Joffrey Ballet Presents RISING STARS At the Auditorium Theatre, Ends 5/15

The Joffrey Ballet's 2010-2011 Stars season concludes this spring with Rising Stars, a mixed repertory program featuring two World Premieres by Edwaard Liang and Yuri Possokhov, plus a company premiere by Julia Adam. Rising Stars will be presentedfor the final time at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, May 15.

"The Joffrey Ballet is pleased to present two world premieres and one Joffrey premier during our spring program," said Joffrey Artistic Director Ashley C. Wheater. "These diverse new works offers wonderful insights into today's choreographers working across a broad range of influences. At heart, the Joffrey is a classical company with its sight towards the horizon. This spring, we introduce choreographer Yuri Possokhov to the Joffrey audience and we welcome back Julia Adam and Edwaard Liang."

A former soloist for New York City Ballet, Liang's first work for the Joffrey, The Age of Innocence, premiered in the fall of 2008 and was met with critical and audience acclaim. His theatrical work combines athletic prowess with contemporary sophistication and sensuality. His new work for the Joffrey, titled Woven Dreams, is an abstract ballet inspired by dreams and the idea of a collective consciousness. Using the musical common thread of strings and pizzicato, Liang weaves together seven different movements with music by four different composers, including Benjamin Britten, Michael Galasso, Henryk Górecki and Maurice Ravel, to create a journey through different dreamscapes that explore the visceral difference between dreaming and waking.

Possokhov, a former dancer for the Bolshoi Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, and a principal dancer and choreographer for the San Francisco Ballet, has made a name for himself as an austere and charismatic dancer and a bold, innovative choreographer. Possokhov's new ballet for the Joffrey is called Bells and is set to Sergei Rachmaninoff's Piano Concerto No. 2. Over the course of five movements, combining tender pas de deux, sweeping adagios and a powerful men's section, Possokhov's choreography plays off the bell-like tolling of the piano in Rachmaninoff's opening movement and the lyrical freedom throughout the score to create a sense of romantic expressionism amid technical precision.

Rounding out the bill will be the company premiere of Adam's Night, originally premiered by the San Francisco Ballet in 2000. Inspired by the paintings of Marc Chagall and set to the music of "Night Grooves," commissioned by composer Matthew Pierce, Adam's work follows a woman through her dreams and nightmares over the course of a night. Using the ebb and flow of energy and imagery common to dream life, Adam uses contemporary movement, both sharp and smooth, to embody the odd combination of memories, emotions and ideas that populate a dreamer's fluid, fantastical world.

About the Choreographers
Julia Adam received her early training in her hometown of Ottawa, Ontario, and at age thirteen began studies at the National Ballet School in Toronto, graduating in 1983. She spent the next five years honing her skills at the National Ballet of Canada and in 1988 she joined the San Francisco Ballet, where she finished the remainder of her dancing career, gaining prestige as a principal dancer. After retiring from dancing in 2002, Adam was able to devote more time to her love and talent for choreography. She created her first ballet, The Medium is the Message, in 1993 for San Francisco Ballet's Choreographic Workshop, drawing much attention for her uncanny wit and unique sense of movement. Adam has created work for companies across the country, including Alberta Ballet, ABT II, Cincinnati Ballet, Columbia Ohio's Ballet Met, Lawrence Pech Dance Company, Marin Ballet and Robert Moses' Kin, and continues to choreograph around the country and win critical acclaim for her work.

Edwaard Liang was born in Taipei, Taiwan. He began his ballet training at the age of five at Marin Ballet and in 1989 he entered the School of American Ballet. He joined New York City Ballet in the spring of 1993, and that same year he was a medal winner at the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition and the Mae L. Wien Award. He was promoted to Soloist at New York City Ballet in 1998 and continued with the company until 2001, when he joined the Broadway cast of Fosse, performing a leading principle role. In 2002 Liang became a member of the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater 1, where he danced, choreographed and staged ballets. After returning from Holland, Liang returned to New York City Ballet from 2004 to 2007. Liang has also performed as a guest artist with various companies including the Norwegian National Ballet and Complexions Contemporary Ballet. He has choreographed ballets for many companies and projects, including New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Shanghai Ballet, Washington Ballet, Hubbard Street 2, National Ballet of Novosibirisk, Guggienhiem's Works and Process and Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company.

Yuri Possokhov received his dance training at the Moscow Ballet School and danced with the Bolshoi Ballet for ten years, working primarily with Ballet Master Yuri Grigorovich. During this decade, he was promoted through the ranks to principal dancer. In 1992 he joined the Royal Danish Ballet as a principal dancer at the invitation of Ballet Master Frank Andersen. The following December, Possokhov was cast as Prince Desiré in Helgi Tomasson's The Sleeping Beauty and after being invited to perform in San Francisco Ballet's opening night gala, he moved west and in 1994 he joined San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer. As a choreographer, Possokhov's credits include Songs of Spain, choreographed in 1997 for former San Francisco Ballet Principal Dancer Muriel Maffre; A Duet for Two, created the same year for former San Francisco Ballet Principal Dancer Joanna Berman; and Impromptu Scriabin, for former San Francisco Ballet Soloist Felipe Diaz. In 2000 he completed a new work for a dancer at the Mariinsky Ballet, as well as 5 Mazurkas for the Marin Dance Theatre. Possokhov's Magrittomania, a work inspired by the paintings of René Magritte, was commissioned for San Francisco Ballet's Discovery Program in 2000. Possokhov has gone on to contribute many other works to San Francisco Ballet's repertory, including in 2003 when he collaborated with Tomasson on a new staging of the full-length Don Quixote. In 2008, The Georgia State Ballet gave the American premiere of Possokhov's one-act work, Sagalobeli, which was performed on the company's first-ever American tour.

Performance Schedule and Tickets
The performance schedule for Rising Stars at the Auditorium Theatre is as follows: Wednesday, May 4 at 7:30 pm; Friday, May 6 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, May 7 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm; Sunday, May 8 at 2 pm; Thursday, May 12 at 7:30 pm; Friday, May 13 at 7:30 pm; Saturday, May 14 at 2 pm and 7:30 pm; and Sunday, May 15 at 2 pm.

Single tickets, priced between $25 and $145, are available for purchase at The Joffrey Ballet's official Box Office located in the lobby of Joffrey Tower, 10 E. Randolph Street, as well as the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University box office, all Ticketmaster Ticket Centers, by telephone at (800) 982-2787, or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

The Joffrey Ballet is grateful for the support from its 2010-2011 Season Sponsors and extends special thanks to Abbott Fund and NIB Foundation, co-sponsors of the Stars season; United Airlines, Official & Exclusive Airline; Weiss Memorial Hospital, Official Healthcare Provider; UBS, Live Music Sponsor; AthletiCo, Official Provider of Rehabilitation, Fitness and Performance; and MAC, Official Cosmetic Sponsor. The Joffrey would also like to acknowledge its Stars Season Partners, including: Sara Lee Foundation, Groupon, Whole Foods Market and theWit Hotel. The Joffrey Ballet gratefully acknowledges the following sponsors of Rising Stars: City Arts, the Illinois Arts Council, a state agency, and the National Endowment for the Arts. Production sponsors for the World Premiere of Yuri Possokhov's Bells are Bruce Sagan and Bette Cerf Hill. Production sponsors for the World Premiere of Edwaard Liang's Woven Dreams are The Jerome Robbins Foundation and Orli and Bill Staley.

For more information on The Joffrey Ballet and its programs please visit joffrey.org.

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