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Richmond Ballet announces choreographers for new works to be featured in 25th professional season
7/24/2008
RICHMOND BALLET
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
July 24, 2008
Media Contact:
Aaron Sutten
(804) 344-0906 x244
asutten@richmondballet.com
Richmond Ballet announces choreographers
for new works
to be featured in 25th professional season
Following an outstanding 2007-08
season, Richmond Ballet will pull from some of the extraordinary talent
involved in last year’s success to produce a memorable Studio Series lineup.
Choreographers
Gina Patterson, Todd Rosenlieb and William Soleau will join Richmond Ballet’s
professional company in celebrating a quarter of a century of “awakening and
uplifting the human spirit.” Patterson
and Rosenlieb participated in the critically-acclaimed New Works Festival this
past April, and Soleau restaged his collaborative interpretation of A Midsummer Night’s Dream in February. Each
of these artists will create a world premiere to add to the company’s repertory
in this upcoming season.
Studio 1 begins Richmond
Ballet’s 25th Anniversary line-up in September featuring a new
commission by
based choreographer William Soleau, which will be performed on the same program
as Antony Tudor’s Jardin aux Lilas. Julinda
Lewis of the Richmond Times-Dispatch deemed Soleau’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, which featured not only the dancers but
also live orchestral music, operatic solos, choral singing and dramatic
narration, “a feast for the eyes and ears and a delight to the soul” and “a welcome
midwinter diversion.” The popularity of
Soleau’s work revealed itself when the production filled 2,000 more seats than
its April 2006 premiere. Richmond
Ballet’s repertory includes six works from this prolific choreographer in
addition to Midsummer.
Norfolk-based
Todd Rosenlieb will create a light-hearted piece for Richmond Ballet’s Studio 2 in November 2008 which also
features a revival of Ancient Airs
and Dances, the first piece choreographed for Richmond Ballet's
professional company by Artistic Director Stoner Winslett. Rosenlieb
choreographed Chance Favors the Prepared
Mind for the Ballet’s successful New Works Festival in April 2008, of which
Richmond Times-Dispatch Julinda Lewis wrote: “awakens images of the childhood
and showcases delicate movement performed by strong men.”
For Studio 3, in
March of 2009, Gina Patterson has been commissioned by Richmond Ballet to
expand her stunning New Works Festival piece, Silence. Patterson will continue to explore the depth of Arvo
Pärt’s score by extending Silence to its
full-length for the official world premiere. The Richmond Times-Dispatch’s Julinda
Lewis wrote that the “rise and fall of Texas-based Gina Patterson's Silence barely contained the work's raw
intensity.” of Style
Weekly also gave her opinion commenting that Patterson’s piece included “beautiful
dancing by 11 company members -- curved backs, rippled spines, limbs flicked
out in high lifts.” Patterson’s Silence
will be paired with a Richmond Ballet favorite: Val Caniparoli's Djangology which will bring its soulful sizzle to the Studio
stage.
Although Studio 4 will not include a
world premiere, Richmond Ballet will present its latest acquisition during the
production: The Four Temperaments,
one of George Balanchine's “black and white” ballets. Vestiges,
Colin Connor's thought-provoking and powerful work that premiered at
Richmond Ballet in 2000, will add a more contemporary aspect to Studio 4.
Due to the
popularity of the Studio Series, Richmond Ballet installed new risers in the
Studio Theatre last season, providing seating for more than 40 extra patrons
and allowing last season’s Studio 3 to draw a record audience for a Studio
production.
Fans can also
look forward to Cinderella,
choreographed by Artistic Associate and Ballet Master Malcolm Burn, just in
time for Valentine’s Day, and the anniversary season would not be complete
without The Nutcracker to
brighten the holidays with 12 performances in December. It’s time to mark those calendars in
anticipation of another thrilling Richmond Ballet season.
More
about the guest artists:
Gina Patterson began her dance career with
Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre before joining Ballet Austin in 1988 and then Ballet
Florida in 1996. Returning to Ballet Austin in 2000, she continues to perform
leading roles in productions such as Romeo
and Juliet, Giselle and
Ms. Patterson has
been hailed as a choreographer of “startling originality” ( Back Stage )
and “a standout on the soul front” ( Sun-Sentinel ). She has had new works commissioned by Ballet
Austin, Ballet Austin II, Dayton Ballet, Ballet Pacifica, Ballet East, Montana
Ballet, and Booker T. Washington High School for the Visual and Performing Arts
in . Ms.
Patterson has presented three pieces at the Ballet Builder's Showcase in Life
Wind, was awarded the prestigious Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography in
2002. Trail of Tears—Walking the Choctaw
Road was awarded the B. Iden Payne Award for
Outstanding Choreographer by the Austin
Circle of Theaters. In the summer of 2005, her
work, Free to Fly, was performed in ,
and she created an original work for Hubbard Street 2 by winning their National
Choreographic Competition. In the summer of 2006, she created a new work at the
National Choreographic Initiative in ,
and she premiered new works for Nashville Ballet and Ballet Austin in February
2007
Todd
Rosenlieb entered his professional career when Erick Hawkins selected him
from a technique class to join the Erick Hawkins Dance Company in 1992.
Privileged and honored to work directly with Mr. Hawkins, Mr. Rosenlieb was
cast in several of the repertoire’s most memorable and historic roles. Named
company director of the Erick Hawkins Dance Company in the fall of 1995, Mr.
Rosenlieb began setting and performing Journey
of a Poet, the last piece of choreography by Erick Hawkins, on Mikhail
Baryshnikov and his White Oak Project. For four years Mr. Rosenlieb served as
artistic advisor, rehearsal director, and principal dancer with the Virginia
Ballet Theatre in He has taught and set choreography at
festivals around the country such as the American Dance Festival, Jacob’s
Pillow, National High School Dance Festival and American College Dance
Festival. He has also taught at
of , Sarah Lawrence, New York
University, of the Arts. He is
founder/artistic director of Todd Rosenlieb Dance in
He received his BA in English and Economics from
, and his MFA in Dance
Performance from
, where he was
awarded the Morton Kramer Scholarship for his dance expertise.
William Soleau worked as a principal
dancer in both ballet and modern companies and with numerous choreographers,
including Anthony Tudor, John Butler, Alvin Ailey, Norman Walker, Joyce Trisler
and Toer Van Shayk. While dancing with Finis Jhung's Chamber Ballet New
York City, Mr. Soleau created his first work, Isle,
which became an instant success. In 1987 he gained international
recognition for his full evening work, Universe, for the Shanghai Ballet
of China during its first International Shanghai Arts Festival. As
resident choreographer and principal dancer for Dennis Wayne's DANCERS during
the 80s, he began to devote himself entirely to choreography. Mr. Soleau
has over 70 ballets in the repertoires of many companies around the world
including Ballet British , The Icelandic
Ballet, Ballet de Montreal, Ballet Austin, BalletMet,
and The Louisville Ballet. Mr.
Soleau is no stranger to Richmond Ballet, which has in its repertory Mr.
Soleau's Closing Doors, Fauré Melodies, Hymn, Nuevo
Tango, A Midsummer Night’s Dream,
String Sketches and Tandem Spaces. A resident of , Mr. Soleau serves as executive
director for the John Butler Foundation, which protects and preserves the masterworks of the
legendary American choreographer.
Studio
1: September
16-21, 2008
•Jardin aux Lilas by Antony Tudor
•A World Premiere
by William Soleau
Studio 2:
November 11-16, 2008
• Ancient
Airs and Dances by Stoner
Winslett.
• A World Premiere by
Todd Rosenlieb
The Nutcracker
with
Symphony: December 12-23, 2008
•Choreography by Stoner Winslett after Petipa
Cinderella
with
Symphony: February 13-15, 2009
•Choreography by Malcolm Burn
Studio
3: March
24-29, 2009
•Djangology
by Val Caniparoli
•A World Premiere
by Gina Patterson
Studio 4: April 28 – May 3, 2009
•The Four Temperaments by George Balanchine’s
•Vestiges by
Colin Connor
###
Richmond Ballet, The State Ballet of
Virginia, is dedicated to the education, promotion, preservation and continuing
evolution of the art form of ballet.
Richmond Ballet strives to keep meaningful works of dance alive and to
produce and foster new works that remain true to these values. Now in its 25th professional season, Ballet's mission
is to “awaken and uplift the human spirit, both for audiences and artists.”
***
For further press information contact:
Aaron Sutten, Director of Marketing and
Communications
EMAIL: asutten@richmondballet.com; CALL:
(804) 344-0906 x244