Frances Chung & Tiit Helimets Set for Allen Civic Ballet/Allen Philharmonic's SWAN LAKE ACT III, 5/1

FRANCES CHUNG and TIIT HELIMETS, principal dancers of the San Francisco Ballet, will appear as guest artists in the Allen Civic Ballet/Allen Philharmonic's joint production of Swan Lake Act III on May 16, 2015 at the Performing Arts Center at Allen High School in Allen, Texas. Ms. Chung and Mr. Helimets will be dancing the Black Swan Pas de Deux as part of this production. Ms. Chung and Mr. Helimets will also teach master classes prior to this performance.

FRANCES CHUNG was born in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada and received her training at the Goh Ballet Academy before joining the San Francisco Ballet in 2001. Ms. Chung was promoted to soloist in 2005 and to principal dancer in 2009.

Ms. Chung has danced such major roles as the title role in Helgi Tomasson's production of Giselle, Grand Pas de Deux Ballerina, Sugar Plum Fairy, and Queen of the Snow in Tomasson's The Nutcracker, Kitri in the Tomasson/Possokhov production of Don Quixote, Swanhilda in George Balanchine's Coppelia, and the title role in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella.

Ms. Chung has created roles in many ballets including Yuri Possokhov's Classical Symphony, Ashley Page's Guide to Strange Places, James Kudelka's The Ruins Proclaim The Building Was Beautiful, Wayne McGregor's Borderlands, Liam Scarlett's Hummingbird, Stanton Welch's Naked, and Wheeldon's Borealis.

Her repertoire also includes lead roles in Tomasson's Caprice, The Fifth Season, Swan Lake, and Trio, Frederick Ashton's Symphonic Variations, George Balanchine's Agon, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, Divertimento No. 15, "Emeralds", Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, and Tarantella, David Bintley's The Dance House, Jorma Elo's Double Evil, Val Caniparoli's Lambarena, William Forsythe's Artifact Suite, In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated, and The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, Edwaard Liang's Symphonic Dances, Serge Lifar's Suite en Blanc, Lar Lubovitch's "...smile with my heart", and Elemental Brubeck, Kenneth MacMillan's Winter Dreams, Natalia Makarova's production of Paquita, and Kingdom of the Shades from Act II of La Bayadere, Wayne McGregor's Chroma, Possokhov's Diving into the Lilacs, Francesca da Rimini, and Fusion, Alexei Ratmansky's Le Carnaval des Animaux, From Foreign Lands, Russian Seasons, and Shostakovich Trilogy (Piano Concerto #1), and Wheeldon's Number Nine, Rush, and Within The Golden Hour.

As a guest artist Ms. Chung has performed at Bellas Artes Gala in Mexico, Tanzgala 2008 in Augsburg, Germany, Les Etoiles de Ballet 2000 in Cannes, France, and the Spoleto Festival in Italy.

Ms. Chung received the Isadora Duncan Award for Outstanding Achievement in Performance (Individual) for the 2013 Repertory Season. She was a finalist and prize winner at the Prix de Lausanne in 2000 and received the top honor of a silver medal at the Adeline Genee Awards in London that same year.

TIIT HELIMETS was born in Viljandi, Estonia and received his ballet training at the Tallinn Ballet School.

In 1996 Mr. Helimets joined the Estonian National Ballet as a soloist, and was appointed a principal dancer, within six months, that same year. Mr. Helimets' repertoire included Prince Desire and Bluebird in The Sleeping Beauty, Albrecht in Giselle, Siegfried in Swan Lake, Romeo in Romeo and Juliet, and Daphnis in Daphnis and Chloe.

In 1999 Mr. Helimets joined the Birmingham Royal Ballet and was promoted to principal dancer in 2002. Notable for being an elegant classical dancer and superb partner, Mr. Helimets has expanded his repertoire to include such classical roles as Albrecht in David Bintley's production of Giselle, the Prince in Peter Wright's production of The Nutcracker, the Prince and the Bluebird in Wright's production of The Sleeping Beauty, Franz in Wright's production of Coppelia, Siegfried in Wright's production of Swan Lake as well as showing a more dramatic side as Romeo in David Bintley's Shakespeare Suite, and a keen comic bent as Fred Beenstock in Bintley's Hobson's Choice. He has also danced the role of Lancelot in Bintley's Arthur, William Boldwood in Bintley's Far From The Madding Crowd, The Young Man in Frederick Ashton's The Two Pigeons, Colas in Ashton's La Fille Mal Gardee, Franz in Peter Wright's production of Coppelia, the Beast in Bintley's Beauty and the Beast, and Apollo in Bintley's The Orpheus Suite.

Mr. Helimets has also danced roles in ballets by contemporary choreographers including the title role in George Balanchine's Apollo, principal roles in George Balanchine's Western Symphony, Ashton's Voices of Spring, Dante Sonata, Enigma Variations, The Walk to the Paradise Garden, Scenes de Ballet, Bintley's Carmina Burana, Flowers of the Forest, Concert Fantasy, Les Petits Riens, and Sons of Horus, Twyla Tharp's In The Upper Room, Kenneth MacMillan's Elite Syncopations, John Cranko's Brouillards, Michael Kopinski's Saturn from The Planets, Hans van Manen's Five Tangos, and Stanton Welch's Powder. He also created Summer in Bintley's The Seasons, and a principal role in Nahid Siddiqui's Krishna.

In 2005 Mr. Helimets joined the San Francisco Ballet as a principal dancer. Mr. Helimets has expanded his repertoire to include Prince Siegfried in Helgi Tomasson's production of Swan Lake, the King of the Snow and Grand Pas de Deux in Tomasson's production of The Nutcracker, the Prince in Tomasson's production of The Sleeping Beauty, Basilio in the Helgi Tomasson/Yuri Possokhov production of Don Quixote, the Prince in Yuri Possokhov's Firebird, the Tortoise in Tomasson's Chi-Lin, the Lilac/Prince in Julia Adam's A Rose By Any Other Name, the Prince in John Neumeier's The Little Mermaid, the Prince in Christopher Wheeldon's Cinderella, Vershinin in Kenneth MacMillan's Winter Dreams, Jean de Brienne in Rudolf Nureyev's production of Raymonda Act III, Prince Gremin in John Cranko's Onegin, the Summer Section of Christopher Wheeldon's Quarternary, principal roles in Balanchine's Allegro Brillante, Symphony in C (Second Movement), the Diamonds Act of Jewels, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, Serenade, The Four Temperaments, Scotch Symphony, Agon, Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, and Divertimento No. 15, David Bintley's The Dance House, William Forsythe's In The Middle, Somewhat Elevated, Wayne McGregor's Eden/Eden, Chroma, and Borderlands, Serge Lifar's Suite en Blanc, Stanton Welch's Falling and Naked, Julia Adam's Night, Tomasson's On Common Ground, 7 For Eight, Prism, On A Theme of Paganini, and Caprice, Matjash Mrozewski's Concordia, Possokhov's Magrittomania and Swimmer, Jerome Robbins' In The Night, and Glass Pieces, Alexei Ratmansky's Russian Seasons, Symphony No. 9, and

Piano Concerto No. 1, Frederick Ashton's Symphonic Variations, and created roles in Tomasson's The Fifth Season and Trio, Val Caniparoli's Ibsen's House, Double Stop and Tears, Christopher Wheeldon's Ghosts, Edwaard Liang's Symphonic Dances, Hans van Manen's Variations for Two Couples, and the role of The King in Julia Adam's A Rose By Any Other Name.

In 1999 Mr. Helimets received an award from the Arts Council of Estonia for his performances in The Sleeping Beauty and Romeo and Juliet.

In 2008 Mr. Helimets appeared as a guest artist with the National Ballet of Canada dancing one of the principal roles in George Balanchine's Symphony in C, and in 2010 Mr. Helimets appeared as a guest artist with Ballet San Jose dancing the role of Albrecht in Giselle. In 2012 Mr. Helimets appeared as a guest artist with the Hamburg Ballet dancing the role of the Prince in John Neumeier's The Little Mermaid.

He also performed in the International Ballet Star Gala in Taipei, and danced the title role in Balanchine's Apollo as a guest artist with the Birmingham Royal Ballet.

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