[NEohioPAL] PRESS RELEASE: Verb Ballets To Preserve the Dance Works of Heinz Poll

[Dan Kilbane]

For Immediate Release


Contacts:

At Verb Ballets:                                               For  
the Media:

Margaret Carlson                                            Dan Kilbane

216.397.3757, ext. 3                                       216.513.3654

mcarlson at verbballets.org                              
kilbanedan at yahoo.com



Verb Ballets To Preserve the Dance Works of Heinz Poll, in Residence  
at University of Akron

October 22 – 26, 2007

October 2007 – Cleveland, OH – Verb Ballets, Cleveland’s National  
Repertory Dance Company, finishes a two-year, three phase  
preservation project of Ohio Ballet founder Heinz Poll’s works,  
titled “Preserving Poll.”  This final phase takes place October 22 –  
26, 2007, at the University of Akron, the birthplace of Ohio Ballet,  
with the works Bolero, Andante Sostenuto and Duet.  The project  
includes not only the preservation of several contemporary dance  
pieces, but also the performance and presentation of them.   
University of Akron was the home of the Ohio Ballet for 31 years, and  
it is fitting that this final chapter of preserving Poll’s legacy be  
conducted there.

The overreaching goal of the project is to preserve the work of an  
important 20th century choreographer. A thorough account of  
choreographic work is rarely catalogued in detail.  In doing so, Verb  
has ensured that these works will go on as Heinz had intended.

Heinz Poll was an important figure in the American dance scene for  
over four decades, debuting in North America in 1964, when he  
performed as a guest artist with the Ballet Nacional Chileno at the  
New York State Theatre. Born in Oberhausen, Germany, Poll was a  
scholarship student at the distinguished Folkwang School in Essen and  
began his professional dance career in 1947 as a soloist at the  
Municipal Theatre in Goettingen. A principal dancer, teacher and  
choreographer in Europe for just under 20 years, Poll performed with  
the American Dance Festival in New York in 1965, and soon become one  
of the most sought-after teachers on the staff of the National  
Academy of Ballet. An invitation to teach in Akron led to his  
formation of the Chamber Ballet in 1968, which in 1976 became the  
Ohio Ballet. During his 31-year tenure as Ohio Ballet's founding  
Artistic Director, Heinz Poll choreographed more than 60 works for  
the company. Varied and somewhat contrasting sources, including  
choreographers Kurt Jooss and George Balanchine, and dancers Dore  
Hoyer and Fred Astaire, while wildly original, influenced his works.  
Poll, 80, passed away in 2006.

As part of the preservation, and in order to remain true to Poll’s  
vision, extensive research is being conducted, by sorting through  
text from old program notes, interviewing past performers of the Ohio  
Ballet, reading rehearsal notes, and studying archival photographs.  
The reconstruction of original costumes and lighting is also being  
incorporated into the overall project.  Filming of Bolero, Duet and  
Andante Sostenuto and the creation of sound recordings will take  
place at the university.  When finished, the UA Library will be given  
copies of each portfolio as well as Heinz’s estate and the dancer who  
inherited the work.

For each piece being preserved as part of the residency, Verb will  
collaborate with the executor of Heinz Poll’s estate and dancers to  
whom he bequeathed his work, to restage the works and prepare a  
preservation resource portfolio, called an orchesograph, consisting  
of the following:  performance video of the work; costume designs  
with construction annotation and fabric specifications; light plot  
examples for a major theatrical presentation; approved musical  
recording; and, where relevant, a musical score with execution notes,  
a recording of the dancers performing the work wearing color coded  
unitards; a constant voiceover of the re-constructor; a full set of  
costumes available for reference purposes; and recorded interviews  
with the participants.

Phase I of the “Preserving Poll” project began in the 2005-2006  
season when Verb Ballets acquired, preserved and presented two  
significant works by Poll:  Wings and Aires and Elegiac Song.  Verb  
Ballets performed these pieces in local concerts at Cain Park and the  
Ohio Theatre at Playhouse Square. Audiences were enthusiastic about  
the work.  Poll, who witnessed the reconstruction of his  
choreography, was pleased. “I’m honored to have my work performed  
again here in Cleveland,” stated Poll at a rehearsal in summer of 2005.

States Verb Ballets Artistic Director Hernando Cortez, “Of the ten  
glorious ballets that Heinz Poll left the world, I am honored and  
proud that we have five in our current repertory. I promise to uphold  
Heinz’s standard of deeply rooted artistry and human excellence.”   
Verb Executive Director Dr. Margaret Carlson states, “We wish to  
thank the National Endowment for the Arts and The Cleveland  
Foundation for their support in bringing this 3 year project to  
fruition.  Their recognition of its importance signals the need for  
the dance field, in general, to be able to make its works viable and  
economically reproducible.”

Phase I also included a collaboration with Ideastream, parent company  
of the local NPR affiliate, in which Verb Ballets filmed the two  
aforementioned Poll works. Verb’s Executive Director, Dr. Margaret  
Carlson, produced a mini-documentary that celebrates the work of  
Heinz Poll, using his own words. Soaring, was presented at the Verb  
Ballets Ohio Theatre concert in March 2006. The film features dancers  
illuminated by voice-over material by Heinz Poll and commentary.

In Phase II, Verb Ballets acquired, produced and presented two  
additional Poll works (Bolero and Eight by Benny Goodman) in order to  
create a several-hour long video tribute.

Verb Ballets company consists of dancers Danielle Brickman, Ashley  
Cohen, Erin Conway, Katie Gnagy, Sydney Ignacio, Catherine Meredith,  
Brian Murphy, Anna Roberts and Robert Wesner.

Major sponsors of Verb Ballets include AHS Foundation; The Bascom  
Little Fund; Millie L. Carlson; RSIS: a NASA Glenn Contractor; The  
Cleveland Foundation; The George Gund Foundation; Kulas Foundation;  
The Laub Foundation; The McGregor Foundation; John P. Murphy  
Foundation; The National Endowment for the Arts; and The Ohio Arts  
Council. Additional individual sponsors include Charles and Sandy  
Abookire, Chuck and Ann Ennis, Norma and Jeffrey Glazer and Aldona  
Titus. Special thanks to Barbee Thomas.

DANSKIN is the official 2006-2007 sponsor of Verb Ballets. Additional  
Verb sponsors include Baumgarten & Company, LLP; Cedar Hill  
Communications; Hotcards.com; PrimeNewswire; WCLV 104.9 FM; and WVIZ/ 
WCPN Ideastream.

Verb Ballets

Verb Ballets is now in its sixth season under the leadership of  
Artistic Director Hernando Cortez, Executive Director Dr. Margaret  
Carlson, an energetic staff and its dedicated board of trustees, who  
have established Verb as Cleveland’s premiere dance repertory  
company. Verb Ballets has been named one of “25 to Watch in 2004” by  
Dance Magazine, the country’s leading news magazine covering dance.  
Verb Ballets discovers, collects, interprets and stages choreography  
that matters to the region and to the world of dance. As a curator of  
expressive movement that is globally connected and nationally  
respected, Verb Ballets has a mandate to support and foster emerging  
talent, present excellence in contemporary choreographers and revive  
and honor modern dance classics.
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