Tharp and Costello's 'Nightspot' Opens in LA 10/24

The 2008-2009 season of dance at the Music Center at the Performing Arts Center for Los Angeles County opens with the return of Miami City Ballet led by Artistic Director Edward Villella, performing the much anticipated West Coast premiere of NIGHTSPOT, a Twyla Tharp and Elvis Costello collaboration, October 24-26 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion. Known for her innovation and creativity, Twyla Tharp has created some of the most memorable dances in modern repertory. Elvis Costello, whose adventurous musical talents make him one of the most revered artists of or time, provides an original musical composition intertwined with various motifs and quotations from existing songs. NIGHTSPOT features costumes designed by famed fashion designer Isaac Mizrahi. Also on this program are Christopher Wheeldon's Liturgy and George Balanchine's Tarantella and Symphony in Three Movements. 
 
Although MCB is not releasing details on what NIGHTSPOT exactly means, both Tharp and Costello collaborated on the name and it reflects thematic elements found within the dance and within the music for the piece.
 
"I am always very divulging about what the ballets we perform mean," said Edward Villella, Founding Artistic Director of MCB. "But, this time, I think it would be nice for people to come see this new work with no preconceived notions. A little mystery can be fun, and with such great collaborators as Tharp and Costello, I think audiences are going to be thoroughly entertained," he added.

NIGHTSPOT is Miami City Ballet's first major commission and involves two of the most celebrated and sought-after artists of our time. Twyla Tharp has created some of the most memorable and innovative dances in the modern repertory, including Nine Sinatra Songs, Deuce Coupe, Push Comes to Shove, and In The Upper Room. She has also worked extensively on Broadway and in Hollywood, choreographing and directing the Tony Award-winning dance musical Movin' Out, set to the music of Billy Joel, and creating the choreography for the movies Hair and Amadeus, among others. This commission is Tharp's first major work for a ballet company in five years.

For it, she has joined forces with Elvis Costello who is providing an original musical composition. Costello's musical curiosity is expansive: besides rock and roll, it ranges from classical to jazz to country. His musical interests have led him into acclaimed collaborations with Burt Bacharach, The Brodsky Quartet, Paul McCartney, mezzo-soprano Sofie von Otter, and Allen Toussaint, among others.

Tharp created her ballet on 18 MCB dancers, and Costello's composition, which features new music intertwined with various motifs and quotations from existing songs, is written for a nine-piece onstage dance band and a thirty-two piece orchestra in the pit.

Isaac Mizrahi, one of the world's most famous fashion designers, created the costumes. Mizrahi has created costumes for theatre, dance, and opera.  His most recent collaborations include Mark Morris' production of Orfeo ed Euridice at The Metropolitan Opera, as well as Scott Elliott's productions of Barefoot in the Park and The Threepenny Opera on Broadway. He received the 2002 Drama Desk Award for his costume design in the Roundabout Theatre Company's Broadway production of The Women.

Mizrahi, who opened his first clothing business in 1987, is currently known for his women's and home line for Target Stores. He also designs for Liz Claiborne and a couture line for Bergdorf Goodman. Mizrahi has received four awards from the Council of Fashion Designers of America, including two Designer of the Year awards. He hosted "The Isaac Mizrahi Show" on the Oxygen Network, and he can currently be seen on "ISAAC," which airs on the Style Network.

"We are so excited that Isaac agreed to create the costumes for this fantastic new work. Our dancers are thrilled to be working with three such wonderfully established artists – Twyla Tharp in the field of modern dance, Elvis Costello in music, and Isaac Mizrahi in fashion," said Edward Villella, Founding Artistic Director of Miami City Ballet.

NIGHTSPOT was made possible by a major grant from the Annenberg Foundation.

Also on this program are Christopher Wheeldon's Liturgy and George Balanchine's Tarantella and Symphony in Three Movements. Wheeldon's Liturgy is a haunting pas de deux danced to music by contemporary composer Arvo Pärt. Tarantella, set to music by Gottschalk, is Balanchine's dynamic homage to Italian folk dancing. Symphony in Three Movements is Balanchine's 1972 masterpiece; a bold antiwar statement matched to what Stravinsky called his "war symphony."
 
A pre-performance talk by Edward Villella and/or his artistic staff will be conducted, free to the ticketed audience one hour prior to curtain.

About Miami City Ballet

Miami City Ballet is among the largest ballet companies in the United States, with more than 55 dancers - and has four home counties in South Florida: Broward, Miami-Dade, and Palm Beach, and Collier on Florida's west coast, where MCB is the resident company at the Naples Philharmonic Center. 
 
In addition to its Repertory Series, MCB performs "George Balanchine's The NutcrackerTM" annually in Miami-Dade, Broward, and Palm Beach Counties. Miami City Ballet's inaugural performance was on October 17, 1986, at Miami's Gusman Center for the Performing Arts.
 
Founding Artistic Director Edward Villella was the first American-born male star of the New York City Ballet (1957-1975); his career established the male's role in classical dance in the United States.  Mr. Villella's vision and style for the Company is based on the techniques established by choreographer George Balanchine. In 1997, Mr. Villella received the highest and most prestigious cultural honor that can be bestowed upon an artist by the United States, the National Medal of Arts, presented by President Clinton. Also in 1997, he was named a Kennedy Center Honoree and was inducted into the Florida Artists Hall of Fame. In 2003 Miami City Ballet premiered Mr. Villella's four-act ballet, "The Neighborhood Ballroom."
 
The Company's repertoire includes 88 ballets, and 9 world premieres. It includes George Balanchine masterworks, most notably "Prodigal Son," "Apollo," "Agon," and the full-evening "Jewels," and works by contemporary choreographers such as Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Jerome Robbins, and Trey McIntyre. Ballets by Frederick Ashton, Petipa, Bournonville, Edward Villella, and others also highlight the repertoire. The Company repertoire also includes classical works such as "Giselle" and "Coppélia."
 
The dancers of Miami City Ballet are an international mix. The Company's 55 dancers have come to MCB from Boston Ballet, Ballet Nacional de Caracas, Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Deutsche Oper Berlin, Joffrey Ballet, New York City Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Ballet of Belgium, and from world-famous training facilities such as the School of American Ballet, North Carolina School of the Arts, and the Schools of the Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet and San Francisco Ballet, among others.
 
Miami City Ballet has toured all over the United States. National performances include The Kennedy Center, the 1996 Olympic Arts Festival in Atlanta, Wolf Trap Farm Park, Orange County (CA) Performing Arts Center, New Jersey Performing Arts Center, the Shubert Theater (CT), McCarter Theater (NJ), SUNY at Purchase, ArtPark, and the Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts.  Internationally, MCB has performed in Europe, Great Britain, South America, Central America, and Israel, including the 1994 & 1995 Edinburgh International Festivals (Scotland), the 1990 Lyon Biennale Internationale de la Danse (France), the Festival Internacionel de Cultura Paiz (Guatemala), and a two-week engagement at the Torino Danza 2000 Festival (Italy).

MCB was the seventh & final major American dance company to receive a Kennedy Center Ballet Commission; choreographer Lynne Taylor-Corbett created "Mystery of the Dancing Princesses," which premiered at The Kennedy Center in April 1995. Miami City Ballet will make its Manhattan debut at New York City Center this season.
 
In January 2000, Miami City Ballet took occupancy of its own Miami Beach headquarters, the Ophelia & Juan Js. Roca Center, achieved through a Capital Campaign begun in 1997.

The 63,000 square foot facility houses eight rehearsal studios (two of which combine to create a 200-seat theater), increased school facilities, MCB's wardrobe department and costume shop, a fully equipped therapy room, and increased administrative space. The building was designed by the award-winning architect Bernardo Fort-Brescia of ARQUITECTONICA.
 
The Miami City Ballet School, which opened in Miami Beach in January 1993, trains students for professional careers in ballet. The School has an enrollment of 350 students, and no child of talent is turned away for lack of funds. In June 1997, Miami City Ballet accepted the first School graduate for a professional position. The School launched the Miami City Ballet School Summer Program in July 2001.

For more information and tickets please visit:  http://www.musiccenter.org/ or call the Music Center Dance information line (213) 972-071

Photo: Jennifer Kronenberg and Carlos Guerra in Twyla Tharp's NIGHTSPOT. Photo credit: Joe Gato.

 

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