Lourdes Lopez, the longtime artistic director of Miami City Ballet, who championed new ballets and helped to elevate the company’s artistic profile, will step down from her post at the end of this season, two years before her contract expires, the company announced on Wednesday.
Lopez, 66, who joined the company in 2012, was originally scheduled to leave at the end of the 2026-27 season.
The departure of Lopez, a high-profile cultural figure who rose to fame dancing under George Balanchine at New York City Ballet, came as a surprise to Miami City Ballet’s dancers, staff and some board members.
Lopez said she was leaving early because she had grown passionate about another project: exploring ways for Miami arts institutions to collaborate more closely.
“This has nothing to do with Miami City Ballet,” she said in an interview. “This is really about Lourdes.”
While Lopez said she had been thinking about a change for more than a year, she did not make a final decision until Monday, and the news was hastily announced on Wednesday. She said she was ready for a new challenge.
“I have a lot of energy, I have ideas, I have vitality, I have urgency,” she said. “Balanchine taught us you do it now, or you don’t do it.”
Jeff Davis, the chair of Miami City Ballet’s board, said the company, with a budget of about $25 million, hoped to name a successor to Lopez before the start of the 2025-26 season in October. The board recently outlined a series of goals, including expanding the company’s audiences and building its endowment, which is valued at about $4 million, relatively small for a company of its size.
Lopez had helped raise artistic standards at the organization, Davis said.
“Her legacy is wanting to have a high-quality product that inspires a diverse crowd,” he said.
During her tenure Lopez championed contemporary choreographers, and added important works to the repertory, including Alexei Ratmansky’s “Swan Lake,” which had its North American premiere in Miami in 2022 to positive reviews. In April, the company will present the world premiere of “Carmen” by the Belgian-Colombian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa.
Lopez also faced challenges. She helped guide Miami City Ballet through the uncertainty of the pandemic, when the company lost millions in anticipated ticket revenue.
And she was at the helm last year when tensions erupted over a proposal by a group of dancers to form a union. The American Guild of Musical Artists, the union supporting the dancers, at one point accused Miami City Ballet’s leaders of leading an “aggressive, coordinated union-busting campaign.” The dancers ultimately voted not to unionize.
Lopez said that in her next chapter she would work to help promote the Miami cultural scene. Too often, she said, arts groups are competing against each other. She noted that the week before Miami City Ballet’s “Carmen” in April, Florida Grand Opera is performing its own “Carmen” at the same theater.
In a time of financial uncertainty for many arts groups, Lopez said it was important to bring institutions together “underneath one roof.”
“If you look into the future, what do you create that really protects, that cushions, the arts here in Miami?” she said. “That’s what I’m trying to figure out.”
