Avi Scher & Dancers Close Run of Two World & Four NYC Premieres, 4/5

AVI SCHER & DANCERS will end its debut New York Season with a program including two World Premiere productions and four New York Premieres on April 5, 2010 at The Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 W. 55th Street, NYC (at Ninth Avenue).

The program featured six works with appearances by star dancers Marcelo Gomes, Sara Mearns and Veronika Part. Singer Genevieve Labean performs live with musicians Wes Hutchinson and Chris LoPresto for the final piece of the evening.

The program begins with the New York Premiere of Mystery in the Wind, danced by Marcelo Gomes, Sara Mearns, Veronika Part, Kristen Segin and Elizabeth Walker. The piece gives an eerie feeling, as three women create a small community, then a mysterious couple appears among them, unsettling the peace that the trio had developed. The New York Premiere of Little Stories uses the pop-poetics of Jason Mraz's songs to tell three stories of modern-day relationships. The work is danced by Robert Colby Damon, Kelsey Converty, Jennifer Goodman, Savannah Lowery, Shane Ohmer, and Christian Tworzyanski. No Matter What, a New York Premiere, delves into ideas of community and unity by depicting groups of people in various dilemmas and moods - good and bad, scary and peaceful - showing that their commitments to each other can take them through anything. The dancers for the piece are Kelsey Coventry, Robert Colby Damon, Jennifer Goodman, J'aMalik, Victoria North, Matthew Renko, and Nancy Richer with music by Aphex Twin. The New York Premiere of Touch, with music by Alles Wie Gross and Alarm Will Sound, danced by Ralph Ippolito, Savannah Lowery, Veronika Part, Matthew Renko, and Eric Tamm, explores our digital age and the lack of human connection imposed by it. The World Premiere of Utopia Variations, danced by Marcelo Gomes and Sara Mearns, offers the unique opportunity to see these two star dancers from American Ballet Theatre and New York City Ballet dancing together. The piece depicts people dancing at worlds end, as this slowly creeps into their insulated world. Inner Voice, a World Premiere with live music performed by Genevieve Labean, will be danced by Elysia Dawn, Ja'Malik, Victoria North, Shane Ohmer, Matthew Renko, Nancy Richer, Kristen Segin, Eric Tamm, Christian Tworzyanski, and Elizabeth Walker. Through the music and presence of Ms. Labean, the dancers play with the idea of a guardian among us, with Ms. Labean, recently a dancer with NYCB, appearing as a dancer and singer. The program is appropriate for children ages seven and above.

AVI SCHER & DANCERS was formed in August of 2008 by emerging choreographer Avichai Scher. The company's mission is to build a young audience for neo classical and contemporary ballet by presenting top quality dancers and new works in small, affordable venues. The company has been seen at Jacob's Pillow, American Dance Guild, Previews, Choreography Under the Stars in Palm Desert, CA, and in 2010, the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Symphony Space and the Edinburgh Fringe Festival.

Avichai Scher, 25, was born in NYC and raised in Israel. He returned to New York to study on scholarship at the School of American Ballet for eight years. There he had the opportunity to perform Fritz and the Nutcracker Prince with New York City Ballet in The Nutcracker for four seasons. A desire to work with many different companies and choreographers took him on a journey, dancing with eleven different companies in six years: Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Washington Ballet, Ballet San Jose, Joffrey Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, European Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Carolina Ballet and Ballet X. He also appeared as a guest with Ballet Chicago, Chamber Dance Project, Madison Ballet, Pointe of Departure, and the Adam Miller Dance Project. Some standout roles have included: Puck in Ashton's The Dream, working with Sir Anthony Dowell, "Red-Man" in Elemental Brubeck, choreographed and staged by Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris's A Garden, Michael Smuin's Shinju, Matthew Neenan's Steelworks, and Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs. Scher always had the desire to be a choreographer and his first professional commissions came at age 18, creating Jouons for American Ballet Theater Studio Company and The Perilous Night for Miami City Ballet. Since then he has had works at: Miami City Ballet School and San Francisco Ballet School's annual showcases, Usdan Center for the Arts, Washington Ballet Studio Company, Harvard University, Festival Ballet Providence, Manhattan Youth Ballet, West Wave Dance Festival, Ballet Builders, Sacramento Ballet, and Shut Up & Dance: Dancers of Pennsylvania Ballet. In 2008 he choreographed the play Three Movements which ran at NYC's Theatre Row. Dance Magazine recognized his choreography by naming him one of the "Top 25 To Watch," and he is the recipient of the Strassler excellence Award from Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival.

For more information, visit www.avischer.com.

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