Schimmel Center Presents New York Theatre Ballet's UPTOWN/DOWNTOWN/DANCE And THE ALICE-IN-WONDERLAND FOLLIES

Schimmel Center presents New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) Uptown/Downtown/Dance at Schimmel Center, 3 Spruce Street, NYC, on Friday and Saturday, April 28 and 29, 2017 at 7:30pm and The Alice-in-Wonderland Follies! on Sunday, April 30, 2017 at 3pm.

The Uptown/Downtown/Dance program will include an as-yet-untitled World Premiere from Martin Lawrance and the World Premiere of Painted Within by Zhong-Jing Fang, as well as a restaging of former NYTB resident choreographer Edward Henkel's ReVision, created in 1986, with music by Edvard Grieg, Holberg Suite op. 40 (1884). A 2013 NYTB commission, Short Memory by Pam Tanowitz, is set to live music by Lou Harrison and Henry Cowell and helps set up Ms. Tanowitz's brilliant use of stage space. The evenings include two more pieces by Ms. Tanowtiz: Light Moving, set to music by David Lang, and Double Andante, a 13-minute ballet for ten dancers set to the Andante movement of Beethoven's Sonata in D Major #15, which will be played live on piano two times at different tempos. Tickets are $29 and are available at SchimmelCenter.org.

The Alice-in-Wonderland Follies program follows Alice's adventures through Wonderland as she meets some of the most beloved characters in children's literature. Presented in a vaudeville setting, this eclectic ballet draws on many different dance forms - from Irish Step Dancing to African Juba to classical ballet - all of which combine to make a highly entertaining show. Choreography by Keith Michael, Costume Design by Sylvia Taalsohn Nolan, and Décor Design & Painting by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith. Tickets are $10 for children and $20 for adults and are available at SchimmelCenter.org.

Zhong-Jing Fang, born in Shanghai, China, received her early training at the Shanghai Ballet School where she trained for seven years. Before joining ABT's Studio Company in 2002, Fang graduated with a Major in Ballet from the Performing Arts College of Shanghai Drama University. In 2000, Fang was the winner of the famed Prix de Lausanne, and winner of the Rudolf Nureyev Foundation Prize at the Ninth International Ballet Competition in Paris. In June 2001, Fang won First Prize in the Junior Division of the Helsinki International Ballet Competition. Most recently she won first place in the Junior Division of the Shanghai International Ballet Competition. In April 2003, Fang joined the main Company as an apprentice, and in January 2004 became a member of the Corps de Ballet. Her roles with the Company include Aya in La Bayadere, Twig in Cinderella, Prayer in Coppélia, Zulma in Giselle, Nanny and the Sugar Plum Fairy in Alexei Ratmansky's The Nutcracker, Rosaline's friend in Romeo & Juliet, the Fairy of Joy in The Sleeping Beauty, the Hungarian Princess and Lead Czardas in Swan Lake, the Prelude in Les Sylphides, Ceres in Sylvia, and roles in Black Tuesday, Continuo, Kaleidoscope, Sinfonietta, andSymphonic Variations. She created a leading role in Pretty Good Year.

Edward Henkel graduated from NYU Tisch School of The Arts with a BFA in dance and a Certificate in Arts Administration from NYU SCPS in 2006. He was a charter member of the Open Eye Theatre directed by Joseph Campbell & Jean Erdman as well as a charter member of the New York Theatre Ballet directed by Diana Byer & Artistic Advisor Margaret Craske. Mr. Henkel danced in the companies of Erick Hawkins, Eliot Feld, Merce Cunningham & Betty Jones. He danced on Broadway in "Indians" and as Dance Captain in "Two Gentlemen of Verona", in summer stock, New York Shakespeare Festival, Radio City Music Hall, the Liberace Show, the movie King of The Gypsies and on television with Liza Minneli in Liza With a Z. He was a Dance Magazine feature cover story for his solo Fibonacci Field. Mr. Henkel has choreographed several pieces for the New York Theatre Ballet including "Songs for Sylvia", "The Angel's Share", "Dance Roads', "The Magic Rose", "The Sentence", & "Daren to Love". His choreography has been seen on the Boston Ballet in "Parabola", Open Eye Theatre in "Fibonacci Field" , "Cantaloupe Island"and Ghede in Teiji Ito's"Haitian Suite". His work was also seen on Pittsfield Ballet in "American Streamline", Charleston Ballet Theatre in "Re-Vision", Opera Ensemble of New York and Friends of the French Opera at Carnegie Hall in "Armide", among others. His work has been shared extensively throughout the United States through Columbia Artists Management, Community Concert Series. Mr. Henkel was Dance Director for the Festival Val Du Charante in Jarnac, France and was Associate Director of the 92nd Street Y Harkness Dance Center for 17.5 years. A lifetime in dance has led to his creation of Edward Henkel's "MovementTalks, Dance as a Catalyst for Change"; an ongoing dialogue through interviews, dance clips, performance and demonstration that shows the many ways in which dance can be used in the world as a catalyst for change.

Martin Lawrance was born in Leicester and began dancing with Leicester Youth Dance Theatre under the direction of Sue Rosenbloom. He trained at Coventry Centre for the Performing Arts and then at London Contemporary Dance School. He first worked with Richard Alston whilst performing with the postgraduate performance group 4D. He danced with Richard Alston Dance Company from 1995 - 2007 having over 25 works created on him, becoming Rehearsal Director in 2007. In 2000, Martin was invited by Meltdown Festival director and composer Scott Walker to make Thimble Rigging to an original score. He has created five works for London Contemporary Dance School, and two works, Grey Allegro and Silken Steel, for the State School of Dance in Athens. In June 2003, Martin presented a full evening of his work at The Place, and in 2004 Charge was commissioned for The Place Prize. Grey Allegro and Charge were subsequently taken into the Richard Alston Dance Company repertoire. Creations for RADC: About Face, Brink, Stealing Poison, Body & Soul, To Dance and Skylark, Lie of the Land, Other Than I andMadcap. For Ballet Black: Pendulum, Captured, Limbo. For Scottish Ballet:Run For It (for Dance GB), Dark Full Ride (for Edinburgh International Festival 2013). For Ballet Manilla: Misfit or Maverick, Rebel (to be made in summer 2015).

Pam Tanowitz Dance was founded in 2000 as a platform for Tanowitz to explore her vision with a consistent group of dancers. Since then the company has received commissions and residencies at prestigious performance venues such as The Joyce Theater, Bard Summerscape Festival, New York Live Arts, The Guggenheim Museum's Works & Process series, Dance Theater Workshop, Danspace Project, Lincoln Center Out of Doors, Chicago Dancing Festival, Baryshnikov Arts Center and Jacobs Pillow Dance Festival. The company has been selected by The New York Times Best of Dance 3 years in a row (2013, 2014 and 2015). Pam was awarded a Guggenheim Fellowship in 2011 and as the Hodder Fellowship from Princeton University in 2013-14. In 2009 she received a Bessie Award for her dance, Be in the Gray With Me, at Dance Theater Workshop. Tanowitz has been invited to create new work for The Vail International Dance Festival and City Center's Fall for Dance Festival; has set work on The Juilliard School, Ballet Austin, New York Theater Ballet and Saint Louis Ballet; and has been a guest choreographer in the dance departments at Barnard College, Princeton University, Mason Gross School of the Arts at Rutgers University, Marymount Manhattan College And Purchase College. Additional awards include three Joyce Theater Residency Grants, Jerome Robbins Foundation, and Foundation for Contemporary Arts, Grants to Artists Award. She holds dance degrees from The Ohio State University and Sarah Lawrence College. She is Resident Fellow at New York University's Center for Ballet and the Arts, New York City Center and currently teaches at Rutgers University. Pam Tanowitz is the 2016 Juried Bessie Award Winner.

ABOUT SCHIMMEL CENTER

The Schimmel Center is located in the heart of Downtown Manhattan at Pace University located at 3 Spruce Street between Park Row and Gold Street in downtown Manhattan, near City Hall, the new Fulton Street stop and the Brooklyn Bridge. Its mission is to present internationally acclaimed artists in the fields of dance, cabaret, music, comedy, lecture, world music and dance and family programming. The Schimmel Center strives to provide affordable tickets allowing all patrons access to the high quality talent in the intimate setting of the auditorium. Patrons enjoy performances as they've never seen or heard them before.

(Photo Credit: Schimmel Center)

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