BALAM Dance Theatre To Debut New Program LIVE BAROQUE MUSIC & DANCE

BALAM Dance Theatre, a non-profit professional dance theatre company, premieres Live Baroque Music and Dance, a new Baroque inspired choreography created by the company's artistic director, Carlos Fittante.

The virtual performance will be presented live by Midtown Concerts, a project of Gotham Early Music Scene, at Church of the Transfiguration, located at 1 East 29th Street, New York, NY 10016 on Thursday, May 27 from 1:15 to 1:55 p.m. EST.

The program is FREE and may be viewed live on May 27 at these websites:

· https://gemsny.org/midtown-live

· https://www.youtube.com/MidtownConcerts

· https://www.facebook.com/MidtownConcerts/live

BALAM, a New York City-based company offers a new vision of contemporary dance by combining ballet, modern and diverse cultural dance styles from around the world and historic periods. The new program features two New York premieres, El Bosque and Fandango, and the world premiere, Four Corantos. The program will be performed by BALAM's artistic director, Baroque choreographer and dancer Carlos Fittante, and guest musicians Lisa Terry of Parthenia Viol Consort and Ryan Closs of 4&20 Strings and the Lute Society of America New York Chapter.

BALAM celebrates its first live performance since the COVID-19 pandemic began with this intimate and imaginative program using Baroque musical gems from England, Scotland, Italy, and Peru. These works are featured: diverse Corantos and other selections from the Leycester Lyra Viol Manuscript by John Jenkins (1592-1678) for solo viol, charming Scottish Tunes by Francesco Barsanti (1690-1775), the rolling Toccata Arpeggiato for theorbo by Giovanni Girolamo Kaspberger (1580-1651), and the commanding Fandango for Baroque guitar by Matías Maestro Alegría (1766-1835).

"This new intimate program expresses the creative spirit that sustained us during the pandemic period and the renewed opportunity to perform together in-person feels like a joyful blossoming, after a harsh and austere winter," said Carlos Fittante.

Fittante presents these original and historically informed choreographies: El Bosque (The Forest); Fandango, with castanets and taconeo (rhythmic footwork in the Escuela Bolera style); and four distinct representations of the Coranto, a dance form inspired by King Louis XIV's favorite dance, the Courante. These dances bring history to life through an elegant and artistically charged embodiment of period aesthetics.