Katie Puder isn’t one to do things halfway. For Avant Chamber Ballet’s 13th season, the founding artistic director is nearly doubling the company’s repertoire, launching a new subscription series for families, premiering two original ballets, and restaging a landmark production by mentor and longtime collaborator Paul Mejia. And all of it will be performed with live music, featuring full orchestras for five out of the eight productions.
The company’s largest season to date features two distinct subscription series, both presented at Moody Performance Hall: the Classic Series and the new Family Series, designed to introduce children to the magic of ballet through shorter performances at an accessible price point.
The season begins Dec. 5-7, 2025, with holiday staple The Nutcracker, choreographed by Mejia and with Brad Cawyer leading an extra-large orchestra.
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Avant Chamber Ballet dancer Mackenzie Bartlett; Photo by Jordan Fraker.
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Avant Chamber Ballet dancer Ruiko Jacobs; Photo by Jordan Fraker.
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Avant Chamber Ballet dancer Jessica Zavalal; Photo by Jordan Fraker.
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Avant Chamber Ballet dancers Olivia Mann and Caroline Atwell; Photo by Jordan Fraker.
Valentine’s week brings Rhythm & Romance (Feb. 13-14, 2026), a triple bill. George Balanchine’s Valse Fantaisie, set to music by Mikhail Glinka, opens the evening with brisk musicality and crystalline footwork. “It’s one of my favorites I ever danced,” says Puder. “It’s so purely Balanchine, just beautiful movement in service of the music.”
Next is Mejia’s Café Victoria, a sultry and slyly humorous ballet built around tangoes by Astor Piazzolla. “I guarantee you know this music, and there’s a fun little story within it,” Puder says.
Closing the program is Puder’s Sisterhood, which features music by Dallas-born composer Quinn Mason. Created in 2019, it has become one of Puder’s most performed works, blending pointe work with a finale in sneakers and each dancer in their own color-blocked costume designed by Outdoor Voices. “The company members get to dance with abandon in a piece about female relationships and community,” Puder says. “That resonates so much in a ballet company, which becomes your second family.”
March 27-28, 2026, ACB teams up with Dallas-based nonprofit Orchestra of New Spain for Pulcinella: Reimagined, an evening of two world-premiere ballets. Set to Igor Stravinsky’s effervescent suite Pulcinella and Manuel de Falla’s dramatic El Amor Brujo, the program draws from both baroque commedia dell’arte and Andalusian folklore. “I’m such a sucker for Stravinsky,” Puder says. “We’re restaging this Pulcinella in Mexico, with costumes inspired by ballet folklórico. It still has the harlequin flair but feels relevant to our Dallas community.”
Puder shares choreographic duties with Fernanda Oliveira, a New York-based artist and frequent ACB guest. With orchestra and vocalists sharing the stage, the production marks a visual and musical shift for the company. “It’s a big leap for us,” Puder admits. “But it’s exciting for the dancers, the audiences, everyone!”
The Family Series version, Pulcinella Jr. (March 28, 2026), distills the story into a single act. “It’s slapstick comedy, fake deaths, trickery, everything kids love,” Puder says. “We keep the lights up just a touch, so parents feel comfortable bringing even very young children. That’s how I fell in love with performing arts: my mom taking me to productions when I was little. It opens your eyes in a way that movies and TV just don’t.”
The season closes in April with two large-scale works. The Seasons (April 25–26, 2026), set to Alexander Glazunov’s sweeping score and choreographed by Mejia, unfolds in four tableaux representing winter, spring, summer, and autumn. “It’s one of the biggest ballets I ever danced,” says Puder. “There’s no narrative, but the music and movement tell the story clearly in a way that’s so lush and satisfying.”
Puder is staging the work with the support of Mejia and his wife, Maria Terezia Balogh, who danced in the original cast and was one of Puder’s first teachers. “It’s really meaningful to pass this on,” she says. “Ballet is a living, breathing art. If works aren’t being performed, they aren’t really alive.”
That same weekend, Puder’s newly re-choreographed Carnival of the Animals (April 25, 2026) will debut in the Family Series. Originally created in ACB’s second season, the ballet features Camille Saint-Saëns’ beloved score, colorful new costumes, and a cast of both professional dancers and students from Artistry in Motion. “The music is full of personality and the cast includes lions, fish, birds, elephants,” says Puder. “There’s even a tightrope walker.”
Midway through the season, Avant Chamber Ballet will also move into a new studio space in the Dallas Design District, allowing for multiple rehearsals and expanded staff support, including newly appointed rehearsal director and training program head Madelaine Boyce, a founding company member who retired last year.
“It’s a season of growth in every way,” says Puder. “And we’re ready.”
—LINDSEY WILSON
