[NEohioPAL] PRESS RELEASE: Verb Ballets @ Playhouse Square 1/26/08

Dan Kilbane angstcleveland at yahoo.com
Thu Dec 13 09:05:14 PST 2007


 
For Immediate Release

Contacts:

At Verb Ballets:                                      
         For Media: 

Margaret Carlson                                      
       Dan Kilbane

216.397.3757, ext. 3                                  
    216.513.3654

mcarlson at verbballets.org                              
 kilbanedan at yahoo.com

www.verbballets.org

      

Heat Up Your Winter Night.

Verb Ballets at Playhouse Square

New Classics Collection, January 26, 2008

December 12, 2007 -- Cleveland, OH -- Verb Ballets,
Cleveland’s National Repertory Dance Company, returns
to Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theatre for one night only
with their popular New Classics Collection on
Saturday, January 26, 2008, at 8:00 p.m.  The Board of
Trustees, Artistic Director Hernando Cortez and
Executive Director Dr. Margaret Carlson are pleased to
announce one world premiere, one reconceived revival
and the return of two audience favorites. “Not since
the early days of the former Cleveland Ballet has a
local dance troupe generated as much excitement as
Verb Ballets,” states The Plain Dealer.  Reserved
seats are $18 - $25 and are available by calling
216.241.6000 or through www.playhousesquare.org.
Verb’s Playhouse Square performance is underwritten by
the John P. Murphy Foundation.  The patron sponsor is
Millie L. Carlson.

New this season:  check out Artistic Director Hernando
Cortez’s creative process for the world premiere
piece, Frontrow, daily on his blog at:
www.verbballets.org/iVerb/Frontrow beginning January
2, 2008.

The New Classics Collection for this performance
include the following:

Frontrow.  World Premiere. Choreographed by Hernando
Cortez. Music by David Lang, recorded by Bang on a Can
All Stars. Amidst vertical silver panels, Cortez
re-explores neo-classic abstraction.  Composer David
Lang's music "Cheating, Lying, Stealing," recorded by
the popular Bang on a Can All Stars, mixed with
“Verbtuosity” (2003), by CSU Director of Music Eric
Ziolek, propel the dance.  Cortez's formal
choreographic background continues to align him with
an emphasis on musically motivated movement patterns
and formal elegance.  Trad A Burns’ evocative lighting
brings mystery and sculpture to the dance area.
”Verbtuosity,” created through the generous support of
the Bascom Little Fund, will be played live by John
Perrine on saxophone and Benjamin Winters on
percussion. Costumes by Gina Dudek. [PRESS CONTROL +
CLICK LINK TO HEAR EXCERPT OF “CHEATING, LYING,
STEALING” ON WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER]

Songs.  Reconceived Revival. Choreographed by Hernando
Cortez.  Music by Gustav Mahler.  Originally premiered
at Cleveland’s Museum of Natural History (September,
2007), Cortez has reworked and fine-tuned this
dance-poem. New sets and costumes by husband and wife
team, Robert Katkowsky and Suzy Campbell, add to the
haunting lyricism of Songs. Trad A Burns, resident
lighting designer, explores themes of transcendence
through the interplay of light and dancer.  Mahler’s
music traces a young man’s anguish as his beloved
eludes him, a theme that reflects the composer’s youth
at the time of writing.  (He was 24 years old when he
began to compose the piece in 1884.)  Mahler’s
continual search for answers to life’s mysteries is a
universal theme that pervades clearly in Cortez’s new
ballet. “Songs of a Wayfarer” and excerpts of Mahler’s
Symphony No. 1 provide an opportunity for Cortez’s
expression of taut emotional despair.  The creation of
this dance was made possible through the generous
support of the Cleveland Foundation. [PRESS CONTROL +
CLICK LINK TO HEAR AN EXCERPT OF MAHLER’S “SONGS OF A
WAYFARER” ON WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER]

Bolero.  Major Revival. Ohio Ballet Founder Heinz
Poll’s dramatically sensual ballet is set to the
legendary Maurice Ravel score. Bolero blends Indian
and modern dance styles in a propulsive, driving and
intensely rigorous mix. This Verb production was
staged by former Ohio Ballet dancer, Amy Miller, with
the permission of Xochitl Tejeda de Cerda. Costumes,
by A. Christina Giannini, were reconstructed by Janet
Bolick. Original lighting design by Julie Duro,
reconceived by Trad A Burns.  This piece was made
possible through the generous support of The AHS
Foundation. [PRESS CONTROL + CLICK LINK TO HEAR AN
EXCERPT OF RAVEL’S “BOLERO” ON WINDOWS MEDIA PLAYER]

Duet.  Poll choreographed this dance in the
neoclassical style of George Balanchine, regarded as
the foremost contemporary choreographer in ballet. 
Poll’s use of J.S. Bach’s “Adagio” from his Organ
Toccata in C, arranged for cello and piano by former
Ohio Ballet Music Director David Fisher, showcases
Poll’s musical mastery.  Original lighting was by
Thomas Skelton. Duet will be played live by David
Fisher (piano) and Greg Fiocca (cello). The first
performance took place on Aug. 8, 1979, at the Ted
Shawn Theater in Becket, Massachusetts. This revival
is made possible through the generous support of the
AHS Foundation.

The company includes Danielle Brickman, Ashley Cohen,
Erin Conway, Katie Gnagy, Sydney Ignacio, Catherine
Meredith, Brian Murphy, Anna Roberts, Robert Wesner,
and guest artist Jennifer Mull.

Playhouse Square’s Ohio Theatre is located at 1501
Euclid Ave., Cleveland, OH  44115.  Reserved seats are
$18 - $25 and are available by calling 216.241.6000 or
through www.playhousesquare.org.

Verb’s Playhouse Square performance is underwritten by
the John P. Murphy Foundation.  The patron sponsor is
Millie L. Carlson.

Major sponsors of Verb Ballets include AHS Foundation;
The Bascom Little Fund; Millie L. Carlson; Cleveland
Arts and Culture, RSIS: a NASA Glenn Contractor; The
Cleveland Foundation; Cuyahoga Arts and Culture; The
Free Times; The George Gund Foundation; Kulas
Foundation; The Laub Foundation; The McGregor
Foundation; John P. Murphy Foundation; The National
Endowment for the Arts; The Ohio Arts Council; The
Plain Dealer; and Playhouse Square.  Additional
individual sponsors include Charles and Sandy
Abookire, Chuck and Ann Ennis, and Norma and Jeffrey
Glazer.

DANSKIN is the official 2007-2008 sponsor of Verb
Ballets.  Additional Verb sponsors include Baumgarten
& Company, LLP; Cedar Hill Communications;
Hotcards.com; Mann Jewelers; PrimeZone Media; and
Shima Limo.

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 was 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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