The Alonzo King LINES Ballet (AKLB) is an American

contemporary ballet Contemporary ballet is a dance genre that incorporates elements of classical ballet and modern dance. It employs classical ballet technique and in many cases classical pointe technique as well, but allows a greater range of movement of the upper ...

company based in the

San Francisco Bay Area The San Francisco Bay Area, commonly known as the Bay Area, is a List of regions of California, region of California surrounding and including San Francisco Bay, and anchored by the cities of Oakland, San Francisco, and San Jose, California, S ...

. The

ballet company A ballet company is a type of dance troupe that performs classical ballet, neoclassical ballet, and/or contemporary ballet in the European tradition, plus managerial and support staff. Most major ballet companies employ dancers on a year-rou ...

, founded by

choreographer Choreography is the art of designing sequences of movements of physical bodies (or their depictions) in which Motion (physics), motion or Visual appearance, form or both are specified. ''Choreography'' may also refer to the design itself. A chor ...

Alonzo King, premiered at

San Francisco State University San Francisco State University (San Francisco State, SF State and SFSU) is a Public university, public research university in San Francisco, California, United States. It was established in 1899 as the San Francisco State Normal School and is ...

's McKenna Theatre in 1982.

Background

LINES Ballet performs its home season at the

Yerba Buena Center for the Arts Yerba Buena Center for the Arts (YBCA) is a multi-disciplinary Contemporary art, contemporary arts center in San Francisco, California, United States. Located in Yerba Buena Gardens, YBCA features visual art, performance, and film/video that cel ...

San Francisco San Francisco, officially the City and County of San Francisco, is a commercial, Financial District, San Francisco, financial, and Culture of San Francisco, cultural center of Northern California. With a population of 827,526 residents as of ...

while also maintaining an international touring schedule that includes featured performances at venues such as

Venice Biennale The Venice Biennale ( ; ) is an international cultural exhibition hosted annually in Venice, Italy. There are two main components of the festival, known as the Art Biennale () and the Venice Biennale of Architecture, Architecture Biennale (), ...

Venice Venice ( ; ; , formerly ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 islands that are separated by expanses of open water and by canals; portions of the city are li ...

, Théâtre National de Chaillot in

Paris Paris () is the Capital city, capital and List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, largest city of France. With an estimated population of 2,048,472 residents in January 2025 in an area of more than , Paris is the List of ci ...

, and The Kwai Tsing Theatre in

Hong Kong Hong Kong)., Legally Hong Kong, China in international treaties and organizations. is a special administrative region of China. With 7.5 million residents in a territory, Hong Kong is the fourth most densely populated region in the wor ...

. LINES Ballet, which celebrated its 40th-anniversary season in 2022, features a diverse lineup of

dancers Dance is an art form, consisting of sequences of body movements with aesthetic and often symbolic value, either improvised or purposefully selected. Dance can be categorized and described by its choreography, by its repertoire of movements or ...

from countries including

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its Provinces and territories of Canada, ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, making it the world's List of coun ...

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

, and

The United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

; and presents programs that exemplify the company's artistic vision to renew and transcend traditional ballet with cross-genre collaborations.

Collaboration

Since its inception, LINES Ballet founder Alonzo King has collaborated with artists of various backgrounds including

composer A composer is a person who writes music. The term is especially used to indicate composers of Western classical music, or those who are composers by occupation. Many composers are, or were, also skilled performers of music. Etymology and def ...

musician A musician is someone who Composer, composes, Conducting, conducts, or Performing arts#Performers, performs music. According to the United States Employment Service, "musician" is a general Terminology, term used to designate a person who fol ...

vocalists Singing is the art of creating music with the voice. It is the oldest form of musical expression, and the human voice can be considered the first musical instrument. The definition of singing varies across sources. Some sources define singi ...

, and

visual artists The visual arts are art forms such as painting, drawing, printmaking, sculpture, ceramics, photography, video, image, filmmaking, design, crafts, and architecture. Many artistic disciplines such as performing arts, conceptual art, and texti ...

to develop new ballet programs for the company.

Dancers

The listing of dancers currently performing with Alonzo King LINES Ballet as of Spring 2022: * Babatunji Johnson * Adji Cissoko * Madeline DeVries * Lorris Eichinger * Shuaib Elhassan * James Gowan * Ilaria Guerra * Maya Harr * Tatum Quiñónez * Michael Montgomery * Alvaro Montelongo * Marusya Madubuko * Joshua Francique

Notable former dancers

* Aesha Ash * Drew Jacoby * Laurel Keen * Maurya Kerr * Meredith Webster * Courtney Henry * Summer Lee Rhatigan

Repertoire

A listing of current and former Alonzo King LINES Ballet programs and collaborative works: * 2022: Deep River * 2019: Pole Star & The Personal Element & AZOTH * 2018: Sutra & Common Ground * 2017: Figures of Speech * 2016: Art Songs & SAND * 2015: The Propelled Heart & Biophony * 2014: Shostakovich & The Steady Heart * 2013: Concerto for Two Violins, Meyer, & AZIMUTH * 2012: Constellation * 2011: Resin, Figures of Thought, & Triangle of the Squinches * 2010: Writing Ground & Wheel in the Middle of the Field * 2009: Scheherazade, Refraction, & Dust and Light * 2008: The Radius of Convergence, The Steady Articulation of Perseverance * 2007: Rasa, Irregular Pearl, & Long River, High Sky * 2006: Sky Clad & Migration * 2005: The Moroccan Project, Handel, Salt, Odd Fellow, & Satoh * 2004: Before the Blues, Rite of Spring, Baker Fix, Coleman Hawkins, & The Patience of Aridity, Waiting for Petrichor * 2003: Heart Song & Syzmanski's Vibraphone Quartet * 2002: Road, Splash, & Koto * 2001: The People of the Forest & The Heart's Natural Inclination * 2000: Soothing the Enemy, Riley, Tango, & In to Get Out * 1999: Shostakovich String Quartet * 1998: Who Dressed You Like a Foreigner?, Tarab, & Long Straight Line * 1997: String Trio, Suite Etta, Three Stops On the Way Home, & Handel Trio * 1996: Klang, Sacred Text, Handel Pas de Deux, & Ground * 1995: Signs and Wonders, Rock, & String Quartet * 1994: Poulenc Pas de Deux, Ocean, & Along the Path * 1993: Bach Cello Suite, Compelling Geological Evidence, & Pavane * 1992: Gurdjieff Piano Music * 1991: Song of the Aka & Cante * 1990: Without Wax & Toccatta in D Minor * 1989: Lila & Fallen Angel * 1988: Awake in the Dream, Ligeti Variations, & Reoccurrence * 1987: Rain Dreaming & Granados Pas de Deux * 1986: Prayer & Stealing Light * 1983: Ictus * 1982: Danse Poulenc, Christine, & Sonata for Three Dancers

Collaborators

A listing of current and former Alonzo King LINES Ballet program collaborators:

Composers, Dancers, Musicians, Performers, and Artists

* Vân-Ánh Vanessa Võ - Composer, Musician * Kronos Quartet - String Quartet * Zakir Hussain and Sabir Khan - Musicians * Bob Holman - Poet * Lisa Fischer - Vocalist * Charles Lloyd - Musician * El Hamideen - Musician * Jean-Cristophe (JC) Maillard - Composer, Arranger, Musician * San Francisco Opera Adler Fellows - Vocalists * Melody of China - Music Ensemble * BaAka Nzamba Lela - Musician * Maya Lahyani - Vocalist * Miguel Frasconi - Composer * Hamza El Din - Composer *

Mickey Hart Mickey Hart (born Michael Steven Hartman, September 11, 1943) is an American percussionist. He is best known as one of the two drummers of the rock band Grateful Dead. He was a member of the Grateful Dead from September 1967 until February 19 ...

- Musician * Zakir Hussain - Musician * Miya Masaoka - Composer, Musician * Jason Moran - Musician * San Francisco's Philharmonia Baroque Orchestra - Music Ensemble * Edgar Meyer - Musician * Bernice Johnson Reagon - Composer, Vocalist * Rita Sahai - Vocalist, Musician *

Pharoah Sanders Pharoah Sanders (born Ferrell Lee Sanders; October 13, 1940 – September 24, 2022) was an American jazz saxophonist. Known for his overblowing, harmonic, and multiphonic techniques on the saxophone, as well as his use of "sheets of sound", San ...

- Musician * Somei Satoh - Composer * Leslie Stuck - Composer * Paweł Szymański - Composer *

Danny Glover Danny Glover ( ; born July 22, 1946) is an American actor, producer, and political activist. Over his career he has received List of awards and nominations received by Danny Glover, numerous accolades including the Jean Hersholt Humanitarian A ...

- Actor * Jim McKee - Sound Designer * Richard Blackford - Composer *

Bernie Krause Bernard L. Krause (born December 8, 1938) is an American musician and soundscape ecologist. In 1968, he founded Wild Sanctuary, an organization dedicated to the recording and archiving of natural soundscapes. Krause is an author, a bio-acoustici ...

- Musician, Bioacoustician * Arturo Fernandez - Choreographer, Dancer, Ballet Master * Meredith Webster - Choreographer, Dancer, Ballet Master

Visual Artists

* Christopher Haas - Architect * Irene Pijoan - Visual Artist * Raymond Saunders - Visual Artist * Alain Lortie - Lighting Designer * Axel Morgenthaler - Lighting Designer * Lisa J. Pinkham - Lighting Designer * David Finn - Lighting Designer * James F. Ingalls - Lighting Design * Colleen Quen - Costume Designer * Robert Wierzel - Lighting Designer * Sandra Woodall - Costume Designer * Jim Campbell - Visual Artist * Jim Doyle - Water Specialist * Dikayl Rimmasch - Photographer * Marty Sohl - Photographer * Angela Sterling - Photographer * RJ Muna - Photographer * Franck Thibault - Photographer * Quinn Wharton -Photographer * Austin Forbord - Videographer * Jamie Lyons - Photographer/Videographer

References

External links

*
Selby/Artists MGMT – Artist Representation

Alonzo King LINES Ballet

Tracing Lines with Alonzo KING

Alonzo King LINES Ballet BFA at Dominican University of California

Alonzo King LINES Ballet at Aspen Ideas Festival

Alonzo King LINES Ballet performing King's ''Migration '' at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival
{{DEFAULTSORT:Alonzo King Lines Ballet Ballet companies in the United States Culture of San Francisco Performing groups established in 1982 1982 establishments in California Dance in California