Avi Scher & Dancers Come to thet Ailey Citigroup Theater, 4/7-9

Avi Scher & Dancers presents its third New York Season, unveiling three World Premieres, from April 7-9, 2012 at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 W. 55^th Street, NYC (at Ninth Avenue). Performances: Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm, Monday at 8pm.  Tickets are $29 ($16 for students) and are available starting March 7, 2012 at www.smarttix.com or by phone at 212-868-4444. 

Avi Scher & Dancers provides audiences with the unique opportunity to see brand new works by choreographer Avichai Scher in intimate venues at affordable ticket prices. Guest artists from the world's most celebrated ballet companies will be featured in each performance.  The World Premieres include an as-yet-untitled pas de deux, featuringHerman Cornejo, a principal with American Ballet Theatre, and Misa Kuranaga, a principal with the Boston Ballet.  The two stars have danced together in many galas and festivals and have formed a celebrated partnership.  This is the first work created specifically for the pair and will mark their first performance together in New York City.  The piece is set to music written for the guitar by Heitor Villa-Lobos, and will be performed live onstage by Guitarist Nate Brown. A second pas de deux is performed with music from A Midsummer Night's Dream and has a contemporary, humorous touch.  The third Premiere features ten dancers, including six corps members from American Ballet Theatre, and is set to an electronic score by various composers. An excerpt from Scher's 2010 work, Touch,including Joffrey Ballet dancer Derrick Agnoletti, will complete the evening.

Avi Scher & Dancers was formed in August of 2008 by emerging choreographer Avichai Scher.  The company's mission is to build new audiences for neoclassical and contemporary ballet by presenting top quality dancers and new works in small, affordable venues.  The company has performed NYC seasons at the Ailey Citigroup Theater and City Center Studio 5, and appeared at the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out, and many festivals in New York City. 

Avichai Scher was born in NYC and raised in Israel. He returned to New York to study on scholarship at the School of American Ballet for eight years.  There he had the opportunity to perform Fritz and the Nutcracker Prince with the New York City Ballet in The Nutcrackerfor four seasons.  A desire to work with many different companies and choreographers took him on a journey, dancing with eleven different companies in six years: Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Washington Ballet, Ballet San Jose, Joffrey Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, European Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Carolina Ballet and Ballet X. Some standout roles have included: Puck in Ashton's The Dream, working with Sir Anthony Dowell, "Red-Man" in Elemental Brubeck, choreographed and staged by Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris's A Garden, Michael Smuin's Shinju, Matthew Neenan's Steelworks, and Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs. Scher always had the desire to be a choreographer and his first professional commissions came at age 18, creating Jouons for American Ballet Theater Studio Company, and The Perilous Night for Miami City Ballet. Since then he has had works at: Ballet West and Ballet West II, Miami City Ballet School and San Francisco Ballet School's annual showcases, Washington Ballet Studio Company, Harvard University, Festival Ballet Providence, Manhattan Youth Ballet, West Wave Dance Festival, Ballet Builders, Sacramento Ballet, and Shut Up & Dance: Dancers of Pennsylvania Ballet. Dance Magazine recognized Avi's choreography by naming him one of the "Top 25 To Watch," and he is the recipient of the Strassler Excellence Award from Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. In 2011, Avi Scher & Dancers performed a new commission for the Guggenheim Works & Process series, which featured principal dancers from Boston Ballet.

Avi Scher & Dancers has received a challenge grant for the second year from Michael M. Kaiser, President of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. The grant challenges AS&D to raise $10,000 in new donations, to receive $10,000 from Mr. Kaiser. 

For more information, visit www.avischer.com.