Festival Ballet Providence - Center for Dance Education

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 4, 2005

Festival Ballet Providence, 401-353-1129

Andrew Skeels, company dancer at Festival Ballet Providence, accepted toNew York International Ballet Competition

Festival Ballet Providence artistic director announces company member Andrew Skeels has been accepted to compete in the prestigious 2005 New York International Ballet Competition. This is the 8th tri-annual competition since its founding in 1983. Competitors are an internationally select group of 17 to 24 year-old dancers.

Currently completing his first year as a member of Festival Ballet Providence, Mr. Skeels sent a written application to the NYIBC in February and received notice of his acceptance in March. He is one of 48 accepted in the competition and will be in New York’s Lincoln Center for the entire three-week duration of the competition, from June 4 to June 27th, with all expenses covered, including housing, meals, daily classes, coaching, local transportation and entertainment.

Before leaving Rhode Island, Mr. Skeels will prepare a contemporary solo to perform, and once he arrives in New York will be taught three pas de deux with an assigned competing partner from Cypress. The first two weeks are spent learning and perfecting the four pieces. During the third week, the 24 competing couples will perform in several rounds before the final award-winners are chosen.
Round I, Classical Pas de Deux. Round II Contemporary Pas de Deux and prepared solo. Round III Classical Pas de Deux. The program will be determined by NYIBC and announced at Orientation June 5, 2005.

NEW YORK INTERNATIONAL BALLET COMPETITION has established itself as one of the world's premier dance competitions. Held every three years, its purpose is to identify promising young dancers, enhance their professional education, provide them with career opportunities that would be difficult to achieve otherwise, and promote international understanding and good will.

NYIBC's unique format distinguishes it from all other international ballet competitions. Upon the arrival of the dancers the repertory is announced and all dancers are taught three pas de deux by world renowned teachers and coaches during the first two weeks of NYIBC. After three elimination rounds the dancers with the highest scores are chosen. In the Gala Performance, medal winners are joined by selected dancers from this year's NYIBC and alumni

It is a wonderful opportunity for Andrew to be surrounded by some of the best young dancers in the world, and to be seen by some of the most influential personalities in dance today.

Skeels noted, “It is a tremendous opportunity. I feel honored and proud to be part of the experience.”

Festival Ballet Providence artistic director Mihailo Djuric was pleased to see one of his dancers singled out in this international event. “This has been a great season for Festival Ballet Providence, with our local reputation growing, the expanding reputation of our artists. It’s reassuring to know that reputation is not limited to our home but far beyond Rhode Island as well. After the recognition earlier this year of Leticia Guerrero by the Venezuelan Minister of Culture, this invitation for Andrew to participate in the NY International Ballet Competition at the end of the season wraps it all up! Andrew is a young, talented, hard-working and promising young dancer. All of us at FPB will give him all the support he needs to excel in New York.”

For more information about the competition, visit www.nyibc.org
New York International Ballet Competition
250 West 57th Street - Suite 1023
New York, NY 10107
T: 212.956.1520
F: 212.586.8406
email: nyibc@nyibc.org
website: www.nyibc.org

The Festival Ballet Providence and the Festival Ballet Providence Center for Dance Education are together a not-for-profit arts organization whose EIN is 05-0377245 and whose Rhode Island Corporate ID number is ND-27-137.

To interview Mr. Skeels, please contact Mark Fleisher at Festival Ballet Providence, 401.353.1129

Andrew Skeels
From Arlington, Massachusetts, Andrew trained on scholarship at Boston Ballet School and Nutmeg Conservatory. He danced last season in Indianapolis with Ballet Internationale and joined the company on tour to Taipei last spring. He has performed with Cincinnati Ballet and apprenticed with Prometheus Dance. This is Andrew’s 1st season at Festival Ballet Providence.

NYIBC DESCRIPTION
New York International Ballet Competition, Inc. (NYIBC) is the premiere program of its kind in the world providing dance education and employment opportunities for young dancers ages 17-24. Held triennially at Lincoln Center, the 8th NYIBC will take place June 4-27, 2005. NYIBC will honor Violette Verdy at the closing Gala on June 26, 2005. The Gala Dinner dance will take place at Tavern on the Green.

NYIBC is a tuition-free, three-week intensive study program. Unlike any other study program or competition, NYIBC is financially responsible for the forty-eight dancers for their entire three-week stay. This includes room, board, intra-city transportation, classes, teaching of repertoire, studios, entertainment and cultural activities. This provides an equal opportunity across economic lines and allows the dancers to be completely focused on the training. It allows them to perform and present themselves at their highest artistic level.

Comprehensive applications are submitted to NYIBC. Forty-eight (48) dancers, twenty-four (24) couples from around the world are selected to participate by the Artistic Board. It is only after the dancers arrive in New York that they learn the exact repertoire they will be studying. All the dancers learn the repertoire with the same teachers and coaches under the same conditions. This experience allows the dancers to expand educationally and artistically. NYIBC is an experience that enriches and often defines the course of these young dancers¹ lives.

NYIBC begins with two weeks of technique classes and the learning and rehearsing of two classical and one contemporary pas de deux. The repertoire, chosen from our rich dance heritage, is taught by world-renowned teachers and coaches. They are masters of their profession. In teaching the repertoire, they pass their artistry of classical ballet to this younger generation. The opportunity to learn such outstanding repertoire from such extraordinary artists provides the dancers with professional training they could not receive elsewhere.

A partial list of the repertoire taught includes pas de deux from Raymonda, Sleeping Beauty, La Bayadere, Giselle, Who Cares, The Four Temperaments, The Leaves are Fading, Le Beau Danube, Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux, Giggling Rapids and Swan Lake. The coaches have included Irina Baronova, Winthrop Corey, Eleanor D'Antuono, Alexandra Danilova, Judith Fugate, Cynthia Gregory, Nathalie Krassovska, Victoria Simon, Violette Verdy, Deborah Wingert, Igor Youskevitch to name a few.

A typical day during the first two weeks consists of all the dancers taking a technique class together from 9am to 10:30am. The dancers are then split into three groups. The groups rotate every two days. At the end of the week they have worked with the three coaches and learned the three pas de deux. The rehearsal day is from 11am to 6pm. In the evening the dancers are taken to see performances at New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre and a Broadway show. Sunday they rest.

The study program is completed the third week when the dancers showcase their talents by performing the learned repertoire at Lincoln Center. Audiences delight in the unique format of NYIBC. Because the dancers perform the same repertoire, the audience becomes familiar with the choreography and music of each pas de deux. They learn to differentiate and appreciate the artistic and cultural nuances each dancer brings to each piece.

NYIBC attracts the best in ballet to adjudicate. The 2005 judges are:

Stanton Welch – Australia- Artistic Director, Houston Ballet

Andre Lewis – Canada – Artistic Director, The Royal Winnipeg Ballet

Xin Li Li – China- Artistic Director, Shanghai Ballet

Dame Merle Park – England - Former Artistic Director, Royal Ballet School

Hans van Manen – The Netherlands - World Renown choreographer

Alexei Ratmansky – Russia- Artistic Director, The Bolshoi Ballet

Victor Ullate – Spain – Artistic Director, Victor Ullate Ballet

Victoria Morgan – President of the Jury-USA- Artistic Director,
Cincinnati Ballet

Maria Eugenia Barrios – Venezuela - Artistic Director, Ballet Contemporaneo de Caracas