Miami City Ballet is an American ballet company based in Miami Beach, Florida, and led by artistic director Lourdes Lopez. MCB was founded in 1985 by Miami philanthropist Toby Lerner Ansin with former New York City Ballet principal dancer Edward Villella as founding artistic director. The company flourishes today as one of the world's most respected ballet companies. MCB features an international ensemble of 50 dancers hailing from the United States, Brazil, Cuba, Venezuela, China, Switzerland, France, Japan, and Germany. The company has an active repertoire of 88 ballets and performs over 100 times annually including a home season in Miami, Fort Lauderdale and West Palm Beach, FL. North American appearances include the Kennedy Center, the 1996 Olympic Arts Festival, Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival, the Orange County Performing Arts Center, and New York City Center; while theaters and festivals in Europe, Central America, South America, and Israel have hosted the company. Among the Company’s notable achievements have been critically-acclaimed performances in Paris and New York City, and the nationally televised PBS special Great Performances. The company operates an elite ballet training academy, the Miami City Ballet School. Approximately 375 students attend the academy during the school year, with 200 accepted to the annual Summer Intensive. In 2012, Lourdes Lopez was chosen as artistic director. Lopez was born in Havana, Cuba and raised in Miami. She was a principal dancer for New York City Ballet for 24 years under George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. After retiring from the stage, she went on to become the executive director of The George Balanchine Foundation and co-founded the innovative dance company Morphoses. In 2014, she was appointed to the board of the Ford Foundation. Find out more about Miami City Ballet at www.miamicityballet.org.