FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Revised, October 29, 2006
CONTACT: Mark Fleisher, 401.353.1129
Providence, RI -
| Program: | Up CLOSE on HOPE, program I performances |
| Date: | November 11, 12, 18, 19, 2006 |
| Time: | Saturdays at 7:30, Sundays at 6:00 pm |
| Place: | Festival Ballet Providence Black Box Theater, 825 Hope Street, Providence, RI |
| Cost: | $40, includes performance and intermission wine and hors d’oeuvres |
| Program: | Seven contemporary ballets in an intimate setting, by four choreographers, performed by the Company’s international roster of dancers. |
| Information | Vist www.festivalballet.com , write info@festivalballet.com or call 401.353.1129. |
Festival Ballet Providence’s award-winning series, Up CLOSE, on HOPE, showcasing exciting mixed repertory works in an intimate studio setting, will present the season’s first program of the season for two weekends in November. The program will include a dynamic and varied program of 7 different pieces, representing a broad span of choreographic talent. Up CLOSE on HOPE performances offer the chance to see thrilling, original contemporary dance in close proximity, to meet the dancers, and to mingle with the evening’s choreographers. Critics are in complete agreement: Up CLOSE on HOPE is a great way for audiences to see dance!
The performances will take place November 11, 12, 18 & 19 at the company’s East Side studios at 825 Hope Street on Saturdays at 7:30 pm and on Sundays at 6:00 pm. Performances take place in the Grand Studio black box theater, for a limited audience of 90.
The success of Up CLOSE, on HOPE is largely due to the intimacy of the theater and the repertory chosen by Festival Ballet Providence Artistic Director Mihailo Djuric. The program spans a broad spectrum of styles and is intended to expand the audience’s taste for different dance styles, to showcase established and rising choreographers, and to provide numerous challenging roles to the dancers in the company.
This program will include the revival of company member Mark Harootian’s stunning duet, Let it go for a While. Gianni Di Marco is staging Gracias a la Vida, a duet he created two years ago for himself and his wife, Adriana Suarez, to celebrate and acknowledge the joys of sharing a life together. He set the piece to South American folkloric music.
Luis Fuente, a former principal dancer at Joffrey Ballet, choreographed the first Rhode Island premiere in the program, Mujeres. Mr. Fuente hails from Spain, resides in Warwick, and is currently on the faculty of the Dance Department at Boston Conservatory. Set to a powerful flamenco score, this ballet features five women dancing in an empassioned percussive style, en pointe.
Viktor Plotnikov will create a world premiere for 8 dancers, to the opening section of Mozart’s Symphonie # 40. Mr. Plotnikov has created numerous ballet’s for the company’s VMA season, including The Widow’s Broom, Carmen, and Loof and Let Dime. This is the first work Mr. Plotnikov will create for the Up CLOSE on HOPE series.
New company member, Ilya Burov, will dance the thrilling Gopak variation from the ballet, Taras Bulba.
Mr. Djuric will present the Rhode Island premiere of a work that premiered in June as part of the Amelia Island Chamber Music Festival, at the Festival’s Ritz Carleton gala. Set to one of Bach’s solo works for cello, Playing by Ear features Jennifer Ricci and Gleb Lyamenkoff in an intense and physically demanding duet.
Mr. Djuric revives one of his most evocative ballets, Soledad to close the program. Set to a sultry score by Astor Piazzola, this work portrays a woman’s solitude and reminiscence in the midst of a vibrant café society. Featured at the core of the ballet is a stunning duet, when the woman is visited by the vision of her lost love. This piece will be featured in Festival Ballet Providence’s upcoming 3-city tour to Venezuela the week of November 20th.
Tentative Addition: George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, with Carolyn Dellinger and Alexander Akulov.
Audience members will have the opportunity to further explore the bounty offered on Hope Street with hors d’oeuvres and wine intermissions sponsored by neighboring East Side restaurants. The intermission sponsors of our November performances are
Chez Pascal, Seven Stars Bakery, Not Just Snacks, Pizzico, and Gourmet Take and Bake, accompanied by wines courtesy of Laurine Ryan Perry and the Martignetti Companies of Rhode Island.
Tickets are available for $40 as general admission seating. Up CLOSE season subscribers purchasing tickets for both November and March programs ($75) receive preferred seating for each performance. Tickets are available by contacting Festival Ballet Providence, 401.353.1129. For further information, send email inquiries to info@festivalballet.com.
Program II of the series, all world premieres, by choreographers including Colleen Cavanaugh, Viktor Plotnikov, Gianni Di Marco, and Mark Harootian, will take place March 10, 11, 17, & 18, 2007. For additional information about upcoming programs visit www.festivalballet.com
The 2006-2007 Up CLOSE on HOPE series is made possible in part by Up CLOSE on HOPE sponsor GLAD WORKS, and additional support from NBC10, Acadia Consulting and the Rhode Island State Council on the Arts.
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.
Intermission sponsors for Up CLOSE on HOPE are:
| November 11 | Chez Pascal |
| November 12 | Seven Stars Bakery & Not Just Spices |
| November 18 | Gourmet Take & Bake Tentative |
| November 19 | Pizzico |
| March 10 | Restaurant Oak |
| March 11 | Blaze east side |
| March 17 | Rue de L’Espoir |
| March 18 | Pizzico |
Wines for the intermissions will be provided courtesy of the Martignetti Companies of Rhode Island and Laurine Ryan Perry.
| Playing by Ear | chor by Mihailo Djuric, RI premiere |
| Soledad | chor by Mihailo Djuric |
Gopak, |
chor by Rotislav Zakharov, RI Premiere |
| Gracias a la Vida | chor by Gianni Di Marco, RI premiere |
| Let it Go for a While | chor. by Mark Harootian |
| World premiere; | Viktor Plotnikov Jennifer Ricci, Heather O’Halloran, Vilia Putrius Alexander Akulov, Davide Vittorino, Gleb Lyamenkoff |
| Mujeres, | chor. by Luis Fuente, RI Premiere |
| Tentative addition: | Tschaikovksy Pas de Deux, |
BIOS: Guest Choreographers
Luis Fuente
has had a distinguished career as principal dancer, director and choreographer, teacher and ballet master. A principal dancer with Joffrey Ballet, Mr. Fuente also performed with National Ballet of Washington, National Ballet of Holland, London Festival Ballet, National Ballet of Spain, Ballet Luis Fuente, and Ballets Clasicos y Contemporaneos de Madrid. At Joffrey Ballet he danced an extensive repertoire with ballets created for him by Gerald Arpino and Robert Joffrey and also danced leading roles in classical repertory, including Swan Lake, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella, Coppelia, and also performed in works by Balanchine, Ashton, Tudor and Cranko. At Joffrey Mr. Fuente also worked with Frederick Franklin, Ben Stevenson, André Eglevsky, Igor Youskevitch, Margot Fonteyn, Edward Villela, Melissa Hayden, Rudi Van Dantzig and Hans Van Manen. A native of Madrid, Spain, Mr. Fuente directed and choreographed for his own company in that city. He also codirected and was resident choreographer for the National Ballet of Spain and created works for numerous companies throughout Europe and the United States. Besides teaching at his own school, Mr. Fuente has taught extensively at numerous universities and conservatories. He also served as ballet master at the National Ballet of Spain and with Joffrey Ballet of Chicago.
Gianni Di Marco
Gianni Di Marco, a native of Venezuela, began his dance training in 1981, in the Professional Division of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet School in Canada. He has also studied with The National Ballet of Canada, the Ballet Nacional de Cuba, and in Banff under the direction of Laura Alonso. After becoming a member of the Royal Winnipeg Ballet in 1988, Di Marco was the first recipient of the Arnold Spohr Scholarship.
At Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Gianni was promoted to second soloist in 1990 and then first soloist the following year. He danced with Les Grands Ballets Canadiens before 1995, when he joined Boston Ballet (1995-2005). In 1997, Di Marco took a leave of absence from Boston Ballet to dance with Germany’s Oper Leipzig Ballet under the direction of Uwe Scholz. He danced in many of Scholz’s new works.
Gianni has a great interest in choreography. He has done a number of works for a variety of institutions throughout the region, including many Boston Ballet fundraising galas, The Wang Theatre’s 75th Anniversary Generations Gala performance, Dartmouth College, Boston Flute Association, and Dance on the Top Floor. He also has created dances at the Oper Liepzig Choreography Workshop and a new work for Alvin Ailey American Dance Center’s Summer Dance Program. He was assistant choreographer in productions such as Aida, La Traviata and Akhnaten for the Boston Lyric Opera, and the Huntington Theatre Company’s The Mikado. Di Marco has created numerous new works for Raw Dance, cutting edge creations by Boston Ballet dancers. Di Marco teaches Boston Ballet’s Adaptive Dance Program, created for children with Downs Syndrome. In 2003 Mr. DiMarco’s Killing Time was performed for Festival Ballet Providence’s inaugural Up CLOSE, on HOPE program to rave reviews. Festival Ballet Providence has commissioned two world premieres by Mr. DiMarco, Schéhérazade which premiered in February of 2005, and Azucar which premiered in February 2006.
