The Cincinnati Ballet is finishing out their 2025-26 season in dramatic fashion with two very opposite shows over the next two weekends: “Director’s Vision: Liberty in Motion,” a celebration of America’s 250th anniversary through dance, and “Family Series: Pinocchio,” a unique retelling of the classic fairy tale.
For Cincinnati Ballet director Cervilio Miguel Amador, a Cuban immigrant in his third season at the helm of the Ballet, putting together a show celebrating America’s 250th anniversary feels a little different thanks to how he arrived in the country.
“I started dancing with the National Ballet of Cuba when I was 17, and stayed with them for about two years. We went on a trip to America, and I never left. Seriously, I grabbed my backpack, left my hotel room in Miami, and started my journey here in the United States,” he said. “It was just like the movies.”
After living in Miami for a few months, he got a call from Cincinnati Ballet’s then-director Victoria Morgan about flying up for a tryout as a dancer. He joined the team in July 2004, and danced with the company for 17 years before becoming a rehearsal director and eventually the organization’s creative director.
“I wasn’t really familiar with cities in the United States. I didn’t even speak English at the time. But when I was arriving from the airport and saw the skyline of Cincinnati, I remember loving the city from that very moment,” he said. “And then as I started living here, I loved our arts scene, our sports scene, everything about it. I even learned to love our four seasons. I feel like Ohio’s weather allows me to live four different lives in one year, as opposed to Cuba, which was just always hot.”
With “Liberty in Motion,” Amador took a step back and asked himself who he thinks are the choreographers that have most influenced American dance over the course of our nation’s history.
First, he settled on doing a classic piece by George Balanchine—who he says is “the American choreographer”—and went with his very first work, the 1934 piece “Serenade.” It was one of the first American ballets, and became a defining work for all future American ballet to come.
Next, he decided to feature a work from the director and choreographer of the New York City Ballet, Justin Peck, known for his eclectic style that often features electronic music blasting as dancers wear street clothes and sneakers.
“He developed a new dance vocabulary in his work that really pushed the art form forward. It’s really unique. It’s electrifying,” Amador said. “The piece I selected, ‘The Times Are Racing,’ is a fun way for us to show off both the versatility of our dancers and the artistic range of our programming.”
Finally, he chose a work by Claudia Schreier, a choreographer whose works have quickly become influential in the dance world over the past decade. The piece selected, “First Impulse,” focuses on joining old and new styles of ballet.
“It very much honors the tradition of classical dance, but it’s really looking ahead. It takes ballet farther than it’s ever went,” he said. “I guess you’d call it contemporary ballet. Claudia is just very clever on how she utilizes music, the formations of the dancers, and audience interaction to create something incredible.”
With “Liberty in Motion” showing off an American classic, a modern ballet, and a piece that joins the two styles together, Amador hopes to show off the evolution of choreography in our country over the past 250 years—especially since all three parts of the show will feature most of the same dancers.
“Artistically, it will energize you,” he said. “‘Liberty in Motion’ will showcase the trajectory of dance in the United States. It’s an emotionally rich show that feels very human. And it feels very American.”
The final weekend of the season will see the company shift gears to a family-friendly show retelling a story we all know. Cincinnati Ballet’s production of Pinocchio will close out the year with a bang.
In this version of the classic story, two different dancers will portray Pinocchio as a puppet and as a real boy. While the actors do talk throughout the show, the story is primarily told “through movement,” Amador says, “so you can follow the story through the narrative or just by watching.”
Additionally, Cincinnati Ballet will transform the Aronoff Center’s lobby into an immersive experience full of puppeteers, games and crafts. The intent for the show is for families to come and bring their children to experience ballet for the first time.
To Amador, seeing live performances of the arts is “a human necessity.”
“Whether it’s dance or music or opera, it always enriches your life. I think with dance, it really showcases the capability of the human body. You can see what your body is physically capable of while seeing how you can express emotion just through movements,” he said. “And it’s special because it’s not just you at home in front of a screen. You’re sharing that experience and that energy with all the people around you. There’s a humanity in that, and it’s absolutely beautiful.”
Cincinnati Ballet will run “Director’s Vision: Liberty in Motion” this weekend, April 10-12, and “Family Series: Pinocchio” next weekend, April 16-19. For more info or to buy tickets, head to their official website.
