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ARTISTIC & PRODUCTION CREDITS SAN FRANCISCO BALLET Lincoln Theater, 100 California Drive, Yountville, CA 94599 FESTIVAL NAPA VALLEY July 27, 2018 Running Time: Tarantella 7 minutes Pas de Deux from The Infinite Ocean 7 minutes Your Flesh Shall Be a Great Poem 29 minutes Intermission 20 minutes In the Night 24 minutes Pas de Deux from Don Quixote, Act III 10 minutes Total: 1 hour, 40 minutes Tarantella Composer: Louis Gottschalk Choreography: George Balanchine Costume Design: after Karinska World Premiere: January 7, 1964—New York City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama; New York, New York San Francisco Ballet Premiere: August 3, 1986—Stern Grove Festival; San Francisco, California Pas de Duex from The Infinite Ocean Composer: Oliver Davis Choreographer: Edwaard Liang Scenic Design: Alexander V. Nichols Costume Design: Mark Zappone Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls World Premiere: April 26, 2018—San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House; San Francisco, California Your Flesh Shall Be a Great Poem Composer: Chris Garneau Choreographer: Trey McIntyre Costume Design: Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls -more-

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Page 1: ARTISTIC & PRODUCTION CREDITS SAN FRANCISCO BALLET Kits/Napa Press Kit... · Costume Design: Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls -more- Festival Napa

ARTISTIC & PRODUCTION CREDITS SAN FRANCISCO BALLET

Lincoln Theater, 100 California Drive, Yountville, CA 94599

FESTIVAL NAPA VALLEY

July 27, 2018 Running Time: Tarantella 7 minutes Pas de Deux from The Infinite Ocean 7 minutes Your Flesh Shall Be a Great Poem 29 minutes Intermission 20 minutes In the Night 24 minutes Pas de Deux from Don Quixote, Act III 10 minutes Total: 1 hour, 40 minutes Tarantella Composer: Louis Gottschalk Choreography: George Balanchine Costume Design: after Karinska World Premiere: January 7, 1964—New York City Ballet, City Center of Music and Drama; New York, New York San Francisco Ballet Premiere: August 3, 1986—Stern Grove Festival; San Francisco, California Pas de Duex from The Infinite Ocean Composer: Oliver Davis Choreographer: Edwaard Liang Scenic Design: Alexander V. Nichols Costume Design: Mark Zappone Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls World Premiere: April 26, 2018—San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House; San Francisco, California Your Flesh Shall Be a Great Poem Composer: Chris Garneau Choreographer: Trey McIntyre Costume Design: Reid Bartelme and Harriet Jung Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls

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Festival Napa Valley Credits/Page 2 World Premiere: April 24, 2018—San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House; San Francisco, California In the Night Composer: Frédéric Chopin Choreographer: Jerome Robbins Staged by: Anita Paciotti Costume Design: Anthony Dowell Lighting Design: Jennifer Tipton World Premiere: January 29, 1970—New York City Ballet, New York State Theater; New York, New York San Francisco Ballet Premiere: April 2, 1985—War Memorial Opera House; San Francisco, California Pas de Deux from Don Quixote, Act III Composer: Ludwig Minkus Choreographers: Alexander Gorsky and Marius Petipa Staging and Additional Choreography: Helgi Tomasson and Yuri Possokhov Costume Design: Martin Pakledinaz Lighting Design: James F. Ingalls Associate Costume Designer: Heather Lockard Author of Don Quixote: Miguel de Cervantes World Premiere (Original Petipa production): December 26, 1869—Imperial Ballet, Bolshoi Theatre; Moscow, Russia World Premiere (Tomasson/Possokhov staging, complete ballet): March 14, 2003—San Francisco Ballet, War Memorial Opera House; San Francisco, California Production Credits Tarantella: Music: Grand Tarantelle, Op. 67 by Louis Moreau Gottschalk, arranged by Matthew Naughtin. Costumes constructed by Sandra Woodall Costumes, San Francisco, California. Pas de Deux from The Infinite Ocean: Music: Original composition by Oliver Davis used by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc., publisher and copyright owner. Costumes constructed by Mark Zappone et Co., Seattle, Washington. Scenic construction and painting by San Francisco Ballet Carpentry and Scenic Departments. Your Flesh Shall Be a Great Poem: Music: “The Leaving Song”, “Dirty Night Clowns”, “Raw and Awake”, “Fireflies”, “No More Pirates”, “Les Lucioles en Re Mineur”, “Hands on the Radio” and “Black Hawk Waltz” — all written and performed by Chris Garneau, and published by Sony/ATV Songs (BMI). Courtesy of Bank Robber Music o/b/o Absolutely Kosher. Costumes constructed by Colin Davis Jones Studios, New York, New York. Video Design by Photon Creative Video Agency, San Francisco, California. In the Night: Music: Nocturnes Op. 27, No. 1; Op. 55, No. 1 & 2; Op. 9, No. 2. Costumes constructed by Christopher Read and Ruth Bartel. Pas de Deux from Don Quixote, Act III: Music: “Don Quixote” by Ludwig Minkus with added “Kitri’s Variation” by Roccardo Drigo. Costumes constructed by Tricorne Inc., New York, New York; Boots by Pluma, Portland, Oregon.

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SAN FRANCISCO BALLET HISTORY A tradition of innovation flows through the history of San Francisco Ballet. Long recognized for pushing boundaries in dance, SF Ballet has always built upon strong classical roots, while continually exploring and redefining where the art form is headed. The San Francisco Opera Ballet was founded in 1933, primarily to prepare dancers to appear in lavish opera productions. In 1942, the ballet officially separated from the opera and was renamed San Francisco Ballet. From the late 1930s to the 1970s, SFBallet was led by three brothers: Willam, Lew, and Harold Christensen. The young company was the first to create full-length American productions of Swan Lake (1940), and Nutcracker (1944). SF Ballet performed on the East Coast for the first time in 1956, at Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival. The following year, the Company toured 11 Asian nations, the first performances of an American ballet company in Asia. The tour was so successful that it was followed by a four-month tour of Latin America in 1958 and a three-month tour of the Middle East in 1959. The 1970s were tumultuous. The Company started an annual season in the War Memorial Opera House in 1972, and Michael Smuin was appointed associate artistic director in 1973. But in 1974, SF Ballet faced bankruptcy. Dancers rallied community support with an extraordinary grassroots effort called “Save Our Ballet,” successfully bringing the Company back from the brink. SF Ballet then developed the first long-range plan for an American dance company and, 18 months later, was financially stable. Smuin’s The Tempest was the first ballet broadcast live from the War Memorial Opera House and was nominated for three Emmy Awards in 1981 (Costume Designer Willa Kim won). In 1984, Smuin received an Emmy for Choreography for the Great Performances: Dance in America national broadcast of A Song for Dead Warriors. Helgi Tomasson’s arrival as artistic director in 1985 began a new era at SF Ballet. Like Lew Christensen, Tomasson had been a leading dancer for George Balanchine, one of the most prominent choreographers of the 20th century. Tomasson has choreographed extensively for the Company and has staged acclaimed full-length productions of Swan Lake (1988, 2009); The Sleeping Beauty (1990); Romeo & Juliet (1994); Giselle (1999); and a new Nutcracker (2004). He has also expanded the repertory to include new works by choreographers William Forsythe, Mark Morris, Paul Taylor, Christopher Wheeldon, Val Caniparoli, and many others. In 1991, SF Ballet performed in New York City for the first time in 26 years. The New York Times proclaimed, “Mr. Tomasson has accomplished the unprecedented: He has pulled a so-called regional company into the national ranks, and he has done so by honing the dancers into a classical style of astonishing verve and purity. SF Ballet under Helgi Tomasson’s leadership is one of the spectacular success stories of the arts in America.” Under Tomasson, SF Ballet has also undertaken ambitious programming. In May 1995, SF Ballet

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SFB History/Page 2

hosted 12 international ballet companies for UNited We Dance: An International Festival, commemorating the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter in the War Memorial Opera House. In 2008, the New Works Festival, organized to mark the Company’s 75th anniversary, introduced 10 premieres by 10 choreographers. In recent years, the Company’s touring programs have also become increasingly extensive, with international engagements in Paris, London, Moscow, Hamburg, Athens, Shanghai, and Beijing. In 2018, the Company presented Unbound: A Festival of New Works, showcasing 12 world premieres by 12 renowned choreographer,s over four programs and 17 days. As part of Unbound, SF Ballet hosted a number of ancillary events including a series of live streams, community pop-ups, a dance film series, and Boundless: A Symposium on Ballet’s Future. San Francisco Ballet School, also established in 1933, has grown into a preeminent training center under Tomasson and associate director Patrick Armand. The School attracts students from around the world, training approximately 350 annually. In addition to filling the ranks of SF Ballet, graduates have joined distinguished ballet companies throughout the world.

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SAN FRANCISCO BALLET ARTISTS OF THE COMPANY 2018–19 SEASON

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & PRINCIPAL CHOREOGRAPHER

Helgi Tomasson

PRINCIPAL DANCERS Dores André

Ulrik Birkkjaer Jaime Garcia Castilla

Frances Chung Sasha De Sola

Carlo Di Lanno

Mathilde Froustey Angelo Greco Tiit Helimets Luke Ingham

Vitor Luiz Aaron Robison

Ana Sophia Scheller

Jennifer Stahl Sofiane Sylve

Yuan Yuan Tan Sarah Van Patten

Joseph Walsh Wei Wang

PRINCIPAL CHARACTER DANCERS

Ricardo Bustamante Val Caniparoli Rubén Martín Cintas

Anita Paciotti

SOLOISTS

Max Cauthorn Daniel Deivison-Oliveira

Isabella DeVivo Jahna Frantziskonis

Benjamin Freemantle Esteban Hernandez

Koto Ishihara Vladislav Kozlov

Steven Morse Wona Park

Elizabeth Powell

Julia Rowe Henry Sidford

Lauren Strongin Lonnie Weeks

Hansuke Yamamoto WanTing Zhao

CORPS DE BALLET

Kamryn Baldwin Sean Bennett

Ludmila Bizalion Samantha Bristow Alexandre Cagnat Ethan Chudnow

Thamires Chuvas Cavan Conley

Diego Cruz Megan Amanda Ehrlich

Lucas Erni Solomon Golding Gabriela Gonzalez

Nicolai Gorodiskii Anatalia Hordov

Ellen Rose Hummel Blake Johnston

Madison Keesler Shené Lazarus

Elizabeth Mateer Norika Matsuyama

Carmela Mayo Swane Messaoudi Davide Occhipinti

Kimberly Marie Olivier Sean Orza

Lauren Parrott Nathaniel Remez

Alexander Reneff-Olson Emma Rubinowitz

Skyla Schreter Natasha Sheehan Miranda Silveira

John-Paul Simoens Myles Thatcher Mingxuan Wang Joseph Warton Maggie Weirich

Ami Yuki

APPRENTICES Estéban Cuadrado

Max Föllmer Jasmine Jimison Joshua Jack Price

Leili Rackow Jacob Seltzer

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Page 2

BALLET MASTERS & ASSISTANTS TO THE ARTISTIC DIRECTOR Ricardo Bustamante

Felipe Diaz

BALLET MASTERS Betsy Erickson Anita Paciotti Katita Waldo

COMPANY TEACHERS Helgi Tomasson Patrick Armand*

Ricardo Bustamante Felipe Diaz

CHOREOGRAPHER IN RESIDENCE

Yuri Possokhov

MUSIC DIRECTOR AND PRINCIPAL CONDUCTOR Martin West

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*guest teacher

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CONTACT: Kyra Jablonsky, 415 865 6603 [email protected] Rena Nishijima, 415 865 6610 [email protected]

2019 REPERTORY SEASON LISTING

PROGRAM 1 FULL-LENGTH PRODUCTION DON QUIXOTE Minkus/Gorsky after Petipa/Tomasson, Possokhov/Pakledinaz/Ingalls Jan. 25 eve, 26 mat & eve, 27 mat, 29 eve, 30 eve, 31 eve, Feb. 1 eve, 2 mat

PROGRAM 2 KALEIDOSCOPE DIVERTIMENTO NO. 15 Mozart/Balanchine/after Karinska/Stanley APPASSIONATA+ Beethoven/Millepied/Dugas/Sartori/Hakimi

ANIMA ANIMUS Bosso/Dawson/Otto/Takeshima/Ingalls Feb. 12 eve, 13 eve, 15 eve, 17 mat, 21 eve, 23 mat & eve

PROGRAM 3 IN SPACE & TIME THE FIFTH SEASON Jenkins/Tomasson/Woodall/Mazzola SNOWBLIND Beach, Foote, and Pärt/Marston/Kinmonth/ Ingalls ETUDES Czerny/Lander Feb. 14 eve, 16 mat & eve, 19 eve, 20 eve, 22 eve, 24 mat PROGRAM 4 FULL-LENGTH PRODUCTION THE SLEEPING BEAUTY Tchaikovsky/Tomasson after Petipa/ Worsaae/Miller March 9 eve, 10 mat, 12 eve, 13 eve, 14 eve, 15 eve, 16 mat * World Premiere + SF Ballet Premiere

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2019 Repertory Season Calendar/Page 2 PROGRAM 5 LYRIC VOICES YOUR FLESH SHALL BE A GREAT POEM Garneau/McIntyre/Bartelme and Jung/Ingalls BOUND TO Henson/Wheeldon/Puissant/Ingalls YURI POSSOKHOV WORLD PREMIERE* March 27 eve, 28 eve, 30 mat & eve, April 2 eve, 5 eve, 7 mat PROGRAM 6 SPACE BETWEEN RODEO: FOUR DANCE EPISODES Copland/Peck/Bartelme, Jung, Peck/Baker LIAM SCARLETT WORLD PREMIERE* BJÖRK BALLET Gudmundsdottir, Sigurdsson/Pita/Morante /Ingalls March 29 eve, 31 mat, April 3 eve, 4 eve, 6 mat & eve, 9 eve

PROGRAM 7 FULL-LENGTH PRODUCTION THE LITTLE MERMAID Auerbach/Neumeier April 19 eve, 20 mat & eve, 23 eve, 24 eve, 25 eve, 28 mat PROGRAM 8 SHOSTAKOVICH TRILOGY Shostakovich/Ratmansky/Tsypin/Dekker/ Tipton May 7 eve, 8 eve, 9 eve, 10 eve, 11 mat & eve, 12 mat * World Premiere + SF Ballet Premiere

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HELGI TOMASSON

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & PRINCIPAL CHOREOGRAPHER

Artistic Director and Principal Choreographer Helgi Tomasson, one of the supreme classical dancers of his generation, has led San Francisco Ballet for 33 years and is the longest-serving sole artistic director of a major ballet company. Since Tomasson’s arrival in 1985, San Francisco Ballet has evolved from a respected regional troupe to an international company praised for its wide-ranging repertory, dancers of uncommon range and skill, and artistic vision. Born in Reykjavik, Iceland, Tomasson began his early ballet training there with an Icelandic teacher and then joined the National Theatre’s affiliated school, led by Danish instructors Erik and Lisa Bidsted. He began his professional career at age 15 with the celebrated Pantomime Theatre in Copenhagen’s Tivoli Gardens. Two years later, Jerome Robbins met Tomasson and, impressed by his dancing, arranged a scholarship for him to study at the School of American Ballet in New York City. Soon after, Tomasson began his professional career with The Joffrey Ballet and two years later joined The Harkness Ballet. Over the next six years, he became one of the company’s most celebrated principal dancers. In 1969, Tomasson entered the First International Ballet Competition in Moscow as a United States representative and returned with the Silver Medal (the Gold Medal was awarded to Mikhail Baryshnikov). The following year, Tomasson joined New York City Ballet as a principal dancer, distinguishing himself as a dancer of technical purity, musicality, and intelligence. He was one of the foremost interpreters of George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, and both men created roles in new ballets for Tomasson. Balanchine encouraged him to choreograph and, in 1982, Tomasson choreographed his first ballet for the School of American Ballet Workshop. In 1985, Tomasson become artistic director of SF Ballet, America’s oldest professional ballet company. He has since choreographed more than 50 ballets, including full-length productions of Don Quixote (co-staged by Yuri Possokhov), Giselle, Romeo & Juliet (taped for Lincoln Center at the Movies Great American Dance), The Sleeping Beauty, Nutcracker (taped for PBS’ Great Performances), and two productions of Swan Lake (1988 and 2009). His repertory ballets, such as 7 for Eight, Chi-Lin, Concerto Grosso, The Fifth Season, Handel—a Celebration, Meistens Mozart, Nanna’s Lied, and Sonata, showcase the unique qualities of individual dancers. As a choreographer, teacher, and coach, Tomasson has fostered an uncompromising classicism that has become the bedrock of the Company’s repertory and training. He balances this devotion to the classics with an emphasis on new work, commissioning ballets from choreographers William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Alexei Ratmansky, Mark Morris, and Justin Peck, among others. Tomasson has expanded SF Ballet’s repertory, acquiring works by choreographers such as Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, August Bournonville, Michel Fokine, Hans van

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Tomasson/Page 2 Manen, Wayne McGregor, Sir Kenneth McMillan, Agnes de Mille, Nacho Duato, Flemming Flindt, Roland Petit, Jerome Robbins, and Antony Tudor. Tomasson’s own works have been performed by New York City Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Houston Ballet, Alberta Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens de Montréal, Ballet Estable del Teatro Colón, and Asami Maki Ballet. Tomasson has conceptualized several unprecedented festivals for San Francisco Ballet, starting with UNited We Dance: An International Festival, held in San Francisco in May 1995 to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter. Tomasson invited 12 international companies to present new works created by native choreographers. In spring 2008, as part of its yearlong 75th anniversary celebration, SF Ballet presented a New Works Festival of 10 world premieres by 10 diverse and acclaimed choreographers. Tomasson has also connected San Francisco Ballet with the world, with major co-commissions with American Ballet Theatre (Lar Lubovitch’s Othello, Alexei Ratmansky’s Shostakovich Trilogy), The Royal Ballet (Liam Scarlett’s Frankenstein), and Dutch National Ballet (Christopher Wheeldon’s Cinderella©). Under Tomasson’s direction, SF Ballet has toured the world, performing in China (2009, 2015), Copenhagen (1998, 2010), London (1999, 2001, 2004, 2012), Moscow (2012), New York City (1991, 1993, 1995, 1998, 2002, 2006, 2008, 2013), and Paris (1989, 1994, 2001, 2005, 2014). Tomasson’s achievements have garnered him numerous awards and honors. In his native Iceland, he was given the Grand Cross Star of the Order of the Falcon, the country’s most prestigious honor. Tomasson was also granted the rank of Officier in the French Order of Arts and Letters in May 2001. He has received three Isadora Duncan Awards (1989, 1996, 2007), a Dance Magazine Award (1992), a Dance/USA Honor (2012), and the Lew Christensen Medal (2005). He has been presented with honorary doctorates from Dominican College of San Rafael (1996) and the Juilliard School (2002). Tomasson is also artistic director of San Francisco Ballet School, alongside School Director Patrick Armand. For Tomasson, the School is central to the life and development of the Company. Just as he expects the finest dancing and most meticulous attention to detail from his dancers, he demands the highest standards for training the students in the School. Tomasson lives in San Francisco with his wife, Marlene, who was dancing with The Joffrey Ballet when they met. They have two sons, Erik and Kris.

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HELGI TOMASSON ARTISTIC DIRECTOR & PRINCIPAL CHOREOGRAPHER

REPERTORY

Choreographed for San Francisco Ballet:

Caprice (2014)

Trio (2011)

Swan Lake (2009)

On a Theme of Paganini (2008)

On Common Ground (2007)

Blue Rose (2006)

The Fifth Season (2006)

Bagatelles (2005)

Nutcracker (2004)

7 for Eight (2004)

Don Quixote (2003)

Concerto Grosso (2003)

Chi-Lin (2002)

Bartok Divertimento (2002)

Chaconne for Piano and Two Dancers (1999)

Giselle (1999)

Silver Ladders (1998)

Two Bits (1998)

Twilight (1998)

Criss-Cross (1997)

Pandora Dance (1997)

Soirées Musicales (1996)

Tuning Game (1995)

Sonata (1995)

When We No Longer Touch (1995)

Quartette (1994)

Romeo & Juliet (1994)

Nanna’s Lied (1993)

Le Quattro Stagioni (The Four Seasons) (1992)

Forevermore (1992)

Two plus Two (1992)

Aurora Polaris (1991)

Meistens Mozart (1991)

“Haffner” Symphony (1991)

The Sleeping Beauty (1990)

Con Brio (1990)

Valses Poeticos (1990)

Handel—a Celebration (1989)

Swan Lake (1988)

Intimate Voices (1987)

Bizet pas de deux (1987)

Concerto in d: Poulenc (1986)

Confidencias (1986)

Additional Ballets: Prism (2000), choreographed for New York City Ballet “Much Ado…” (1999), choreographed for Alberta Ballet Simple Symphony (1996), choreographed for SF Ballet School Showcase. Beads of Memory (1985), choreographed in 1985 for Houston Ballet Little Waltz (1985), choreographed for New York City Ballet’s Gala on students of School of American Ballet Menuetto (1984), choreographed for New York City Ballet Contredanses (1984), choreographed in 1984 for Finis Jhung’s Chamber Ballet USA Ballet d’Isoline (1983), choreographed for School of American Ballet Giuliani: Variations on a Theme (1982), choreographed for School of American Ballet

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GEORGE BALANCHINE

CHOREOGRAPHER

George Balanchine (1904-1983) is regarded as one of the foremost ballet choreographers and one of the great artists of the twentieth century. His influence in the worlds of ballet, music, and modernism is immense, and he had a great and lasting impact on New York’s cultural scene during a particularly creative period of the city’s history. The son of a composer, Balanchine began studying the piano at the age of five, then studied at the Imperial Ballet School in St. Petersburg from 1913 to 1921. He continued his education with three years at the state’s Conservatory of Music, where he studied piano and musical theory, including composition, harmony, and counterpoint. Balanchine made his dancing debut at the age of 10 as a cupid in the Maryinsky Theatre Ballet Company production of The Sleeping Beauty. He joined the company’s corps de ballet at age 17 and also staged one work, Enigmas. In the summer of 1924, Balanchine—along with Tamara Geva, Alexandra Danilova, and Nicholas Efimov—left the newly formed Soviet Union for a tour of Western Europe. All four dancers were invited by impresario Serge Diaghilev to join his Ballets Russes in Paris. After watching Balanchine stage a new version of the Stravinsky ballet Le Chant de Rossignol, Diaghilev hired him as ballet master to replace Bronislava Nijinska. Balanchine served as ballet master with Ballets Russes until the company was dissolved following Diaghilev’s death in 1929. After that, he spent his next few years on a variety of projects which took him all over Europe, then returned to Paris to form his own company, Les Ballets 1933. It was then that he met American dance connoisseur Lincoln Kirstein. Kirstein’s great passion for the contemporary arts included the dream to establish an American ballet school and an American ballet company that would rival those of Europe. He persuaded Balanchine to come to the United States and help him fulfill this dream, and in 1934, the pair founded the School of American Ballet. The first original ballet Balanchine choreographed in this country—Serenade, set to music by Tchaikovsky—was created for dancers from the School and had its world premiere outdoors on the estate of Kirstein’s friend, Edward Warburg, near White Plains, New York. The School remains in operation to this day, training students for companies throughout the United States and the world, but the first ballet companies founded by Balanchine and Kirstein were not as long-lived. American Ballet, Ballet Caravan, and American Ballet Caravan came and went in the years between 1936 and 1940. In 1946, following World War II, Balanchine and Kirstein joined forces again to form Ballet Society, a company which introduced New York

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Balanchine/Page 2 subscription-only audiences over the next two years to such new Balanchine works as The Four Temperaments (1946), Stravinsky’s Renard (1947), and Orpheus (1948). Morton Baum, chairman of the City Center of Music and Drama, was so impressed by the program that he invited Ballet Society to join City Center, but with a new name. On October 11, 1948, New York City Ballet was born, dancing an all-Balanchine program consisting of Concerto Barocco, Orpheus, and Symphony In C. Balanchine served as ballet master for New York City Ballet from that year until his death in 1983. An authoritative catalogue of his works lists 425 works created from 1920 to 1982, and many of these continue to be danced today, including Firebird (1949; restaged with Jerome Robbins, 1970); Bourrée Fantasque (1949); La Valse (1951); The Nutcracker, Ivesiana, and Western Symphony (1954); Allegro Brillante (1956); Agon (1957); The Seven Deadly Sins (a revival of the original Les Ballets 1933 production) and Stars and Stripes (1958); Episodes (1959); Monumentum Pro Gesualdo and Liebeslieder Walzer (1960); A Midsummer Night’s Dream (1962); Movements For Piano And Orchestra and Bugaku (1963); Don Quixote and Harlequinade (1965); Jewels–his only full-length plotless ballet (1967); Who Cares? (1970); Duo Concertant, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, and Symphony In Three Movements (1972); Coppélia (1974); Pavane (1975); Union Jack (1976); Vienna Waltzes (1977); Ballo della Regina and Kammermusik No. 2 (1978); Robert Schumann’s “Davidsbündlertänze” (1980); and Mozartiana (1981). Though it is for his ballet choreography that Balanchine is most admired, he also choreographed for theater, movies, and opera. He choreographed numerous musical comedies, including On Your Toes, Cabin in the Sky, Babes in Arms, Where’s Charley?, Song of Norway, I Married an Angel, The Boys from Syracuse, The Merry Widow, and The Ziegfeld Follies of 1935. His film credits include Star Spangled Rhythm, I Was an Adventuress, and The Goldwyn Follies. Balanchine’s style has been described as neo-classic. His response to the Romantic classicism was to de-emphasize the plot in his ballets, preferring to let “dance and music be the star of the show.” Balanchine always preferred to call himself a craftsman rather than a creator, comparing himself to a cook or a cabinetmaker (both hobbies of his), and he had a reputation throughout the dance world for the calm and collected way in which he worked with his dancers and colleagues. Above all, he emphasized the primacy of music, choosing important composers and commissioning new works rather than relying on traditional ballet scores. “Choreography can only be the result of great music,” he said, and “The music is always first.” In 1970, U.S. News & World Report attempted to summarize Balanchine’s achievements:

“The greatest choreographer of our time, George Balanchine, is responsible for the successful fusion of modern concepts with older ideas of classical ballet ... often working with modern music, and simplest of themes, he has created ballets that are celebrated for their imagination and originality. He has made American dance the most advanced and richest in choreographic development in the world today.”

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Balanchine/Page 3

Balanchine was the recipient of many honors in his lifetime, including one of the first Kennedy Center Honors; induction into Hollywood’s Entertainment Hall of Fame; a Knighthood of the Order of Dannebrog, First Class, by Queen Margrethe II of Denmark; the Gold Medal of Merit from the National Society of Arts and Letters; the Austrian Cross of Honor for Science and Letters, First Class; the French Legion of Honor; French Commander of the Order of Arts and Letter decoration; and National Institute of Arts and Letters award for Distinguished Service to the Arts. Shortly before his death in 1983, he received his last major award: the Presidential Medal of Freedom, the highest honor that can be conferred upon a civilian in the United States. Biography, with amendments, courtesy of New York City Ballet.

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EDWAARD LIANG

CHOREOGRAPHER

A former dancer with New York City Ballet and Netherlands Dance Theater, Edwaard Liang has built an international reputation as a choreographer. Over the last decade, he has created work for the Bolshoi Ballet, Houston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Kirov Ballet, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Shanghai Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, and Washington Ballet.

Born in Taipei, Taiwan and raised in Marin County, California, Mr. Liang began his dance training at age five with Marin Ballet. After studying at the School of American Ballet, he joined New York City Ballet in 1993. That same year, he was a medal winner at the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition and won the Mae L. Wien Award. By 1998, he was promoted to soloist. In 2001, Mr. Liang joined the Tony Award®-winning Broadway cast of Fosse. His performance in Fosse was later televised nationally on PBS’ Great Performances series–“Dance in America: From Broadway: Fosse,” and subsequently released on DVD. By 2002, Liang was invited by Jiří Kylián to become a member of the acclaimed Netherlands Dance Theater.

While dancing with NDT, Liang discovered his passion and love for choreography. Since establishing himself as a choreographer, his works have been performed by dance companies around the world and he has won numerous awards for his choreography including the 2006 National Choreographic Competition.

In 2013, Liang was named artistic director at BalletMet where he continues to choreograph new works for companies both domestically and abroad.

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TREY MCINTYRE

CHOREOGRAPHER Trey McIntyre was born in Wichita, Kansas, and trained at North Carolina School of the Arts and Houston Ballet Academy. In 1989, he was appointed Choreographic Apprentice to Houston Ballet, a position created especially for him, and in 1995 he became the company’s Choreographic Associate. He has worked for more than 25 years as a freelance choreographer, producing more than 100 pieces during the span of his career so far. McIntyre is the recipient of numerous awards, including a Choo San Goh Award for Choreography, a Lifetime Achievement Award from the National Society of Arts and Letters, two personal grants for choreography from the National Endowment for the Arts, and is a United States Artists Fellow. His works have been performed by companies around the world including Stuttgart Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Queensland Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, New York City Ballet, BalletX, The Washington Ballet, and Oregon Ballet Theatre. In 2005, McIntyre founded his dance company, Trey McIntyre Project (TMP), based in Boise, Idaho. The company was a tremendous critical success and was lauded for its innovative business model. In 2014, the company transitioned towards new artistic ventures, reducing greatly its efforts in dance, focusing currently on the feature-length documentary, Gravity Hero. A renowned photographer, McIntyre’s photographs have been featured in the New York Times, the Washington Post, the Boston Globe, and Sunset Magazine and he was commissioned by the U.S. Forest Service to create a series of photographs to commemorate the 50th anniversary of the Wilderness Act. He is currently working on two books of photography.

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JEROME ROBBINS

CHOREOGRAPHER Jerome Robbins (1918-1998) was one of the major forces in twentieth-century performing arts. He received world renown for his choreography for New York City Ballet, Ballets: U.S.A., American Ballet Theatre, and other dance companies around the world. Remarkably, he received equal acclaim for his work as a director and choreographer of Broadway musicals and plays, movies, and television programs. Robbins began his career as a ballet dancer with Ballet Theatre, where he was noted in particular for his dancing in Petrouchka and his character roles in the works of Fokine, Tudor, Massine, Lichine, and de Mille. His first choreographic sensation was Fancy Free (1944), which is still widely performed today; it was followed by Interplay (1945) and Facsimile (1946), and all were performed by Ballet Theatre. Robbins’ first musical, On the Town (1945), was followed by Billion Dollar Baby (1946), High Button Shoes (1947), Look, Ma, I’m Dancing (1948, co-directed with George Abbott), Miss Liberty (1949), Call Me Madam (1950), and the ballet “Small House of Uncle Thomas” in The King and I (1951). His work continued with Two’s Company (1952), Pajama Game (1954, co-directed with Abbott), and Peter Pan (1954), which he directed and choreographed. In the same year, he also directed the opera The Tender Land by Aaron Copland. Two years after that, he directed and choreographed Bells are Ringing (1956), followed by the historic West Side Story (1957), Gypsy (1959), and Fiddler on the Roof (1964). In 1988, he staged Jerome Robbins’s Broadway. In 1949, he joined New York City Ballet as associate artistic director. Among his outstanding works for the company are The Guests (1949), Age of Anxiety (1951), The Cage (1951), The Pied Piper (1951), Afternoon of a Faun (1953), Fanfare (1953), The Concert (1956), Dances at a Gathering (1969), The Goldberg Variations (1971), Watermill (1972), Requiem Canticles (1972), In G Major (1975), Mother Goose (1975), The Four Seasons (1979), Opus 19/The Dreamer (1979), Glass Pieces (1983), I’m Old Fashioned (1983), Antique Epigraphs (1984), Brahms/Handel (1984, with Twyla Tharp), In Memory of… (1985), Ives, Songs (1988), 2 & 3 Part Inventions (1994), West Side Story Suite (1995), and Brandenburg (1997). For his own company, Ballets: U.S.A. (1958-1962), he created N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz (1958), Moves (1959), and Events (1961). For American Ballet Theatre’s 25th anniversary in 1965, he staged Stravinsky’s dance cantata, Les Noces. During this extraordinary career, Robbins served on the National Council on the Arts from 1974 to 1980 and the New York State Council on the Arts/Dance Panel from 1973 to 1988. He established and partially endowed the Jerome Robbins Film Archive of the Dance Collection of

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Robbins/Page 2 the New York City Public Library at Lincoln Center. His numerous awards and academic honors included the Handel Medallion of the City of New York (1976), the Kennedy Center Honors (1981), three honorary doctorates, an honorary membership in the American Academy and Institute of Arts and Letters (1985), and the National Medal of the Arts (1988).

Biography courtesy of New York City Ballet.

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MARIUS PETIPA

CHOREOGRAPHER Marius Petipa, the "father of classical ballet," was born in Marseilles, France, in 1819. He began his dance training at the age of seven with his father, Jean Petipa, the French dancer and teacher. Marius was educated at the Grand College in Brussels and also attended the conservatoire, where he studied music. Although he disliked dancing in those early years, his progress was so great that he made his debut in 1831 in his father's production of Gardel's La Dansomanie. In 1834 Jean Petipa became Maitre de Ballet at the theatre in Bordeaux and it was here that Marius completed his education. At the age of sixteen, he became premier danseur at the theatre in Nantes, where he also produced several short ballets. In 1839 Marius left Nantes to tour North America with his father, and on their return visit went to Paris. The following year he made his debut at the Comedie Francaise, where he partnered Carlotte Grisi in a benefit performance. He continued his studies with A. Vestris and became a principal dancer in Bordeaux. Petipa next went to Spain in 1845, to work at the King's Theatre. While in Madrid, he studied Spanish dance and choreographed Carmen et son Terero, La Perle de Seville, L'Aventure d'une fille de Madrid, La Fleur de Grenade, and Depart Dour la Course des Toureaux. Petipa returned to Paris as a principal dancer, but in 1847 left for Russia. He had signed a one-year contract with the St. Petersburg Imperial Theatre, but was to remain there for the rest of his life. As a principal dancer, Petipa often appeared with Fanny Elssler and was much acclaimed for his performances in such ballets as Paquita (which he restaged and in which made his debut), Giselle, La Peri, Armida, Catarina, Le Delire d'un peintre, Esmeralda, Le Corsaire and Faust. Considered an excellent dancer and partner, his acting, stage manners and pantomime were held up as examples for many generations of dancers. When Giselle was revived in 1850, Petipa made some changes in the Wilis scenes, which became the Grand Pas des Wilis of 1884. In 1854, he married Maria Sourovshchikova, a student in the graduating class of the Imperial School, who later danced in many of her husband's ballets. (Petipa's second marriage was to Lubova Leonidovna, a member of the Moscow Ballet, in 1882.) In 1854 he became an instructor in the school, while continuing to dance and to restage ballets from the French repertoire. Sources differ on the first original work he staged for the Imperial Theatre: some state it was cc

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Petipa/Page 2 The Star of Granada, others that it was A Marriage During Regency. But all sources concur that his first great success was The Daughter of Pharoh (staged in six weeks), which resulted in his appointment as Choreographer-in-Chief in 1862 – a position he held for nearly fifty years. In 1869 Petipa became Premier Ballet Master of the Imperial Theatre. The value of his accomplishments is inestimable: he produced more than sixty full-evening ballets and innumerable shorter works and he is considered to have laid the foundation for the entire school of Russian ballet. The ballet repertoire in the Soviet Union is still based mainly on his works. Those who felt the dramatic content of ballet should be strengthened began to oppose Petipa toward the end of his career. His noble classicism and consciousness of form was considered old-fashioned, and in 1903, at age 84, Petipa was forced to retire from the Imperial Theatre as a direct result of the failure of his ballet, The Magic Mirror. His last years were filled with bitterness and disillusionment because his beloved theatre had been taken away. He died in St. Petersburg in 1910. Marius Petipa is considered one of the greatest choreographers of all time. He researched the subject matter of the ballets he staged, making careful and detailed preparations for each production, and then worked closely with the designer and composer. Petipa elevated the Russian ballet to international fame and laid the cornerstone for 20th Century ballet. His classicism integrated the purity of the French school with Italian virtuosity. Biography courtesy of American Ballet Theatre.

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