine, and the very talented, innovative and elegant dancers in the company," Claire shares. “I just fell in love with this music, and I want to make this something special associated with the holiday season. I believe it will really grab your heart, tapping into the joys and sorrows of motherhood, and so much more.”

There are unquestionably some challenges ahead, which Claire has eagerly embraced. “A Ceremony of Carols” will be the largest cast she has worked with, the longest ballet she has choreographed, and the first time she is working closely and collaboratively with a lighting designer and a costume designer.

The music continues to inspire her ideas, which will be translated into themes that will become evident throughout the ballet when it premieres in December. “I’m really excited and unafraid to try new things and take risks in developing this ballet,” a confident Claire exclaims.

She hasn’t ruled out performing a brief solo, but only if it fits smoothly within the context of the piece. Whether or not that will happen remains “somewhat of a mystery” even to her, in the early weeks of her work as Resident Choreographer. For Claire, the integrity of the piece takes precedence.

Her goal is to build a ballet that “grabs your heart” as a member of the audience, bringing great joy along with more serious moments, amidst thoughtful reflection – a performance that will showcase the artistry of Ballet Hartford dancers and resonate with audiences in stirring and enduring ways.

There is something special unfolding here this fall. It turns out that Claire Kretzschmar and Ballet Hartford are a match made in, well, Hartford.

The premiere of “A Ceremony of Carols” will be on Saturday, December 9, at 3:00 PM and 7:30 PM, on the stage of the Hoffman Auditorium on the campus of the University of Saint Joseph in West Hartford. Tickets are now available online.