Washington Ballet’s Septime Webre to Depart


In somewhat of a surprise announcement,  Septime Webre, the Washington Ballet’s dynamic artistic director for the past 17 years, said he will be leaving the company in June to focus on creating new works and directing.

Webre has turned the Washington Ballet into an electric and eclectic company that both forged new paths and drew large audiences at the Kennedy Center and at the Warner Theater, where his “revolutionary” “The Nutcracker” was performed for many years. This Nutcracker featured George Washington and others as characters in the ballet.

Webre, 54, said in a statement, “I have loved every minute of my years at the Washington Ballet — I feel honored and humbled to have had the opportunity of working with such amazing artists and to share their work with audiences in D.C. and throughout the world.  I am extraordinarily proud of our collective accomplishments and the spectacular growth of The Washington Ballet, and it is now time to focus my efforts on new creative endeavors. I’m looking forward to creating new ballets and to staging on other companies the many original works I have created for the Washington Ballet. I am delighted that The Washington Ballet is a committed partner in this new venture. I know I leave the Ballet in fine form, with a thrilling future ahead.”

Among many of the new works Webre created included two that impressed not only fans and aficionados of the ballet but literary types and theatergoers as well.  That would be Webre’s spectacular and moving dance evocation of F. Scott’s Fitzgerald’s classic American novel, “The Great Gatsby,” and an even more unlikely but spirited dance version of Ernest Hemingway’s “The Sun Also Rises.”

“Septime’s enormous contribution to the Washington Ballet came at an important time of Washington’s cultural growth,” said Sylvia de Leon, the ballet’s board chair. “Each of us on our board has deeply admired his boundless energy, creativity and infectious joy of the art of ballet. We will be forever grateful for his years of tireless work and dedication.”

Webre took over the Washington Ballet in 1999 from founder Mary Day, who was then running a company that had an $2.8 million budget, which Webre grew to $12 million during his tenure. One of Webre’s singular achievements was the creation of WBT@THEARC, which brought dance education and performance (including part of “The Nutcracker” schedule) to Anacostia.

A brilliant choreographer, Webre also brought a keen marketing  skill to his task at the ballet company, which grew in all of its aspects during his tenure. Enrollment of Washington Ballet students has grown from 325 to 1,400.  Webre brought in new works and filled the canon with performances of works by the country’s and world’s finest choreographers, including William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Hans van Manen, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Christopher Wheeldon  and others.

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