BALLET TECH Announced At The Joyce, 6/7-10
By: A.A. Cristi May. 31, 2018
Eliot Feld's KIDS DANCE, 40 whizkids aged 11 to 18, returns to the Joyce for six performances, including the premieres of Feld's Pointing 2 and Pointing 3, three of Feld's masterworks: The Jig is Up, Meshugana Dance, and Apple Pie, and a repeat of last season's It's the Effort That Counts, with choreography by Stephanie Terasaki, Conner Bormann and Riley O'Flynn, all graduates of Juilliard. June 7-10 at The Joyce Theater.
Feld continues his "Pointing" series - dances for the female dancers en pointe - with the premieres of Pointing 2 and Pointing 3.
The Company will bring back one of Feld's classics: Meshugana Dance, set to Klezmer music, and described by Clive Barnes as "delightfully wacky" (Ballett 2000) In her recent New York Times feature article, Helene Stapinski observed a Kids Dance rehearsal of the ballet, watching the young dancers trying to master a series of energetic leaps across the space. "By the end of the number," she noted, "all 12 boys and 11 girls were jete-ing across the studio like baby gazelles, seemingly pausing in midair and hovering just for a second as if weightless." (The New York TImes, April 18, 2018).
Another timeless Feld work is the 1984 The Jig Is Up, set to the celtic sounds of The Bothy Band and John Cunningham, with costumes by Michael Krass. The work has been in the repertories of numerous companies, and was most recently staged by Feld, Patrice Hemsworth, and Jacqulyn Scafidi for the Juilliard dancers.
Merry hoedown music by Bela Fleck and Joe McCracken accompany Feld's Apple Pie, created in 1999 especially for Kids Dance.
According to Robert Greskovic, the dance was "as classic, sweet and tart as its namesake," adding that "Mr. Feld's own distinctive lighting here was cast onto a cyclorama, hung in place as if it were an expansive cowhide stretched for tanning." (The Wall Street Journal, June 17, 2014)
Feld's commitment to presenting dances created especially for young dancers saw the premiere last year of It's the Effort That Counts, created by Stephanie Terasaki, Conner Bormann, and Riley O'Flynn, all graduates of Juilliard. The trio's music choice? A ticking metronome.
IT'S THE EFFORT THAT COUNTS Terasaki, Bormann, O'Flynn
THE JIG IS UP Feld/the Bothy Band, John Cunningham
MESHUGANA DANCE Feld/Klezmer POINTING 2 (Premiere) Feld/Paul Lansky
POINTING 3 (Premiere) Feld/Brian Eno, arranged by David Lang
Friday June 8 at 7 PM Apple Pie It's The Effort That Counts Pointing 2 Meshugana Dance
Saturday June 9 at 2 PM Meshugana Dance It's The Effort That Counts Pointing 3 The Jig Is Up
Saturday June 9 at 7 PM Apple Pie Pointing 2 Pointing 3 The Jig Is Up
Sunday June 10 at 2 PM Apple Pie It's The Effort That Counts Pointing 2 The Jig Is Up
Sunday June 10 at 7 PM Apple Pie Pointing 2 Pointing 3 Meshugana DanceEliot Feld received his dance training at SAB, the New Dance Group, H.S. of Performing Arts, and with Richard Thomas. At age eleven, he appeared with New York City Ballet as the "Child Prince" in Balanchine's original production of "The Nutcracker," and also danced with the companies of Donald McKayle, Pearl Lang, Sophie Maslow, and Mary Anthony. At sixteen, he joined the Broadway cast of "West Side Story" and appeared as Baby John in the movie version. Other Broadway credits are "I Can Get it for You Wholesale" and "Fiddler on the Roof."
Mr. Feld danced with American Ballet Theatre, the American Ballet Company and Feld Ballets/NY. He has choreographed ballets since 1967 for his own company as well as for American Ballet Theatre, Royal Danish Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, The National Ballet of Canada, Royal Swedish Ballet, Boston Ballet, London Festival Ballet, New York City Ballet, and more.
Feld founded his Ballet Tech, known then as the Eliot Feld Ballet, in 1974. Three years later, sharing a crowded subway car teeming with exuberant school children, he had an aha! moment, and was struck by the realization that countless NYC school children had an inborn gift for dance but little or no opportunity to receive training. Pursuing this visionary idea, in 1978 he established Ballet Tech, his tuition-free ballet school, located at 890 Broadway.The Ballet Tech School integrates intensive dance training with a full academic curriculum for approximately 175 students in grades 4-12, in partnership with the NYC Department of Education. As stated by Feld in a 2013 interview with Gia Kourlas for The New York Times: "Ballet is not for a class of people - it's for everybody with talent."
A few current facts about Ballet Tech:Number of children who have auditioned since 1978: 884,815
Number of children who have enrolled since 1978: 25,034
Percentage of minority students: 82%
Percentage of male students: 48%
Number of dance classes each year: 2,688
Annual operating expenses: $3,600,000
TUITION INCOME: $0
www.ballettech.org
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