New York Theatre Ballet's 2016-17 Season Announces Repertory Performances

NEW YORK THEATRE BALLET Announces 2016-17 Season New York Theatre Ballet announces the 2016-17 season, which will include repertory performances throughout the year.

This season, New York Theatre Ballet continues to provide a platform for female choreographers with a new work by former New York City Ballet dancer Antonia Franceschi and a NYTB Premiere by Martha Clarke. Franceschi's new piece is inspired by the history of Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery and will be performed there in October, with original music by Claire van Kampen. The pas de trois from The Garden of Villandry by Martha Clarke, who was heavily influenced by Antony Tudor, will be shown with Tudor's Fandango, Les Mains Gauches and the pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet at the 92Y Harkness Dance Festival in February 2017.

New York Theatre Ballet's 2016-17 Season includes:

- October 6-8, 2016 - Danspace Project: Legends & Visionaries

- October 7, 2016 - 70th Birthday Gala for founder and artistic director Diana Byer

- October 29-30, 2016 - Kaatsbaan International Dance Center: Legends and Visionaries

- February 24-25, 2017 - 92Y Harkness Dance Festival: Legends & Visionaries

- March 1-4, 2017 - New York Live Arts: Legends & Visionaries

- April 28-29, 2017 - SchimMel Center at Pace University: Legends & Visionaries

New York Theatre Ballet 2016-2017 Season:

Danspace Project: Legends & Visionaries

St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 E. 10th Street, NYC

Box Office: 866-811-4111, www.danspaceproject.org

October 6-7, 2016 at 8pm

The evenings will include the World Premiere of a new piece by Antonia Franceschi set to an original musical score by Claire van Kampen. The work is inspired by the history of Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery: "I was very moved by the recent exhibit at the Church which was of tee shirts used as grave sites for the numerous children killed by guns in the past year," said Antonia Franceschi.Also featured in the program is Jerome Robbins' Antique Epigraphs set to Debussy's "6 Épigraphes Antiques," staged by Kyra Nichols, and Song Before Spring choreographed by Zhong-Jing Fang (American Ballet Theatre, corps de ballet) and Steven Melendez (New York Theatre Ballet, principal dancer) to Philip Glass' Piano Etudes played live by steel drum ensemble, NYU Steel. Jack Anderson recently wrote about Song Before Spring in London's Dancing Times: "...This was not the gambol one might expect, but an emotional outburst that plunged young people into unruly and unpredictable passions..." and from Carla Escoda of the Huffington Post: "The evening closed with a tumultuous 48 minute account of Philip Glass' etudes arranged for steel drums. The 12-member NYU Steel ensemble took no prisoners. neither did co-choreographers Steven Melendez, of New York Theatre Ballet and Zhong-Jing Fang of American Ballet Theatre."

70th Birthday Gala for Founder and Artistic Director, Diana Byer

Danspace Project

October 7, 2016 at 6:30pm

The evening will include Judgment of Paris by Antony Tudor and new works created especially for the event by Alexandra Damiani, former Artistic Director of Cedar Lake; David Parker & The Bang Group

Marco Pelle with a new solo; Antonia Franceschi with a new solo for Romany Pajdak from London's Royal Ballet; and Gemma Bond, followed by dancing with DJ Imogene Strauss.

Kaatsbaan International Dance Center Residency

33 Kaatsbaan Rd, Tivoli, NY 12583

(845) 757-5106 www.kaatsbaan.org

October 10 - 30, 2016

Legends & Visionaries

October 29 and 30, 2016

There and Back Again by Nicolo Fonte (created during NYTB's 2014 Kaatsbaan Residency)

Antique Epigraphs by Jerome Robbins

Double Andante by Pam Tanowitz

92nd Street Y: Legends & Visionaries

1395 Lexington, Avenue, NYC

February 24-25, 2017

92Y's Harkness Dance Festival kicks off this year with a program featuring the pas de trois from Martha Clarke's The Garden of Villandry (1979) presented alongside three ballets from her mentor, the legendary Antony Tudor: Fandango (1963), Les Mains Gauches (1951), and the pas de deux from Romeo & Juliet (1943).

New York Live Arts: Legends & Visionaries

219 W. 19th Street, NYC

Box Office: 212-924-0077, www.newyorklivearts.org

March 1-3, 2017 at 7:30pm, March 4 at 2pm and 7:30pm

The evenings include Nijinsky's L'Apres-Midi d'un Faune staged by Ann Hutchinson Guest and danced by Steven Melendez. After seeing Mr. Melendez in performance, Ms. Guest thought he would be a perfect Faun and the ballet is being specially recreated for him.

SchimMel Center: Legends & Visionaries

Box Office: 212-346-1715, www.SchimmelCenter.org

April 28 and 29, 2017 at 7:30pm

Tickets: $29

The evenings will include a restaging of former NYTB resident choreographer Edward Henkel's Revision, created in 1986 and the World Premiere of Misfit Movement Makers by Broadway choreographer Chase Brock set to indie-folk and folk-pop music with lyrics. "I see this new ballet as a millennial folk dance, a dance that will feel current without feeling contemporary," said Mr. Brock.

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New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB), founded in 1978 by artistic director Diana Byer, has been hailed by The New York Times as "an invaluable company." NYTB is dedicated to inspiring a love of dance in diverse audiences through performances of chamber ballet masterpieces and bold new works, as well as innovative one-hour ballets for children, all at affordable prices.

By pairing the ballets of legendary creators with those of contemporary visionaries, NYTB brings a new understanding and appreciation of dance. The approach to live performance for children is groundbreaking and unique. New York Theatre Ballet offers an annual series of hour-long ballets tailored to the attention span of young audience members, while offering high production values and clever choreography sophisticated enough for discerning parents.

NYTB is committed to reaching underserved audiences by performing in small cities throughout the U.S. Its professional school provides ballet training based on the Cecchetti syllabus. Classes are offered at affordable prices. Scholarships are awarded to talented homeless and underserved children along with support for well-rounded learning.