Free JOFFREY FOR ALL Celebration At Pritzker Pavilion Features Fan-favorite Performances From Past Productions
Events are starting at 5:30 pm on Sunday, June 25, 2023.
By: Stephi Wild May. 30, 2023
The Joffrey Ballet has announced the programming for the first-of-its-kind Joffrey for All Celebration, which will feature performances by Joffrey Company Artists, the Joffrey Academy of Dance, and students from the Joffrey Community Engagement programs. The mixed rep program features a series of fan-favorite dances drawn from past performances, including the show-stopping pas de deux from Anna Karenina, original works from Joffrey choreographers, and the American masterwork Suite Saint-Saëns in honor of the late Joffrey co-founder Gerald Arpino's centennial celebration. The Joffrey Ballet's Joffrey for All Celebration takes place rain or shine in the heart of downtown Chicago in Pritzker Pavilion in Millennium Park starting at 5:30 pm on Sunday, June 25, 2023.
The Mary B. Galvin Artistic Director Ashley Wheater MBE says, “Since its founding, The Joffrey Ballet has championed bold new works that push at the boundaries of traditional ballet. The Joffrey for All Celebration shares our heart and soul with Chicago by connecting our past with works by emerging choreographers and the next generation of dancers—the artists who represent the future of ballet.”
Joffrey President and CEO Greg Cameron says, “Our mission to create Joffrey for All forms pathways for every person to experience the joy of dance. From expanding our scholarship program to our educational footprint with our new South Loop studio, we are laying the foundation for the future of dance in Chicago and beyond. In this spirit, we hope the Joffrey for All celebration sparks inspiration and reaches new audiences with our commitment to empower every Chicagoan through access to the arts.”
The Joffrey for All celebration offers the opportunity for all of Chicago to revisit or experience for the first time some of the most notable works in Joffrey's canon, showcasing a range of styles captivating to audiences of all ages.
Kicking off the program is the ultramodern colōrem, a bold work by choreographer Chanel DaSilva which received its world premiere in The Joffrey Ballet's 2022-23 season opener Beyond Borders and was met with critical acclaim. colōrem explores the emotional connection to color and its innate ability to inform perspective. Weaving a construct of dynamic acts set to a cinematic, original score by Cristina Spinei, the striking work contrasts passion and love with balance and neutrality in DaSilva's second original collaboration with Joffrey dancers. For the Joffrey for All Celebration, DaSilva incorporates the first and third movements with students from the Joffrey's Community Engagement programs.
The program features Swimmer Pas de Deux by frequent Joffrey choreographer Yuri Possokhov, whose most recent productions with the Joffrey include Don Quixote (2022) and Anna Karenina (2019, 2023). First premiered in 2015, Swimmer is a modern ballet masterpiece set against a backdrop of flowing projections evocative of waves and water, based on the short story by John Cheever.
Highlighting another frequent collaborator are two works by choreographer Nicolas Blanc, titled Convergence and Red Violin Caprices. Convergence features an original score by Philip Glass and was created in collaboration with artist Katrin Schnabl for her art installation EWNS (East, West, North, South). The piece represents these directions through four dancers who are seen as a collective force yet as individual, distinct entities. As the title suggests, one needs the other to trace a route that unifies the world. In addition, Red Violin Caprices was born out of a collaboration with world-renowned violinist Philip Quint, depicting a musician's love letter to a muse.
A certain height of the program will be the Italy pas de deux from Anna Karenina. Described by Wheater as the “crème de la crème” in Anna Karenina, which became the highest-grossing non-Nutcracker production in Joffrey's history earlier this year, the pas de deux depicts Anna and Vronsky's sublime new life in the Italian countryside. Filled with passion, emotion, light, and color, the piece bursts with the highs and lows of human emotion.
The program concludes with a celebration of Joffrey co-founder Gerald Arpino's centennial with his seminal, crowd-pleasing work Suite Saint-Saëns. Presented earlier this season in Beyond Borders, Suite Saint-Saëns weaves classical movement with the late choreographer's signature neo-classical style of speed, energy, and quality. With its lilting score, choreographer Agnes DeMille once described this American masterwork as like “standing in a flight of meteors.”
The Joffrey for All Celebration features live music performed by the Lyric Opera Orchestra, conducted by Scott Speck, Music Director of The Joffrey Ballet.
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