The Joffrey Ballet: Anna Karenina

The Kennedy Center celebrates the return of The Joffrey Ballet, one of the premier companies performing in America today. The largest dance company in Chicago, the Joffrey expresses an inclusive perspective on dance, proudly reflecting the diversity of America through its company artists, extensive repertoire, academy, and community engagement programs.

Looking beyond the stories we always see, The Joffrey Ballet presents a new ballet based on the novel Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy. Love is all-consuming for Anna, a married aristocrat, who finds herself caught in a life-changing affair—where the consequences are grave. The ballet uses vivaciously intricate movement to bring Tolstoy’s riveting tale of desire and passion to life in groundbreaking fashion. Choreographed by the visionary Yuri Possokhov and with music by composer Ilya Demutsky, the production’s world premiere in 2019 marked the first full-length ballet with a commissioned score in the company’s history.