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Richmond Ballet presents Romeo & Juliet Valentines Weekend

1/13/2010

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
January 13, 2010

Media Contact:
Aaron Sutten
(804) 344-0906 ext. 244
asutten@richmondballet.com

Richmond Ballet presents Romeo & Juliet Valentines Weekend

RICHMOND - Richmond Ballet will present five performances of Shakespeare’s classic love story, Romeo & Juliet, the weekend of February 12-14 at the Carpenter Theatre at Richmond CenterStage. Malcolm Burn, artistic associate and ballet master for the company, created the original choreography for the production. The famous score by Sergei Prokofiev will be performed live by the Richmond Symphony.

Romeo & Juliet is among the most famous of the full-length ballets, due to the power and poignancy of Shakespeare’s story and the popularity of Prokofiev’s dramatic and melodic score. Prokofiev assigns themes to particular characters and emotions in the ballet, and these recurring themes tie the developing story together while uniting the composition musically.

Burn’s version of the ballet, which has also been performed by The Royal New Zealand Ballet and BalletMet in Ohio, was last performed by Richmond Ballet in 2000. Burn’s staging of the ballet focuses on the varying types and degrees of love among the characters and their relationships to one another. “Each of the characters is affected by what they love-whether it is a person, family, honor, or money,” observes Burn. “Each character has its own importance within the story. The tragedy of Friar Lawrence is as great as any other in the play.”

Artistic Director Stoner Winslett is particularly excited to be reviving Burn’s Romeo & Juliet. “Malcolm exudes passion for the dance-for precision, for discipline, for nuance, for artistry, and his Romeo & Juliet reflects all of the values that are part of him. It is beautiful; it is poignant; it is clearly and precisely presented. It draws on the heritage of many other great productions he has danced in, yet it bears his uniquely personal stamp.”

The roles of Romeo and Juliet require strong acting skills in addition to technical facility, perhaps more than for any other ballet in the classical repertory. Many in the ballet world consider having the chance to dance the lead in this ballet to be one of their career goals. The Richmond Ballet production will feature two dancers in each of the title roles. Shira Lanyi and Valerie Tellmann will share the role of Juliet; Igor Antonov and Kirk Henning will portray the lovelorn Romeo.

The casting of the two Juliets is a particular point of pride for Winslett. “Both Shira and Valerie were trained at the School of Richmond Ballet, and it has been so gratifying to see them mature into artists who are capable of taking on such a demanding role,” says Winslett. “Our Romeos are also outstanding. Igor’s training in Ukraine is among the finest, and Kirk was the recipient of the 2007 Movado Future Legends Award in dance. I know that our audiences will be thrilled by all four performances.”

The costumes for Romeo & Juliet were designed by Allan Lees, who also designed Burn’s original Romeo & Juliet for the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Charles Caldwell, who has designed a number of Richmond Ballet productions, including The Nutcracker, designed the sets.