Ballet Hispanico to Perform at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival This July

Ballet Hispánico will perform at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival at the Ted Shawn Theater, 358 George Carter Road, Becket, MA 01223, from July 26-30, 2017.

Ballet Hispanico brings captivating style, crisp technique, and charismatic bravado to the Ted Shawn Theatre.

Ballet Hispanico offers the thrilling diversity of Latino culture-a fusion of classical, Latin, and contemporary dance. The program features the Pillow-commissioned and flamenco-inspired Línea Recta by Colombian-Belgian choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, set to Spanish guitar by Eric Vaarzon Morel. Other works include Eduardo Vilaro's Danzón, which features a contemporary take on the national dance of Cuba, and El Beso by award-winning Spanish choreographer Gustavo Ramírez Sansano.

Performances play Wednesday-Saturday at 8pm; Thursday, Saturday, and Sunday at 2pm. Tickets are $45-78 and are available at www.jacobspillow.org/events/ballet-hispanico.

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PROGRAM:

Línea Recta (2016)
Choreography by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa

From one of today's most sought-after choreographers comes a powerful and resonant work that explores an intriguing aspect of flamenco dance: the conspicuous absence of physical partnering. While maintaining the integrity and hallmark passion of the genre, Annabelle Lopez Ochoa imagines an original and explosive movement language premised upon the theme of partnership and performed to live flamenco guitar by Eric Vaarzon Morel. Línea Recta came to fruition through Ballet Hispánico's Instituto Coreográfico, an innovative choreography lab program for Latino dance makers. Línea Rectais Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's third original work for Ballet Hispánico under Eduardo Vilaro; the Company previously commissioned and performed audience favorites Mad'moiselle (2010) and Sombrerísimo (2013). BalletHispánico also acquired and performed Lopez Ochoa's Before After (2002), Nube Blanco (2008) and Locked Up Laura (2009).

Danzón (2012)
Choreography by Eduardo Vilaro

Danzón has been called the official dance of Cuba. Having evolved from the Haitian contradance, its history is steeped in the fusion of cultures. But danzón is also used throughout Latin America as a term of celebration, a coming together of community and a way of maintaining identity. Fusing Afro-Cuban social dance movements with contemporary and classical dance forms, Eduardo Vilaro has taken this traditional and quintessentially Cuban dance form and reinvented it as a joyous celebration of music and movement. Mr. Vilaro is the Artistic Director and Chief Executive Officer of Ballet Hispánico.

El Beso (2014)
Choreography by Gustavo Ramírez Sansano

Award-winning Spanish choreographer Gustavo Ramírez Sansano (a Dance Magazine "25 to Watch" pick) premiered his first commission for BalletHispanico in 2014. , a tongue-in-cheek look at the iconic nature of a kiss with original costumes by Venezuelan fashion designer Angel Sanchez.

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ABOUT THE ARTISTS:

ANNABELLE LOPEZ OCHOA (Choreographer) is a sought-after Belgo-Colombian choreographer that since 2003 has created works for more than 40 companies around the world such as Scapino Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Djazzex, GenEva Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Gothenburg Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, BalletX, BJM-Danse Montreal, Luna Negra Dance Theater, Ballet National de Marseille, Saarbrucken Ballet, Jacoby & Pronk, Chemnitzer Ballet, Ballet Hispánico, Morphoses Wheeldon Company, Whim W'Him, IncolBallet de Colombia, Finnish National Ballet, Compania Nacional de Danza Madrid, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Scottish Ballet, The Washington Ballet, Ballet Nacional Dominicano, Ballet Saarbrucken, Augsburg Ballet, Ballet Austin, Atlanta Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Ballet Moscow, BalletNacional de Cuba, West Australian Ballet, Danza Contemporanea de Cuba, Ballet Nacional Chileno, Ballet Staatstheater am Gartnerplatz Munchen, BalletManila, Daniil Simkin Intensio Project, Cincinnati Ballet, Silicon Valley Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, English National Ballet and New York City Ballet. In the fall of 2007 she was selected to participate with the prestigious New York Choreographic Institute. Dance Magazine named her work Cylindrical Shadows, performed by Pacific Northwest Ballet, as one of the highlights of 2012. Her full-length narrative ballet A Streetcar Named Desire has been awarded with 'Best Classical Choreography' by the Circle of Critics of the National Dance Award UK, the South Bank Sky Arts Awards for "Best New Production" and has been nominated for an Olivier Award 2012.

GUSTAVO RAMIREZ SANSANO (Choreographer) was Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater from 2009-2013, after directing proyectoTITOYAYA in Valencia, Spain for four years. Sansano has been the recipient of numerous awards for his choreography, including first prizes at the Ricard Moragas competition in Barcelona, the Dom Perignon choreographic competition in Hamburg, and at Las Artes Escénicas de la Comunidad Valenciana. He has been commissioned to create works for Compania Nacional de Danza, the Hamburg Ballet, TanzTheaterMünchen, Budapest Dance Theater, National Dance Company Wales, Norrdans, Gyori Ballet, Balletto dell'Esperia, BalletMet, IT dansa, Ballet Junior de Genève, and Nederlands Dans Theater, among others. As a dancer, Sansano performed works by Jacopo Godani, Hans Van Manen, Ji?í Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Johan Inger, Paul Lightfoot, Victor Ullate and many more, working for the BalletJoven de Alicante, Ballet Contemporaneo de Barcelona, Ballet de la Comunidad de Madrid, Nederlands Dans Theater II and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Gustavo was chosen by the magazine POR LA DANZA for its 15th anniversary as one of the 'Fifteen Choreographers to Watch.' Dance Magazine featured Luna Negra's artistic director, Gustavo Ramírez Sansano, in its annual '25 to Watch' list 2012, and was named 'Chicagoan of the Year in Arts & Entertainment' by the Chicago Tribune.

Eduardo Vilaro (Choreographer) joined Ballet Hispánico as Artistic Director in August 2009, becoming only the second person to head the company since it was founded in 1970. In 2015, Mr. Vilaro took on the additional role of Chief Executive Officer of Ballet Hispánico. He has been part of the Ballet Hispánico family since 1985 as a principal dancer and educator, after which he began a ten-year record of achievement as Founder and Artistic Director of Luna Negra Dance Theater in Chicago. Mr. Vilaro has infused Ballet Hispánico's legacy with a bold and eclectic brand of contemporary dance that reflects America's changing cultural landscape. Born in Cuba and raised in New York from the age of six, he is a frequent speaker on the merits of cultural diversity and dance education.

Mr. Vilaro's own choreography is devoted to capturing the spiritual, sensual and historical essence of the Latino cultures. He created over 20 ballets for Luna Negra and has received commissions from the Ravinia Festival, the Chicago Sinfonietta, the Grant Park Festival, the Lexington Ballet and the Chicago Symphony. In 2001, he was a recipient of a Ruth Page Award for choreography, and in 2003, he was honored for his choreographic work at Panama's II International Festival of Ballet. In 2016, he was inducted into the Bronx Walk of Fame.

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Jacob's Pillow, celebrating its 85th Festival in 2017, is a National Historic Landmark, recipient of the National Medal of Arts, and home to America's longest-running international dance festival. Each Festival includes more than 50 national and international dance companies and 350 free and ticketed performances, talks, tours, classes, exhibits, and events. The School at Jacob's Pillow, one of the most prestigious professional dance training centers in the U.S., encompasses the diverse disciplines of Ballet, Cultural Traditions, Contemporary, and Musical Theatre Dance, as well as an Intern Program in various disciplines of arts administration, design, video, and production. The Pillow's extensive Archives, open year-round to the public, chronicle more than a century of dance in photographs, programs, books, costumes, audiotapes, and videos. Notable artists who have created or premiered dances at the Pillow include choreographers Antony Tudor, Agnes De Mille, Alvin Ailey, Donald McKayle, Kevin Mckenzie, Twyla Tharp, Ralph Lemon, Susan Marshall, Trisha Brown, Ronald K. Brown, Wally Cardona, Andrea Miller, and Trey McIntyre; performed by artists such as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Carmen De Lavallade, Mark Morris, Dame Margot Fonteyn, Edward Villella, Rasta Thomas, and hundreds of others. On March 2, 2011, President Barack Obama honored Jacob's Pillow with a National Medal of Arts, the highest arts award given by the United States Government, making the Pillow the first dance presenting organization to receive this prestigious award. For more information, visit www.jacobspillow.org.

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