Joffrey to team with Australian Ballet on new ‘Anna Karenina’

Time to grab hold of a copy of “Anna Karenina,” Leo Tolstoy’s tragic tale of love and adultery in Imperial Russia and begin preparing for a new co-production by the Joffrey Ballet and the Australian Ballet that will have its world premiere by the Joffrey in October 2018, and by the Australian company in 2020.

The work will be choreographed by Yuri Possokhov, resident choreographer of the San Francisco Ballet, who formerly danced with the Bolshoi Ballet (and recently created a stir when his ballet about Rudolf Nureyev set to open in Moscow was “officially postponed” by that Russian company). Possokhov’s ballets “RAkU,” “Don Quixote” and “The Miraculous Mandarin” have already been danced by the Joffrey.

Commissioned to write the score for “Anna Karenina” is the award-winning Russian composer Ilya Demutsky.

The new work is the result of a joint initiative by artistic directors Ashley Wheater of the Joffrey and David McAllister of the Australian Ballet.

Further details about the production will follow.