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The Arts Intel Report

A Midsummer Night's Dream

Oct 14–31, 2021
2200 Liberty Ave, Miami Beach, FL 33139, United States

George Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1962) is beloved, not least for its set by David Hays and costumes by Karinska. The production has the shimmer of Botticelli, a feeling of woodland zephyrs and fairy wings. Miami City Ballet made Midsummer its own in 2016, when it placed Balanchine’s beauty in a world underwater. Instead of flocks of fairies, schools of fish. Instead of hounds, sea horses. The choreography, however, is unchanged—witty, compassionate, eloquent. And now viewable from home. —L.J.

Jordan-Elizabeth Long in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream.” Choreography by George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust. Photo © Alexander Iziliaev.