Mikko Nissinen

Boston supermodel Gisele Bundchen attended Tuesday night's performance of "The Nutcracker. " She brought her parents to the show, and met with Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen and some of the dancers backstage.

Few would dispute that Jerome Robbins was one of the great theater directors and choreographers of the 20th century. Stephen Sondheim called him "the only genius I ever met. " But Robbins unleashed his creativity in two distinctly different realms. The Broadway Jerome Robbins conceived "West Side Story" and was a driving force behind "On the Town," "Peter Pan," "Gypsy," "Funny Girl," "Fiddler on the Roof," and many more. The ballet Jerome Robbins was a fine dancer who worked with Michel Fokine (who gave him the title role in "Petrouchka")

Join The Boston Ballet's Artistic Director, Mikko Nissinen and Globe's Art Editor, Rebecca Ostriker, for a behind the scenes look at the Ballet's latest production. Ostriker will lead a discussion with Nissinen who will share his vision for the production and the challenges of bringing it to the Opera House's stage.

A reimagined production of "The Nutcracker," with all-new costumes and sets by Robert Perdziola and some new choreography by Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen, will be the centerpiece of the company's 2012-13 season, to be announced today. Boston Ballet's 49th season will open Oct. 25-Nov. 4 with an as-yet untitled world premiere by resident choreographer Jorma Elo, sharing a program with a revival of Christopher Bruce's "Rooster," which the company performed for the first time this month, and William Forsythe's "The Second Detail.

Boston Ballet dancer Keenan Kampa, a rising star from Virginia, is moving on to the Mariinsky Ballet in Russia in June, according to her publicist. Kampa, 22, joined Boston Ballet's corps de ballet in 2010 as a graduate of the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia — the first American student to earn a Russiancq diploma at the school of the Mariisnky Ballet (also known as the Kirov). At the time, Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen called Kampa "a major talent.

Harvard threw a party Monday for its new dance director, Jill Johnson . Johnson, who has held positions at Princeton University, Barnard College, and New York University's Tisch School of the Arts, was celebrated at the festivities by Harvard's president, Drew Faust , Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen , Harvard dean Evelynn Hammonds , poet and professor Jorie Graham , Harvard arts office director Jack Megan...

A reimagined production of "The Nutcracker," with all-new costumes and sets by Robert Perdziola and some new choreography by Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen, will be the centerpiece of the company's 2012-13 season, to be announced today. Boston Ballet's 49th season will open Oct. 25-Nov. 4 with an as-yet untitled world premiere by resident choreographer Jorma Elo, sharing a program with a revival of Christopher Bruce's "Rooster," which the company performed for the first time this month, and William...

SPRING 2012 is filled with ballet-inspired fashions, with gorgeous examples from Chanel, Dior, Pitsch, and Tani Miller. Who's that again? Sherika Pitsch and Jennifer Tani Miller are finalists in the "Design in Motion" competition cosponsored by Boston's School of Fashion Design – where the two are students – and Boston Ballet. "The scope of the competition was about fashion meshing with dance and inspired by it," says Boston Ballet manager of costume and wardrobe Charles Heightchew, a contest judge along with company artistic director Mikko Nissinen.

Few would dispute that Jerome Robbins was one of the great theater directors and choreographers of the 20th century. Stephen Sondheim called him "the only genius I ever met. " But Robbins unleashed his creativity in two distinctly different realms. The Broadway Jerome Robbins conceived "West Side Story" and was a driving force behind "On the Town," "Peter Pan," "Gypsy," "Funny Girl," "Fiddler on the Roof," and many more. The ballet Jerome Robbins was a fine dancer who worked with Michel Fokine (who gave him the title role in "Petrouchka")

The three dances in Boston Ballet's "Simply Sublime" may leapfrog decades (1909 to 1972 to 2001) but they are contemporaries under the skin. They are bound by the tenets of classicism - "truth and beauty and proportion," as choreographer Mark Morris once defined the term to me - torqued by the abstraction of modernism. That artistic director Mikko Nissinen brought them together on one bill was a stroke of curatorial genius. The oldest piece, Michel Fokine's "Les Sylphides," set to music by Chopin, has been cited as the first plotless "ballet blanc," or white...

The three dances in Boston Ballet's "Simply Sublime" may leapfrog decades (1909 to 1972 to 2001) but they are contemporaries under the skin. They are bound by the tenets of classicism - "truth and beauty and proportion," as choreographer Mark Morris once defined the term to me - torqued by the abstraction of modernism. That artistic director Mikko Nissinen brought them together on one bill was a stroke of curatorial genius. The oldest piece, Michel Fokine's "Les Sylphides," set to music by Chopin, has been cited as the first plotless "ballet blanc," or white ballet, one of those...

SPRING 2012 is filled with ballet-inspired fashions, with gorgeous examples from Chanel, Dior, Pitsch, and Tani Miller. Who's that again? Sherika Pitsch and Jennifer Tani Miller are finalists in the "Design in Motion" competition cosponsored by Boston's School of Fashion Design – where the two are students – and Boston Ballet. "The scope of the competition was about fashion meshing with dance and inspired by it," says Boston Ballet manager of costume and wardrobe Charles Heightchew, a contest judge along with company artistic director Mikko Nissinen.

Boston Ballet dancer Keenan Kampa, a rising star from Virginia, is moving on to the Mariinsky Ballet in Russia in June, according to her publicist. Kampa, 22, joined Boston Ballet's corps de ballet in 2010 as a graduate of the Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg, Russia — the first American student to earn a Russiancq diploma at the school of the Mariisnky Ballet (also known as the Kirov). At the time, Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen called Kampa "a major talent.

Boston supermodel Gisele Bundchen attended Tuesday night's performance of "The Nutcracker. " She brought her parents to the show, and met with Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko Nissinen and some of the dancers backstage.

This wasn't a watershed year for dance in Boston. No star choreographers emerged here in 2011. No outstanding new troupes formed. No internationally renowned ballet companies visited. And yet it was an almost unimaginably rich year for dance in Boston. From Savion Glover to George Balanchine, we saw every kind of hoofing imaginable. Trisha Brown celebrated her company's 40th anniversary in town and at Jacob's Pillow in Becket; Mark Morris celebrated his company's 30th; Bill T. Jones offered a look at some of his early work.

This wasn't a watershed year for dance in Boston. No star choreographers emerged here in 2011. No outstanding new troupes formed. No internationally renowned ballet companies visited. And yet it was an almost unimaginably rich year for dance in Boston. From Savion Glover to George Balanchine, we saw every kind of hoofing imaginable. Trisha Brown celebrated her company's 40th anniversary in town and at Jacob's Pillow in Becket; Mark Morris celebrated his company's 30th; Bill T. Jones offered a look at some of his early work.

BOSTON BALLET"S ‘NIGHT OF STARS" At: Boston Opera House, Saturday Boston Ballet's sixth annual "Night of Stars," at the Opera House Saturday evening, offered few surprises but many rewards. The template for this sampler is set now: a few flashbacks to highlights from the previous season, a look ahead to the upcoming season, some party pieces, and a guest star or two. In previous years, the guests have been principals from other major ballet companies; this time, however, in a salute to one of the pioneers of modern dance, Boston Ballet artistic director Mikko...

THE NUTCRACKER By Boston Ballet Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Choreography by Marius Petipa, Daniel Pelzig, and Mikko Nissinen. Set, Helen Pond and Herbert Senn. Costumes, David Walker and Charles Heightchew. Lighting, Alexander V. Nichols. With the Boston Ballet Orchestra conducted by Jonathan McPhee. Presented by Boston Ballet. At: Boston Opera House, through Dec. 31. Tickets: $35-$174. 617-695-6955, www.bostonballet.org When it premiered in St. Petersburg, back in 1892, "The Nutcracker" enjoyed only 11 performances before being withdrawn.