New York Choreographic Insititute Celebrates 10th Anniversary, 11/5 & 11/6

The New York Choreographic Institute, an affiliate of New York City Ballet, will celebrate its 10th anniversary with three performances at Miller Theatre at Columbia University on Friday, November 5 at 8 p.m. and Saturday, November 6 at 3 p.m. and 8 p.m.

The New York Choreographic Institute was founded in the spring of 2000 by the late philanthropist Irene Diamond and NYCB Ballet Master in Chief Peter Martins as a laboratory for classical choreography. Its primary activity has been to provide choreographers with opportunities to develop their talents without the pressures associated with preparing a ballet for a public performance. The 10th anniversary celebration will mark the Institute's first-ever public performances.

The performances will include works by Darius Barnes, Marco Goecke, and Jessica Lang, who will choreograph to original scores by Kyle Blaha, Jakub Ciupinski, and Mathew Fuerst, all alumni of The Juilliard School of Music. The program will also include choreography created for the 2010 summer working session of the Institute by Justin Peck, which is set to excerpts from Run Rabbit Run by Sufjan Stevens and Osso.

Choreographers Larry Keigwin, Alexei Ratmansky, and Christopher Wheeldon will each create a short original work to the same piece of music written especially for the occasion by Juilliard alumni Daniel Ott.

All of the choreographers and composers participating in these performances are alumni of the New York Choreographic Institute. Since 2003 the New York Choreographic Institute has collaborated with the composition department of The Juilliard School of Music by providing opportunities for young composers to work with choreographers in the creation of new work.

For the 10th anniversary performances, the choreography will be performed by members of the New York City Ballet including Principal Dancers Joaquin De Luz, Megan Fairchild, Sara Mearns, Tiler Peck, Teresa Reichlen, Wendy Whelan, and Andrew Veyette, as well as soloists Craig Hall and Sean Suozzi, along with members of the NYCB corps de ballet. Justin Peck's work will be danced by advanced students from the School of American Ballet. Live music will be provided by the American Contemporary Music Ensemble.

During the past decade the Institute has held 23 working sessions which have been attended by more than 70 choreographers from around the world.

"For the past ten years the New York Choreographic Institute has afforded both established choreographers, and those interested in trying their hand at choreography for the first time, the opportunity to work with wonderfully trained dancers from New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet, with an emphasis on the process as opposed to the finished product," said Martins. "With these 10th anniversary performances we are not changing this philosophy, but simply taking a moment to celebrate, and give the public a glimpse of what we are all about."

Tickets for the performances at Miller Theatre are priced at $40 and $25 and will go on sale on Friday, September 24 at noon by calling 212-854-7799 or visiting www.millertheatre.com.

The matinee performance on Saturday, November 6 at 3 p.m. will be preceded by a special 1 p.m. benefit brunch at the Terrace in the Sky restaurant, with all proceeds supporting the New York Choreographic Institute. Tickets for the brunch and performance are priced from $350 to $500 and are available by calling (212) 870-4060. Non-benefit priced tickets are also available for the Saturday matinee performance.

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