Season 3 Announcement
I am beyond excited to share Pointeworks’ Season 3—an ambitious program that strengthens and expands our mission to champion the voices of female choreographers. This year’s repertory features five remarkable women, each offering a distinct vision of ballet today, from daring new creations to timeless romance.
Sophie Williams, Artistic Director of Pointeworks
Pointeworks is thrilled to welcome you to join us in our Season 3 announcement. After successful performances and incredible memories in New York City and San Diego in 2025, we are so excited to return to both cities for continued artistic excellence in 2026.
New York City will provide the creative pulse to cultivate a brand new composition and original choreographic work. This creation process will be showcased to audiences through open rehearsals, masterclasses, workshops, and soirees in January 2026. San Diego is where the five works will come together through four weeks of rehearsals, culminating in two performances at the Conrad Preby’s Performing Arts Center in La Jolla, California on June 13th.
After reviewing 273 applications from choreographers all over the world to create on Pointeworks, we narrowed our decision down to two incredible women: Jacquelyn Long and Keratin Jinakunwiphat. In addition to their original works we are excited to present Dani Rowe’s Unsaid originally performed by San Francisco Ballet, the pas de trois from Reka Gyulai’s Transcendence, and the North Hemisphere debut of Andrea Schermoly’s Romeo and Juliet. Five ballets, five different perspectives, and five stories.
5 Ballets
New work by Jacquelyn Long
Long is a choreographer from Houston who will create a new piece on 5 Pointeworks dancers during the Choreographic Residency in New York City.
Through Pointeworks, Jacquelyn’s work will be accompanied by a brand-new score by award-winning Welsh composer Katie Jenkins in collaboration with Carnegie Hall pianist Joshua Mhoon and Juilliard alumni violinist Julia Choi. The ballet will be performed along with live instruments during performances.
Find more about Jacquelyn in her bio.
photo by Alana Campbell
new work by Keerati Jinakunwiphat
Jinakunwiphat is a choreographer based in New York City and is set to create a brand-new work for Pointeworks to debut in June 2026.
Keerati’s choreographic voice has been widely celebrated from being on the cover as one of Dance Magazine’s "25 to Watch" in 2021, to becoming the first Asian American woman to be commissioned to choreograph for the New York City Ballet in 2023.
Find out more about Keerati in her bio.
Photo by Zui Gomez
UnSaid by Dani Rowe
Unsaid is a work which debuted on San Francisco Ballet dancers Sofiane Sylve and Aaron Robinson in 2019. The piece is an intimate yet chilling pas de deux set to music by Ezio Bosso, showcasing the disjointing of love and communication.
The work is set to be restaged with two Pointeworks dancers by the one and only Sofiane Sylve. As a dancer in the original cast of the pas de deux, Sofiane will be able to teach the ballet better than any other, passing along generational knowledge, her personal experience in the role, and creating a truly special relationship between dancer and coach.
Romeo and Juliet by Andrea Schermoly
The full-length re-creation of this timeless classic, which premiered with the Royal New Zealand Ballet in 2023, returns in a special presentation by Pointeworks. We will feature the iconic balcony scene pas de deux, performed by two Pointeworks dancers and set to Prokofiev’s beloved score.
Andrea’s Romeo and Juliet received widespread acclaim upon its debut. “She has created two of the most beautiful and romantic pas de deux we’ve seen,” wrote Jack Yan of Lucire.
Photo by Stephen A’Court
Transcendence Pas de Trois by Reka Gyulai
Returning to the Pointeworks stage after its acclaimed debut last season, Reka Gyulai’s work once again showcases her unparalleled ability to capture the depth of human connection through movement. The pas de trois from her larger work Transcendence captures a rawness in its dancing and pushes technique to athleticism, power and grace.
Find out more about Reka in her bio.
Photo by Hannah Cox
New York City Choreographic Residency
January
Jacquelyn Long
Katie jenkins
New York City Choreographic Residency January Jacquelyn Long Katie jenkins
New York City Choreographic Residency
We are excited to start the season in the heart of New York City cultivating, rehearsing, and presenting a new choreographic work by Houston Ballet’s Jacquelyn Long in collaboration with Welsh composer Katie Jenkins in the creation of a brand-new score. Creating a new score for a ballet is special because it makes the connection to the music and movement even stronger due to their intrinsic co-creation. The new composition will utilize two instruments and will be performed live on stage by New York City-based award-winning pianist Joshua Mhoon and Julia Choi.
Jacquelyn’s choreographic voice first emerged in Houston Ballet’s 2018 workshop, leading to her pas de deux it just keeps goingbeing featured at the Cynthia Woods Pavilion in 2019. She went on to create Mechanisms (2022), a striking solo presented in the Margaret Alkek Dance Lab, and Illuminate (2023), which premiered on the Wortham Stage during the Jubilee of Dance. Illuminate will make its return in Fall 2025 in Houston Ballet’s Rock, Roll, and Tutus program. We are excited to see what she creates with Pointeworks and Katie Jenkins.
Katie’s orchestral works have been commissioned and performed by major ensembles including the Royal Philharmonic Orchestra at Abbey Road Studios, the Juilliard Orchestra at Lincoln Center, and the Pittsburgh and San Diego Symphony Orchestras. Highlights include collaborations with pianist Chloe Flower (Cariad), David Ludwig and Shaggy (Mr. Symphonic), and premieres by the Albany Symphony and Second Ending Ensemble at Jazz at Lincoln Center. Katie was also the composer for Chasing Shadows, a composition created in collaboration with Laine Habony for Pointeworks Season 2. Her connection to this company and her network of artists has helped grow Pointeworks reach in the music scene exponentially.
Alongside uniting artists in New York City, we aim to engage a diverse audience of students, young professionals, and arts enthusiasts. Our residency will feature two open rehearsals with discussion panels led by renowned choreographers, dancers, and musicians; an exclusive Choreo and Cocktails behind-the-scenes experience; open company classes; and masterclasses hosted at leading NYC ballet academies.
This residency embodies Pointeworks’ commitment to collaboration, innovation, and community, bringing artists and audiences together to celebrate the evolving language of dance in New York City.
San Diego, CA
summer season
nocturnes
San Diego, CA summer season nocturnes
Nocturnes San Diego
The next chapter of our season takes us back to our home base in San Diego, CA. We’re overjoyed to return to the city that has embraced us with sold-out performances and incredible community support.
This June Pointeworks Season 3 presents our performance program titled Nocturnes. This program will feature all five ballets cultivated throughout the year in NYC and in San Diego rehearsal weeks and present this work in two performances at the Conrad Prebys Performing Arts Center in La Jolla on June 13th.
Along with Jacquelyn’s new work being created in NYC, San Diego will be the creation period for a new work by Keerati Jinakunwiphat a rising star in the choreographic scene. Keerati, a Chicago native and SUNY Purchase Conservatory of Dance graduate, has performed with and created works for leading artists and companies including A.I.M by Kyle Abraham, where she began dancing in 2016. Her choreography has been presented at renowned venues such as the Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center, and the Guggenheim’s Works & Process series. In 2023, she made history as the first Asian American woman commissioned to choreograph for New York City Ballet. A Princess Grace Award recipient and 2024 Artist in Residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center, Keerati continues to shape the contemporary dance landscape with her bold and evocative vision. We are so excited to see what she creates for our program.
We continue our commitment to sustaining choreography beyond its premiere with the return of Reka Gyulai’s Transcendence, first commissioned in 2025 using 10 dancers. This year we highlight the principal pas de trios featuring two men and one woman, traversing the space in waves of energy and emotion. The work is danced to music by Luke Rickards and artists wear custom hand made costumes by Christine Rader of CR Designs. Based in the San Diego area, Reka will be restating this trio herself deepening her relationship to the piece and mataining her original vision with new dancers.
Dani Rowe’s Unsaid is set to be staged by the unparalleled Sofiane Sylve—a legendary international prima ballerina and current Artist in Residence at the National Ballet of Canada. We are thrilled to announce Sofiane will be joining Pointeworks for three weeks as Resident Rehearsal Director and official stager for Dani Rowe’s work. This dramatic pas de deux evokes the multifaceted and often contorting process of communication- or lack of communication. The couple are adorned in stunning dark costumes designed by both Wes Crain & Dani Rowe herself. Since it’s debut in 2019 this work has not graced the stage again, Pointeworks is honored to bring Dani Roses vision to life in our programming.
The evening culminates in the timeless romance of Andrea Schermoly’s Romeo and Juliet pas de deux. Andrea Schermoly was commissioned to re-tell this iconic Shakespeare ballad through her own choreographic and creative voice in 2023. This fresh take was received tremendously well in New Zealand and Australia where is has been performed since. We are excited to bring this celebrated work to make its debut in the Northern Hemisphere in San Diego. Andrea has worked as Artist in Residence at Luisville Ballet and Smuin Contemporary Ballet and previously danced with Boston Ballet and Nederlands Dance Theatre. Her extensive career in dance and choreography is truly inspiring and we are honored to have Andrea join us in person in San Diego to re-stage her work.
Join us for our Season 3
Together, these works create a mixed repertory of new classical and neo-classical ballet, uniting fresh choreography, live music, and masterful staging. Season 3 celebrates the power of women shaping ballet today, and reaffirms Pointeworks’ mission to bring world-class artistry to audiences in a bicoastal capacity, both in San Diego and New York.
