Moving Identities Brings Modern Works By Paul Taylor, Ricardo Graziano and Robert North To Sarasota

The Sarasota Ballet will perform Taylor's Airs, Graziano's Valsinhas and North's Troy Game at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, 26 - 29 January 2018. Sarasota, FL (January 9, 2018) -The Sarasota Ballet's first production of the New Year, Moving Identities, opens January 26 at the FSU Center for the Performing Arts, with a triple bill of stimulating, thrilling and entertaining Modern and Neo-Classical works.

Opening the program is Paul Taylor's Airs, which receives its Company Premiere this Season; followed by Resident Choreographer Ricardo Graziano's Valsinhas, first performed in 2013 and performed with live music on stage; and closing the program is Robert North's beloved and comedic Troy Game, and although traditionally performed with an all male cast, this Season sees The Sarasota Ballet introduce an all female cast as well.

"Moving Identities is the perfect program to start the New Year. The energy, strength and beauty of all three ballets will give our audience an extraordinary experience to kick off 2018," enthuses Iain Webb, Director of The Sarasota Ballet. "The name of this program is inspired by the ballets featured, from the fluidity and shifting patterns of Mr. Taylor's Airs, to the all male and all female casts of Ricardo's Valsinhas and Robert North's Troy Game, this program will challenge you in one moment and have you laughing the next."

Paul Taylor's Airs is a beautiful and flowing piece, choreographed to the baroque music of G. F. Handel. While more classical than many of Taylor's baroque works, its weight and movement as well as its ever-changing and swirling patterns highlight Taylor's genius in Modern Dance.

Ricardo Graziano's Valsinhas, Portuguese for Little Waltzes, was first premiered as part of the 2013 production of Theatre of Dreams, and features 25 short waltzes set to Franz Schubert's 34 Valses Sentimentales-performed by an onstage pianist. The ballet is an intriguing example of Graziano's young choreographic voice and was choreographed for both all male or all female casts and both will perform during the production run. This gender split casting encourages audiences to attend multiple performances so as to appreciate the effect the different sexes have on the ballet and choreography.

Moving Identities also features the return of Robert North's Troy Game, performed this season for the first time in Sarasota with both an all male and all female cast and set to a Brazilian-flavored score by Bob Downes. Influenced by the Ancient Greek war games, and martial arts such as the Japanese aikido and Brazilian capoeira, Jennifer Dunning of The New York Times wrote that "beneath its goofy exterior Troy Game is an innovative blend of acting and movement that looks like the purest of pure dance pieces." Originally created for just a male cast, over the past few years North decided to adapt the ballet so as to allow an all female cast to perform the work. "Watching different casts perform the same ballet is always a wonderful aspect of dance, as it allows the audience to see and appreciate the nuances each individual dancer brings to the role," says Margaret Barbieri, Assistant Director of The Sarasota Ballet. "The compliment of both Ricardo's and Robert's gender divided ballets in one evening adds a dramatic and unusual element to this, and it will encourage our audience to return in the same weekend to see these ballets again and witness how the different casts and indeed different genders affect both the emotion and choreography of each work."

Moving Identities is sponsored by John Leeming and J.L. Bainbridge, and WEDU.

Performance Schedule and Ticket Information
26 - 29 January 2018
FSU Center for the Performing Arts

Friday, 26 January 2018 at 7:30pm
Saturday, 27 January 2018 at 2:00pm
Saturday, 27 January 2018 at 7:30pm
Sunday, 28 January 2018 at 2:00pm
Sunday, 28 January 2018 at 7:30pm
Monday, 29 January 2018 at 7:30pm

Packages to The Sarasota Ballet's 2017 - 2018 Season are on sale now, beginning at $100. For information, please visit www.SarasotaBallet.org or call the box office at 941.359.0099, Monday through Friday, 10am to 4pm.

Individual tickets for Moving Identities, starting at $30, are on sale now at www.SarasotaBallet.org or by calling 941.359.0099.

Since 1990, the mission of The Sarasota Ballet has been enriching lives, captivating emotions and strengthening the community through the art of dance. Under the leadership of Director Iain Webb, Executive Director Joseph Volpe and Assistant Director Margaret Barbieri, The Sarasota Ballet has received national and international recognition for its diverse repertoire of rarely performed ballets, as well as the integrity and artistry of its performances. The Company's expanded repertoire includes works by world-renowned choreographers such as Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, Sir Matthew Bourne, Dame Ninette de Valois, Michel Fokine, Sir Kenneth MacMillan, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerome Robbins, Paul Taylor, Twyla Tharp, Antony Tudor and Christopher Wheeldon. In the last five years, The Sarasota Ballet has been invited to perform twice both at the Kennedy Center in Washington, DC and the Fall for Dance Festival at New York City Center, as well as week-long residencies at the Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival and The Joyce Theater in New York. In May 2017 The Sarasota Ballet performed at the inaugural National Choreographic Festival in Salt Lake City.

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