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Boston Ballet announces nine new dancers, Erica Cornejo’s retirement

Boston Ballet announces nine new dancers, Erica Cornejo’s retirement

Mary Hierholzer

On Monday, the Boston Ballet announced its roster for the 2016-17 season. The Company welcomes nine new dancers of seven nationalities, and also announced that this will be Principal Dancer Erica Cornejo's final season before retirement. Cornejo has danced 11 seasons with the Company, beginning in 2006. Her final appearances onstage will be May 2017 in The Sleeping Beauty.

One of Boston Ballet's new dancers joins as a soloist, and six as "artists of the Company," a title which now replaces "corps de ballet." The new members from France, the U.S., Georgia, South Korea, Australia, Japan and Denmark contribute to a total of 71 dancers in the Company, which represents a total of 18 nationalities. The Company is comprised of 57 dancers in the main professional company, and 14 in Boston Ballet II.

Taking us for a ride
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Taking us for a ride

Ira Stoll

Pretty much everything that's wrong with government is encapsulated in the recent announcement of what the New York Times described as a "$2.45 billion loan" to Amtrak to buy new Acela trains to replace the ones that currently ride the rails between Washington, New York, and Boston.

To start with, there is the lack of humility. The Times reports that "Vice President Joseph R. Biden Jr., a longtime Amtrak supporter who frequently travels by train between Washington and his home in Delaware, announced the loan at the station in Wilmington that is named in his honor." Sure enough, Amtrak in 2011 renamed the Wilmington Delaware station the Joseph R. Biden Jr. train station. Biden, in attendance at that event, reportedly protested, "the truth is, I don't deserve this."

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