Dance at the Music Center Sets 2014-15 Season: BalletNOWTM Premiere, Australian Ballet & More

The wide variety of American and international dance and ballet - which has been the hallmark of the Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at The Music Center series over its eleven season history -- is highlighted in a diverse season of offerings for the 2014-2015 season, which takes place at three of the four major Music Center venues - the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion, Ahmanson Theatre and Walt Disney Concert Hall.

Premier of BalletNOWTM, whose Artistic Directors are international ballet stars Roberto Bolle and Herman Cornejo, featuring 20 of the world's greatest dancers and including Bolle's West Coast premier of his digital interactive work "Prototype" and the World Premier of Cornejo's "Latin American Ballet Stars"; The Music Center premiere engagements of BalletBoyz and Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza from Mexico; the West Coast premiere of The Australian Ballet's celebrated "Swan Lake"; Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater; Eifman Ballet of St. Peterburg; and a major revival of the Lucinda Childs-John Adams-Frank Gehry "Available Light," the first co-presentation for Dance at The Music Center and the Los Angeles Philharmonic.

The Australian Ballet opens the season October 9-12, 2014 at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion with the West Coast Premiere of a new production of Swan Lake complete with live orchestra. The New York Times said, "The clever thing about this production, whose concept is by Graeme Murphy, Janet Vernon and Kristian Fredrikson, is that it links the modern legend of Diana, the Princess of Wales, to the central psychodrama of Tchaikovsky's ballet... Tchaikovsky's music, theatrically effective in all circumstances, does its stuff; the audience applauds heartily."

The season continues with BalletBoyz (November 7-9, 2014) at the Ahmanson Theatre. The repertory for this program will include Russell Maliphant's "Fallen," which won the 2013 UK Critics' Circle National Dance Award for Best Modern Choreography. The London Observer says, "BalletBoyz is a title Michael Nunn and William Trevitt never much wanted. But it's stuck to them like glue ever since, in 1999, the two of them made a video diary for Channel 4 about life in the Royal Ballet, and somebody somewhere in the TV company decided that the project needed 'youth' appeal. Fourteen years and countless productions later, they're certainly not boys, and their 10-strong, all-male company, The Talent, doesn't do ballet. Instead, it does 21st-century choreography with a muscular and occasionally dangerous edge." "This is dance at its most riveting and fearless." (The Independent)

Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater will return to the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion April 15-19, 2014 with six performances of mixed repertory, followed by Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza (May 15-17, 2014) at the Ahmanson Theatre. Founded in 1994, Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza is based in Mexico City. Since starting her company, Tania Pérez-Salas has fast become Mexico's premiere contemporary choreographer. The New York Times declares Pérez-Salas's choreography possessed of an "intense theatricality," and the Boston Globe says her work has a "searing brilliance."

The season continues with Available Light, choreographed by Lucinda Childs, with set design by Frank Gehry and score by John Adams, June 5-6 at Walt Disney Concert Hall. This is the first co-presentation between Dance at The Music Center and the Los Angeles Philharmonic and a major reconstruction of the seminal work that was commissioned and had its world premiere in Los Angeles at the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1983.

Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg will bring Rodin, dedicated to the life and creative work of the great sculptor Auguste Rodin and his apprentice, lover and muse, Camille Claudel (June 12-14, 2015) at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion.

The season concludes with American Ballet Theatre Principals Roberto Bolle and Herman Cornejo serving as Artistic Directors of two separate shows for BalletNOWTM , a new series featuring world-class ballet stars from Latin America and Europe. BalletNOWTM is a significant and unique endeavor of Bolle and Cornejo in collaboration with The Music Center. One program, curated by Cornejo, will feature major ballet stars from Latin America (World Premiere) and another, curated by Bolle, will highlight stars from Europe, many of whom are world renowned but making their first West Coast appearance.

Renae Williams Niles, Vice President of Programming, The Music Center, said, "We are excited to offer a dance season that brings extraordinary new experiences for our audiences and also honors our continuing association with the great choreographers and companies of the world. I am delighted to have the renowned Australian Ballet with their bold and fresh take on Swan Lake which is set to the music everyone knows and loves yet the distinct narrative makes the ballet current and relevant to potentially new dance audiences."

Niles continued, "We are always thrilled when we can host renowned companies and artists presented for the first time in Los Angeles and at The Music Center. This season we have three: the renowned Tania Pérez-Salas Compañía de Danza, the exuberant BalletBoyz, and the newly created, three-performance BalletNOWTM engagement, with Robert Bolle and Herman Cornejo serving as Artistic Directors. Eifman Ballet, one of our most requested companies, returns for the first time since 2005 with their celebrated Rodin. Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, one of the most popular dance companies to regularly perform at The Music Center, will make its seventh visit here for the upcoming season."

"And finally we are pleased to collaborate with the Los Angeles Philharmonic for the festival Next on Grand: Contemporary Americans, to bring Lucinda Childs, John Adams, and Frank Gehry together to reconstruct Available Light, which had its world premiere as part of the inaugural season of the Museum of Contemporary Art in 1983."

For season ticket information, please call (213) 972-0711 or visit http://www.musiccenter.org/about/Our-Programs/Glorya-Kaufman-Dance/14-15/. Subscriptions are on-sale now.

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