As the Cincinnati Ballet prepares to move into its new headquarters at the Margaret and Michael Valentine Center for Dance in Walnut Hills, more changes are afoot.
Longtime Artistic Director Victoria Morgan has announced she'll be stepping down at the end of the 2021-22 season — her 25th year with the Cincinnati Ballet.
Morgan said it will be a "poignant" season for her.
“I am so proud of this organization and the work we have accomplished and continue to build upon — elevating our artistry, growing a healthy endowment, championing female choreographers, and the imminent opening of the new Cincinnati Ballet Margaret and Michael Valentine Center for Dance," she says in a release. "I will cherish being with you next season, as I have done so many seasons before. Nothing will give me greater joy than raising the curtain on this remarkable season together one last time for my grand finale.”
A former principal dancer for the San Francisco Ballet and Ballet West, and choreographer for the San Francisco Opera, Morgan started her tenure with the Cincinnati Ballet in 2008 as both artistic director and CEO. When Scott Altman stepped in as president and CEO, she turned her vision to artistic director full-time.
As a choreographer, Morgan produced the world premieres of King Arthur's Camelot, the new version of holiday classic The Nutcracker and worked to revise the choreography of Cinderella.
The ballet says she was "instrumental in fundraising efforts to secure support for the new 57,000-square-foot Cincinnati Ballet Margaret and Michael Valentine Center for Dance," and helped lead the institution during the pandemic.
"2020 challenged Morgan’s artistic leadership in unprecedented ways. She responded to the global pandemic in a creative and science-based way, working closely the company’s artistic and administrative teams to safely present one of the nation’s first ballet performances to an in-person audience following the shutdown," reads a release. "Ballet in the Park was staged at the Procter & Gamble Pavilion in September 2020 and was lauded by The National Endowment for the Arts for its innovation."
The Cincinnati Ballet Board of Trustees has formed a committee and will be conducting a national search to find her replacement.
