Segerstrom Center to Welcome Eifman Ballet in UP AND DOWN West Coast Premiere, 6/5-7

Segerstrom Center for the Arts presents the West Coast Premiere of Up and Down, the newest work by the renowned Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg. Performances are June 5 - 7, 2015 in Segerstrom Hall.

For this new ballet, Boris Eifman, the company's award-winning artistic director and choreographer, delves into Sigmund Freud's view of the unconscious mind through a tumultuous love story. Placed on the French Riviera during the dazzling 1920s to music of George Gershwin, Arnold Schoenberg, Franz Schubert and Alban Berg, the ballet depicts young love that is destroyed by the deep psychological complications between a woman and a man.

Tickets for the Eifman Ballet start at $29 and are on sale now at SCFTA.org, at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, or by calling (714) 556-2787. For inquiries about group ticket savings for 10 or more, call the Group Services office at (714) 556-0236. The TTY number is (714) 556-2746. Free Preview Talks will be conducted one hour prior to each performance. The Friday, June 7, 2015 performance will be sign-language interpreted. Artists and program are subject to change.

This is the Eifman Ballet's eighth visit to the Center, and Up and Down continues Boris Eifman's insightful exploration of the psychological depths of his characters that is familiar in all of his works. Eifman said, "The main theme for me is always the individual and his inner world." Specific to Up and Down, he explained, "I am attracted by the 1920s - this was a brilliant Jazz Age, an era of freedom and unrestrained rhythms.... Up and Down tells a universal story of human ascent and degradation: the heroine's ascent to success and the downward career of the protagonist." Similar themes have been at the heart of other Eifman ballets presented at the Center, including the compelling and critically acclaimed Russian Hamlet, Tchaikovsky -- The Mystery of Life and Death, Don Juan and Moliere, Red Giselle, Anna Karenina, Onegin, Don Quixote and Rodin.

Eifman creates classic examples of psychoanalysis on stage. He plunges into the depths of today's most relevant philosophical and spiritual questions. Extreme states of being are seen as his characters' mental illness, but also as a unique ability to access other worlds and dimensions. What the audience observes on stage is Eifman's own type of theater -- a theater ruled by emotions. His stories are complex, all-encompassing spectacle, constantly revealing new forms and principles of dancemaking.

Eifman is one of the few contemporary Russian choreographers to have sustained a prolific creative life. He has received Russia's prestigious Golden Mask Award for both his works and his lifetime achievement. He is a four-time recipient of the St. Petersburg Theater Award, The Golden Sofit. His other distinctions include the Triumph Award, the Russian state award for his contribution to the development of the performing arts, induction into France's Order of Arts and Letters, the distinguished title of The People's Artist of Russia and a professorship at the prestigious Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is unique as both an acclaimed arts institution and as a multi- disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence on all of its stages, offering unsurpassed experiences, and engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring programs.

Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County's largest non-profit arts organization and owns and operates the 3,000-seat Segerstrom Hall and intimate 250-seat Judy Morr Theater, which opened in 1986, and the 2,000-seat Rene?e and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall, which opened in 2006 and also houses the 500-seat Samueli Theater, the studio performance space and Boeing Education Lab. A spacious arts plaza anchors Segerstrom Center for Arts and is home to numerous free performances throughout the year as part of Segerstrom Center for the Arts' ongoing Free for All series. The American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School at Segerstrom Center opens in 2015.

The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, intimate performances of jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family- friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. The Center's arts-in-education programs are designed to inspire young people through the arts and reach hundreds of thousands of students each year.

In addition to the presenting and producing institution Segerstrom Center for the Arts, the 14-acre campus also embraces the facilities of two independent acclaimed organizations: Tony Award-winning South Coast Repertory and a site designated as the future home of the Orange County Museum of Art.

Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region's major performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, the Philharmonic Society of Orange County and the Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons at Segerstrom Center for the Arts.

Pictured: Eifman Ballet's Up and Down. Photo by Michael Khoury.

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