NYC-based ballet companies Dances Patrelle and Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance present Ballet: Uptown Downtown / Today and Tomorrow, diverse perspectives on dramatic expression through the language of contemporary ballet from May 6-8, 2010 at 8pm at Peter Norton Symphony Space, 2537 Broadway at 95th Street, NYC, including three World Premiere productions. A stunning cast of dancers, including ballet stars and graduates of NYC's premiere conservatories, combines live music and innovative choreography to make this exciting collaboration a must-see event.
Tickets are $18-40 (members $16-36) and can be purchased at www.symphonyspace.org or by phone at 212-864-5400. Appropriate for ages five and up.
On Saturday, May 8 at noon and 2pm, Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet returns to New York
Symphony Space to present Fancy Nancy, with choreography by Francis Patrelle, Artistic Director of Dances Patrelle, and an original score by composer Patrick Soluri. Tickets are $10-30 (members $9-26) and can be purchased at www.symphonyspace.org or by phone at 212-864-5400. Appropriate for all ages. Adapted from Fancy Nancy. Copyright (c) 2005 by Jane O'Connor. Used by permission of HarperCollins Publishers.
Dances Patrelle will present two World Premiere ballets. Set to a symphony by Robert Sirota, President of the Manhattan School of Music, 212 will play to the voyeur in all of us. Looking through one New York City window at three couples, 212 will explore the joys and heartaches of relationships, both private and public. The second new work, Double Martini, will be a chamber work for four dancers, set to American Songbook favorites from the 1920's and 30's performed live by vocalist Joshua South, saxophonist Max Wild and piano impresario
Jonnah Speidel. The cast of characters in this athletic, virtuosic romp includes a rehearsal director, an auditionee, and two wealthy producers. As an added twist, the piece ultimately rearranges the configuration of the couples, commenting on the power structure in the performing arts world in a clever double entendre.
Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance will present the World Premiere of Ménage, a ballet that draws on the distortion and beauty of Edward Degas' ballet sculptures. For this piece Lavagnino has developed a movement lexicon that is weighty, off balance, and stresses exaggeration of the hips and rib cage in contrast to the organized vertical beauty of traditional ballet technique. Ménage features an original score for piano and violin by Scott Killian, Jacob Lawson, and Jane Chung, who will perform the score live in concert. The company will also present 3 four 1 (2009) and Snap Shots (2004). With quick, technical footwork, ample movement, and quirky partnering, 3 four 1 reflects the pull and bounce of the Handel-Halvorsen Passacaglia and the individual qualities of three dancers in their relationship to the one male figure. In Snap Shots, strident, complex and vigorous pointe work punctuates the lively music with currents of unbridled aggression. The piece has roots in the choreographer's visceral and emotional reaction to footage of American mistreatment of Iraqi prisoners, dealing with shattered notions of humanity and assumptions about the inherent benevolence of women.
Fancy Nancy, a family favorite based on the Fancy Nancy book series by Jane O'Connor, with illustrations by Robin Preiss, takes the audience along on a fanciful adventure with a precocious (that's a fancy word for bright) little girl as she visits the Museum of National History, accompanied by her sister, her best friend and an unexpected guest - Ms. Devine's puppy! As the museum characters come to life, chaos ensues, including an adventure with the Cancan Girls, dancing with a galaxy of stars, and a duel between the Sherif and the Cowboy from Paris (Texas). In the end, the puppy is returned safely and a good time is had by all.
Dances Patrelle (dP) is a dynamic professional ballet company that presents two annual seasons in New York -- our timeless holiday tradition, The Yorkville Nutcracker, and a spring repertory season, featuring world premieres and classic Patrelle favorites. Mr. Patrelle's body of work includes over 50 world premiere ballets choreographed for Dances Patrelle, and spans an incredibly wide range of styles, from his beloved American Songbook collection, to such contemporary classics as Romeo and Juliet, Madame X, Macbeth and Rhapsody in Blue. Heralded by Lynn Garafola in Dance Magazine as a choreographer with "a personal vision...classical because it is rooted in metaphor and symbolic language [and] populist because of its legibility and broad cultural resonance," Patrelle has also cultivated a long-time collaboration with composer Patrick Soluri, commissioning four original scores including this year's Fancy Nancy. Known for attracting the great talent of each generation, Dances Patrelle is pleased to count ballet stars
Marcelo Gomes,
Maria Riccetto,
Donald Williams, Lourdes Lopez,
Jock Soto, Merril Ashley and prima ballerina
Cynthia Gregory among its past and present dancers. For over 20 seasons, Dances Patrelle has tapped into the human experience, connecting intimately with the audience and continuously reinventing dramatic dance.
Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance
(CLD) is a New York City-based contemporary ballet company formed in 2000 as a platform for the choreography of Cherylyn Lavagnino. The company has been presented for four NY Seasons by Danspace Project at St. Mark's Church and has performed at The Kaatsbaan International Dance Center, Dancenow/NYC Festival,
The Joyce Theater's "Evening Stars" series,
Symphony Space's "Dance Sampler," and several engagements at the Jacob's Pillow venue, Inside/Out. The company's mission is to excite dance audiences through the medium of classical ballet while expressing the immediacy and humanity of post-modern contemporary dance. Ms. Lavagnino's choreography requires both traditional technical expertise and the spare, honest performance quality of post-modern dance. She uses the physically limiting state of dancing "en pointe" to access extreme aspects of the human condition, such as aggression, fragility, or tension. Using this exaggeration of the classical ballet form, her choreography creates a passionate display of the ever-shifting nature of our emotions and interactions. CLD is committed to commissioning original scores from notable composers and using live music in performance whenever possible. In addition to active collaborations with composers and musicians for all NYC Seasons, CLD produces a "Salon Series," which is a biannual event curated by Ms. Lavagnino and the James Cohan Gallery, featuring performances of dance and live music. The purpose of the "Salon Series" is to bring together artists of various disciplines living in Manhattan to create a dialogue between enthusiasts of dance, music, and visual art.
The Cuyahoga Valley Youth Ballet (Founding Director Nan Klinger, Artistic Director Mia Klinger) is a pre-professional ballet company for talented northeastern Ohio dancers ages 8-18. The CVYB has received world-wide acclaim, performing at the First International Children's Festival Tour in Taiwan, the International Youth Festival in Vevey, Switzerland, and the Peter Jay Sharp Theater in New York City.
The Peter Norton
Symphony Space is located at 2537 Broadway at 95th Street in NYC. For more information visit
www.symphonyspace.org, 212-864-5400. Box Office windows are open Tues-Sun, 1-6pm.
