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Richmond Ballet "shines" in the Big Apple
3/6/2008
RICHMOND BALLET
MEDIA RELEASE
FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
March 6, 2008
Media
Contact:
Aaron Sutten
Director of Marketing and Communications
Richmond Ballet
(804) 344-0906 x244
asutten@richmondballet.com
Richmond Ballet "shines" in the Big Apple
RICHMOND
— Richmond Ballet returned triumphantly from New York City this week after the
professional company’s third successful Big Apple engagement in four
years. This weekend, the Ballet’s
dancers performed three of Jessica Lang’s works during a special event at for the
Performing Arts celebrating her innovative choreography.
In
a review for The New York Times, Jennifer Dunning explained “there is something
to be said for pleasant evenings spent in the company of good dancers and a
choreographer who understands them. On
Saturday night Jessica Lang gave the dancers of the Richmond Ballet a chance to
shine.”
Lang’s
collaborative relationship with Richmond Ballet began in 2003 with A Maiden’s Hymn, the first of four Lang
world premieres commissioned by the company.
It was performed as part of Richmond Ballet’s New York City debut at The Joyce Theater in
2005. Lang invited the company to
perform in Brooklyn because she felt the dancers
would best represent her work.
“Ms.
Lang’s three ballets also gave the well-trained performers an opportunity to
display their characteristic long body lines and easy but focused attack,
embodied in the dancing of the lithe and quietly lyrical Lauren Fagone,”
Dunning wrote for The Times.
The
trio of distinctive pieces – La Belle Danse, Women and the Sea: A Tribute to Will Barnet and To
Familiar Spaces In Dream – built a “consistently lively program,” according
to Dunning. All three were commissioned
by and premiered at Richmond Ballet, and Lang hand-selected these works for her
New York City full-evening debut.
Dunning
described La Belle Danse as “a
well-plotted burst of joyous dancing” and praised Lang’s unique interpretation
of Baroque dance. She also noted Lang’s
“ingenious” use of white blocks representing piano keys in To Familiar Spaces in Dream and called Women and the Sea: A Tribute to Will Barnet “visually stunning.”
After
its previous New York City appearances in 2005 and again in 2007 (for a critically
acclaimed tribute to American choreographer John Butler), Richmond Ballet’s
continued success in the Big Apple also brought further acclaim to Lang, making
the trip mutually beneficial for all involved.
Fast Facts:
Who?
Richmond Ballet, Stoner Winslett, Artistic Director.
What?
Richmond Ballet: Works by Jessica Lang
Presented by Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts
La Belle Danse
Choreography by Jessica
Lang
Music by George Frideric
Handel, Arcangelo Corelli,
Josquin Des Prez and
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart
Costume Design by Tamara
Cobus
Lighting and Set Design
by MK Stewart
Women and the Sea: A Tribute to Will Barnet
Choreography by Jessica
Lang
Music by Henryk Górecki
Costume Design by Tamara
Cobus
Lighting and Set Design
by MK Stewart
To Familiar Spaces in Dream
Choreography by Jessica
Lang
Music by Philip Glass,
Craig Armstrong and John Cage
Costume Design by Tamara
Cobus
Lighting Design by MK
Stewart
Set Design by Jessica
Lang
When?
March 1,
2008, at 8 p.m.
Where?
Walt
Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College
2900 Campus Road, Brooklyn
###
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 24th professional season,
Richmond 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