[NEohioPAL] Verb Ballets' All Ohio All Stars!

[Dan Kilbane]

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

       

All
Ohio All Stars!

Verb
Ballets at PlayhouseSquare

October
24, 2008

September
25, 2008 -- Cleveland, OH -- Verb
Ballets, Cleveland’s National Repertory Dance Company, returns to
PlayhouseSquare’s Ohio Theatre for one night only, in collaboration with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company
(DCDC) and Cincinnati Ballet.  This “All Ohio All Stars!” themed evening
takes place on Friday, October 24, 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 company premiere, the return of an audience
favorite, and a piece each by collaborators DCDC and Cincinnati Ballet.  Reserved seats are $18 - $25 and are available
by calling 216.241.6000 or through www.playhousesquare.org.
This performance is underwritten by the
John P. Murphy Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

 

This
PlayhouseSquare program is a special night for Verb Ballets, and not just
because of the amazing collaboration with two of Ohio’s best dance
companies.  The evening serves also as a
gala benefit for Verb Ballets: 
patrons can purchase tickets that include dinner at Bricco restaurant
(across the street from the complex on Euclid Ave.), the best seats in the
house for the performance, and a post-show champagne and dessert reception with
the dancers.  Gala tickets are $100, and
are available by contacting the Verb Ballets office at 216.397.3757.  For patrons, this is a way to experience
great art, help further the mission, and support Cleveland’s National Repertory
Dance Company.

 

Verb Ballets also
understands that these are troubling economic times.  The Board of Trustees, dancers and staff believe
that patrons should not be restricted from enjoying a performance if they
cannot afford to attend.  With this in
mind, the company introduces its “pay-what-you-can-afford”
policy.  For the 2008 – 2009 season
at PlayhouseSquare in October, and the Museum of Natural History in January,
Verb Ballets offers first-come-first-serve-tickets at whichever price patrons
wants to pay.  And, if a patron feels that they can afford to pay more than the asking ticket price, they
can also pay more and receive a tax deduction. 
For the PlayhouseSquare performance, pay-what-you-can tickets are
available only in person at the box office.

 

The All
Ohio All Stars! program includes the following:

 

Vespers.  Company
Premiere.  Choreographed by Ulysses
Dove.  Restaged by Dawn Carter.  Verb Ballets is proud to acquire this seminal
contemporary dance piece.  Alvin Ailey
American Dance Theater first performed Vespers
in 1987.  The following, from their
website, details this powerful work: 
“Ulysses Dove's bold choreographic voice and daring athleticism are
embodied…in Vespers, a dramatic work full
of raw energy and profound grace.  Mikel Rouse's percussive score
matches the dancers' insistent drive as they propel themselves across the stage
in this ballet that The Village Voice
proclaimed “astonishing...an exemplary vehicle for six…women, showing off their
streamlined power and how coldly they can burn.”  

 

“Verb is honored to
acquire this powerful work in the African-American canon,” states Executive
Director Dr. Margaret Carlson.  “Dove’s
untimely death left a void in America as a force in contemporary dance.  Dove’s works are seen around the world, and
we are particularly proud to celebrate this Ohio artist’s life.  That is why we’ve included ‘Vespers’ as part
of our 2008 - 2009 ‘All Stars’ season.”

 

The work will be danced by company members Danielle
Brickman, Ashley Cohen, Erin Conway, Katie Gnagy, Catherine Meredith and Anna
Roberts.  Costumes by Janet Bolick.

 

Afterimage.  World
Premiere. Choreographed by Hernando Cortez. Music by electronica
composers.  Created in memory of Paul
Taylor dancer Jeff Wadlington, who died from complications of AIDS in 1994,
Cortez’s newest dance is a virtuoso showcase for Verb Ballets male dancers Sidney
Ignacio and Brian Murphy, and DCDC dancer Deondre Horner.  Costumes by Gino Ventura.

 

Chichester
Psalms.  Revival.  Choreographed by Artistic Director
Hernando Cortez in 2003, this piece is a full company work with sweeping
passages of impassioned dancing.  Chichester Psalms (music) was Leonard
Bernstein's first composition after the Third Symphony, Kaddish (composed for the Boston
Symphony Orchestra's seventy-fifth anniversary, though not completed
until 1963, eight years after that event).

 

Unresolved.  DCDC, 2002. 
Choreographed by Shonna Hickman-Matlock. 
“Unresolved” describes the struggles of two lovers trying to decide the
future of their relationship. They must determine whether to remain lovers or
go their separate ways. Ultimately the lovers’ future remains ‘unresolved.’  Danced by Crystal Perkins and William
McClellan.

 

Cincinnati Ballet.  Verb Ballets’ neighbor on the Ohio River is
finalizing the rights to the great George Balanchine’s pas de
deux “Rubies,” which will add a neo-classical component to this eclectic
evening.  The piece features Cincinnati Ballet dancers Zack Grubbs and Janessa
Touchet.

 

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

 

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.

 

Ulysses
Dove was an independent
choreographer who worked in both the modern dance and ballet idioms. After
attending a Graham performance in 1967, Dove gave up his pre-med
studies at Howard University to dance professionally with Merce Cunningham,
Alvin Ailey, and Anna Sokolow. His first choreography, I See the
Moon...and the Moon Sees Me (1979), was commissioned by Ailey.   Although he never maintained a company of
his own, Dove worked closely with Jeraldyne Blunden's Dayton
Contemporary Dance Company, and created works for American Ballet Theatre,
Ballet France de Nancy, the Basel Ballet, Cullberg Ballet of Sweden, Les
Ballets Jazz de Montreal, New York City Ballet, and the Swedish National
Ballet, for which he created the transcendent Dancing on the
Front Porch of Heaven (1993).  In 1980, he became the assistant director of
the experimental Choreographic Research Group of the Paris Opera. A benefit
titled For the Love of Dove, with proceeds dedicated to the Actor's Fund and its
programs for dancers and other needy professionals, was produced just days
after his death from complications of AIDS. Five major modern dance and ballet
companies performed Dove's works on that program.

 

For
45 years, Cincinnati Ballet has been
the cornerstone professional ballet company of the Cincinnati tri-state area,
presenting a mix of full-length and mixed repertory ballets, regularly with
live orchestral accompaniment. The company has maintained an annual Nutcracker
series since 1974. During 2008-09, Cincinnati Ballet celebrates the twelfth
season of Artistic Director Victoria Morgan, who has choreographed extensively
for the company, and attracted an intriguing mix of renowned choreographers to
challenge her dancers in well-received world premieres. Under Morgan’s guidance,
Cincinnati Ballet has also established a

national
and international presence and enjoyed ground-breaking collaborations with multiple
arts organizations in our community and also with other ballet companies around
the country.  In addition, the 2008-09
season marks the 40th anniversary of longtime Music Director Carmon DeLeone.
The Otto M. Budig Academy, the official school of Cincinnati

Ballet,
is dedicated to developing dancers with a strong classical technique and
unified style.

Dayton
Contemporary Dance Company is celebrating its 40th
season.  Rooted in the African American
experience, DCDC's mission is to deliver contemporary dance of the highest
quality to the broadest possible audience. 
DCDC reaches this audience with local performances, through national and
international touring, and through the company's educational programs in the
Miami Valley and on tour.

Verb’s Playhouse Square performance is underwritten
by the John P. Murphy Foundation and the National Endowment for the Arts.

Major
sponsors of Verb Ballets include AHS Foundation; Akron Community Foundation; The
Bascom Little Fund; Millie L. Carlson; The Cleveland Foundation; Cuyahoga Arts
and Culture; The George Gund Foundation; Kulas Foundation; The Laub Foundation;
The McGregor Foundation; Margaret Clark Morgan Foundation; John P. Murphy
Foundation; The National Endowment for the Arts; The Ohio Arts Council; and
PlayhouseSquare.  Additional individual
sponsors include Chuck and Ann Ennis, Norma and Jeffrey Glazer, David R.
Pierce, and Robert M. Shwab.

DANSKIN
is the official 2008 – 2009 sponsor of Verb Ballets.  Additional Verb sponsors include Baumgarten
& Company, LLP; Cedar Hill Communications; FITWORKS; PrimeZone Media; WCLV
and WCPN.

Verb
Ballets is now in its seventh season under the leadership of Artistic Director
Hernando Cortez, Executive Director Dr. Margaret Carlson, an energetic staff,
and a 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, and recently the magazine bestowed more kudos on the company by naming
Verb one of 5 “Great Tiny Troupes” in America. 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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