[NEohioPAL] PRESS RELEASE: Verb Ballets' announce 2010 - 2011 season

[Dan Kilbane]

For
Immediate Release

Contacts:

For Media:  

 Dan Kilbane

216.513.3654

 kilbanedan at yahoo.com

www.verbballets.org

Verb
Ballets Announces 2010 - 2011 Season 

Imagination.  Strength.  Uniquely American. 
Verb Ballets.

June
24, 2010, Cleveland, OH -- Verb Ballets, Cleveland’s National Repertory
Dance Company, its Board of Trustees and Director  Dr. Margaret Carlson, are pleased to announce the 2010 -
2011 schedule, as well as news about the company.  With “Imagination. Strength. Uniquely American.  Verb Ballets” as this season’s theme,
the company presents works of gusto, creativity, boldness, and what it means to
be an American, a strong, proud figure fighting the odds.  Coolcleveland.com recently stated "Verb Ballets has a way of upping the ante and
hitting the jackpot…every time they perform.”    Dance Magazine, in 2004, named Verb one of “25 to
Watch,” and in 2008 bestowed more kudos on the company by naming Verb Ballets
one of 5 “Great Tiny Troupes” in America. 
The 2010 – 2011 season marks the ninth year of Verb Ballets.

Repertory
highlights for the 2010 – 2011 season include Company Premieres of Shapiro &
Smith’s “To Have And To Hold”; two from Sophie Maslow:  “Dust Bowl Ballads,” set to an original
score by Woody Guthrie, and “The Village I Knew,” taken from the stories of
Sholem Aleichem; Pamela Pribisco’s classic pas de deux “Tarantella”; and a
World Premiere by Philadanco's Tommie-Waheed Evans, also a guest artist at the
Cleveland School of the Arts; the World Premiere of the Cleveland Flats
Symphony;
an abstract re-telling of the life of Edgar Allen Poe, Myth and the Madness
of Edgar Allen Poe,
in a Company Premiere by choreographer Christopher Fleming; and the Company
Premiere of “Noumenon Mobilus,” a multimedia piece by choreographer Alwin
Nikolais, first performed in 1953. The season includes work with sculptural
artists on a series of new dances, and a Revival of Ohio Ballets Founder Heinz
Poll’s Wings & Aires.

 

Verb
Ballets is pleased to announce the addition of Rehearsal Director Richard
Dickinson, Artist-in-Residence Terence Greene, one new company member, three
apprentices, and four interns. 
Additionally, Chief Executive & Artistic Officer Dr. Margaret
Carlson takes a change in title, to Director.

 

The
company’s 2010 – 2011 performances include the following:

 

Hiram
College July 17, 2010, 7:00 p.m. Revival of Luis.  Adapted by Northeast Ohio playwright Eric
Coble and choreographer Mark Tomasic, Luis is based on the story by Richard
Selzer.  This dance theatre piece
tells the tale of a young South American man, who, despite his
economically-challenged upbringing, dreams of a hopeful world as he survives in
the village dump.  The worlds of
the prominent town doctor, living and working high up in the town’s hospital,
and Luis become dramatically intertwined when chance and tragedy bring them
together.  This production will be
presented at Hiram College by the Department of Literature, Medicine and
Biomedical Humanities.

 

Heinz
Poll Summer Dance Festival July 23 and 24, 2010, 8:45 p.m.  Verb Ballets returns to this annual
summer tradition in Akron,Ohio, performing Poll’s Wings & Aires.  Sponsored by the City of Akron, The Heinz Poll Summer Dance
Festival was established to honor the legacy of the legendary founding Artistic
Director of Ohio Ballet, and continues the tradition of free public
performances by respected dance companies, each presenting a unique dance
experience, but all sharing the common thread of Poll's commitment to the
highest artistic standards.  The
Festival is a tribute to Poll's legacy and a gift of the performing arts to the
people of Greater Akron.  In
addition to Wings & Aires, Verb Ballets performs a summer repertory
of company premieres by Sophie Maslow, Shapiro & Smith, Pamela Pribisco,
and Tommie-Waheed Evans.  Free
admission.

 

Cain
Park
August 6, 2010, 8:00 p.m. 
The company returns to a favorite summer destination in Northeast
Ohio.  Taking on the season theme
of “Imagination. Strength. Uniquely American.  Verb Ballets,” the company performs an evening of company
premieres.  Returning to Cain Park
for a summer evening under the stars, Verb Ballets' new company works celebrate
the contributions of two Jewish-American choreographers:  Sophie Maslow's “Dust Bowl Ballads,”
set to the original score by Woody Guthrie, “The Village I Knew,” taken from
the stories of Sholem Aleichem; and the athletic “To Have and To Hold” from
Shapiro & Smith Dance. Other new works on the program will be Pamela
Pribisco’s classic pas de deux “Tarantella” and a world premiere by
Philadanco's Tommie-Waheed Evans. And, back by popular demand, the program
rounds out with a revival of Ohio Ballet founder Heinz Poll’s “Wings and Aires,”danced
to the colorful music of Bach.  Tickets:  $20/$18 advance; $23/$21 day-of-show.  216.371.3000, 1.800.745.3000 or
ticketmaster.com

 

Maltz
Museum Wednesday, August 4, 2010, 7:00 p.m.

Verb
Ballets Tribute to Jewish Choreographers – a lecture & demonstration

$10/$8
Maltz Museum members 

Dr.
Margaret Carlson, Director of Verb Ballets, introduces the work of two
outstanding Jewish choreographers—Sophie Maslow, one of America’s modern dance
pioneers, who often turned to her Jewish heritage for inspiration; and Danial
Shapiro, an inventive choreographer who built dances with clear emotional text.
Dancers will perform excerpts from Maslow’s “The Village I Knew,” inspired by
the stories of Sholem Aleichem and Shapiro’s “To Have and To Hold.”  Maltz Museum members:  show your membership card when
purchasing tickets to the Verb Ballets concert at Cain Park and receive $2
off.  Tickets for the Maltz Museum
event:  216.593.0575

 

Tremont
Arts in August series,
August 20 & 21, 8:30 p.m. 
This family-friendly, free admission event takes place once again in
Lincoln Park on W. 14th. 
Verb Ballets performs many of the favorites from its summer programming,
and will revive Terence Greene’s The Gathering for these
performances.  Free admission.

 

Verb
Ballets has been in the studio—the movie studio, that is:  "LET'S WIGGLEWORD IT!" The
center-piece of an original program designed to get children of all ages up off
the sofa - moving and learning while having fun is a new DVD titled
"Wigglewords - Get Moving!" 
The Wigglewords program uses movement to teach literacy skills.  Students bend and stretch their bodies
to form the letters of the alphabet as taught "A through Z" by
professional dancers from Verb Ballets. 
In another section of the DVD, children are taught spelling, phonics
rules, identification of vowels and consonants, rhyming and storytelling, all
through spellings words with their bodies. These movement games keep them
active and energized. Throughout the Wigglewords DVD, viewers at home are asked
questions in order to engage participation.  There is even a special Wigglewords Rap section which is
bound to be a favorite.  This
fast-paced Wigglewords DVD was produced in Cleveland, Ohio, filmed entirely
using Green Screen technology and features original music composition by Karin
Tooley and stars eleven local children who learn, work and play along with the
Verb Ballets dancers.

 

IngenuityFest
September 24 - 26, 2010.  Performance
times to be announced.  Verb Ballets
returns to this unique Northeast Ohio festival, located on the Detroit-Superior
Bridge.  IngenuityFest combines art
and technology, utilizing the many resources and organizations in the area the
fall under these disciplines.  Verb
Ballets will present a Sneak Preview of the Cleveland Flats Symphony, in collaboration
with Pearlwinds.  Energy produced
by a wind turbine, which will be coordinated and managed by Pearlwinds, will
support the lighting needs for this production.  Cleveland Flats Symphony will have its
World Premiere on October 1st and 2nd, 2010, at the Breen Center
for the Performing Arts, St. Ignatius High School.  Information: 
216.589.9444. Free admission.

 

Breen Center for the
Performing Arts, St. Ignatius High School 
October 1 & 2, 2010.  Two
works anchor the fall programming at this venue in Ohio City.  In conjunction with internationally
renowned choreographer Diane Gray, Verb Ballets will offer the World Premiere
performance of the Cleveland Flats Symphony,
composed by Cleveland composer Richard Rinehart.  

Rinehart crafted his Cleveland Flats Symphony as a tribute to his hometown.  The symphony starts where the Cuyahoga River meets Lake Erie and transverses up through the various sections of the Cleveland Flats to the industrial steel-making district.  The piece then performs an abrupt turn and travels ever more quickly back to Lake Erie, where the journey began.  The other anchor work on the program is Myth and the Madness of Edgar Allen Poe, an abstract re-telling of the life of Edgar Allen Poe in a company premiere by choreographer Christopher Fleming.  This look at Poe’s decent into madness is a contemporary ballet perfect for the dancers of Verb Ballets.  Tickets:  216.961.2560, or ignatius.edu/breencenter

 

February 2011.  Venue to be announced.  Verb Ballets features the Company
Premiere of a multimedia piece by choreographer Alwin Nikolais, “Noumenon
Mobilus,” from 1953, a work that creates otherworldly images for theatre.  The bill also includes the World
Premiere of a new dance from Artist-in-Residence Terence Greene.

 

Cleveland Public
Theatre DanceWorks May 5 – 8, 2011. 
The Fresh Inventions series returns to this annual Northeast Ohio dance
showcase.  For these performances,
Verb Ballets concentrates on new dances by local choreographers, pairing them
with local composers.  In addition,
this next Fresh Inventions batch of performances will pair the choreographers
and composers with sculptural artists.   Tickets: 
216.631.2727 x501 or cptonline.org

 

Verb CLICKS
Tentatively Sunday, October 10, 2010. 
This day-long seminar for dance students features the Verb Ballets
company of dancers along with other dance professionals in ballet, modern,
contemporary and hip hop dance classes. 


 

Richard
Dickinson
is the Rehearsal Director for Verb Ballets.  A former dancer with Ohio Ballet in Akron, OH, Richard was
associated with that company since 1988. 
He later became ballet master and director of company touring.  Richard has served as Artistic
Associate for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.  He currently is an adjunct professor at Youngstown State
University; co-director of State Street Ballet’s Summer Intensive (located in
Santa Barbara, CA) and Artistic Director of Ballet Western Reserve also located
in Youngstown, OH.  He was most
recently the Artistic Director of Great Lakes Festival Ballet (Warren, OH) and
Mr. Dickinson has also directed Boston Ballet II and was a soloist with Boston
Ballet for eight years.  At age
fifteen, he joined the Pasadena Dance Theatre and was awarded a National
Endowment for the Arts Emerging Choreographer Award for a work premiered by the
same company.  He performed in the
PBS television production of “Frankie and Johnny” with the Chicago Ballet and
danced principal roles in Asian, European and American tours with Rudolf
Nureyev and the Boston Ballet.  In
addition to an extensive dance career, including principal and soloist roles
with Ohio Ballet, Boston Ballet, Honolulu City Ballet, various regional
companies and Chamber Dance Theatre in Milwaukee, where he was Artistic
Director.  Mr. Dickinson has
adjudicated four Regional Dance America festivals held throughout the United
States.  He received his Master of
Fine Arts degree in Contemporary Dance from Case Western Reserve University in
2005. 

 

Terence
Greene is the Artist-in-Residence at Verb Ballets.  The company will premiere two Greene
works in the coming season:  for
the Feburary 2011 program, and then another new dance for the DanceWorks
performances in May 2011. 
Additionally, Verb Ballets will reviveThe Gathering, which premiered in the company’s 2009 –
2010 season.  As a graduate of
CSA, Mr. Greene has
studied with Karamu House, the Alvin Ailey American Dance Center, Cleveland
Ballet, Chuck Davis Dance Theater, Dayton Contemporary Dance Company and the
Dayton Ballet.  He has trained with
the likes of Linda Thomas Jones, Joan Peters, Hope Clark, Donal McKayle, Ulysses
Dove, Mike Malone, Jeraldyne Blunden, Kevin Ward, Walter Raines, James Truitte,
Dawn Wood, Donal Byrd and Pearl Primus, and Reggie Kelly.  As a professional, Mr. Greene has
performed in a number of theatres and touring productions, such as Dreamgirls,
Jesus Chris Superstar, Black Nativity, Show Boat, The Merry Widow, and Carousel. 
Mr. Greene has performed in La Traviata and A Little Night Music
with Opera Cleveland.  Combining a
love for choreography and teaching young people, Mr. Greene has worked with
Cleveland School of the Arts, The Colonel White School of Performing Arts, The
Wittenberg Dance Ensemble, Howard University's Children's Theater, Purdue
University, Valencia College, American Dance Festival in North Carolina, Ballet
Tech, and the Ballet Performing Arts Association, as well as Folk Dance
Festivals in China, Korea, Russia, Poland, and Germany.  Mr. Greene has been blessed to work
with such noted choreographers as Cleo Pomare, Ronald K. Brown, Debbie
Blunden-Diggs, Talley Beatty, Shapiro and Smith, Dwight Roden, Kevin Ward,
Donald McKayle, Donald Byrd and many more.  Mr. Greene is the former Director of Liturgical Dance at
Omega Baptist Church and Associate Artistic Director of Dance Xpressions Dance
Company in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. 
Having received the Montgomery County Arts Fellowship Award, Mr. Greene
completed his 11th and last season with Dayton Contemporary Dance company in
1999.  That same year, he received the Josie Award for best male dance in
Ohio.  Mr. Greene is the head
Consultant for the Dance Department at Cleveland School of the Arts and the
Artistic Director for the Urban Dance Collective.  Currently he is the
Artistic Director of Mt. Zion Liturgical Dancers, under the leadership of
pastor Ronald Williams.  Last but not least, he is the recipient of the Alumni
Award for excellence in his field from the Cleveland School of the Arts, and
the recipient of the Individual Artist Award from the Ohio Arts Council.

 

Verb Ballets is pleased
to announce a change in title for the company’s leader, Dr. Margaret
Carlson.  As of July 1, 2010, her
title will change to Director, from Chief Executive & Artistic
Officer.  Dr. Carlson’s duties
remain the same, oversight of the artistic, administrative and financial areas
of Verb Ballets.  

 

Dr. Margaret
Carlson (Director)
has international expertise in performing, teaching, choreographing, and
working in a variety of settings. Dr. Carlson was an original member of the
Cleveland Ballet, serving as a Principal dancer from 1972-1983. Also a member
of Actors Equity, she performed in numerous musical theatre tours throughout
the 1970's, including Sweet Charity, Ballroom, How to Succeed in Business
Without Really Trying, Brigadoon, Mame, Hello Dolly! and The Merry
Widow.
For many years, she choreographed for the Cleveland Opera. Dr. Carlson served
as Director of the School of Dance at the University of Akron from 1985-1993.
In 1993, she became Dean of the School of Dance at the Hong Kong Academy for
Performing Arts, until she returned to Cleveland in 1999. She then served as
the Development and Education Director for the Cleveland San Jose Ballet. She
consulted both nationally and locally through her company, Carlson Consulting
Group, Inc., with groups that have included The American Dance Guild, Chinese
Performing Artists of America, Les Ballets Trockadero de Monte Carlo, Ohio
Ballet, Dancing Wheels, Ohio Youth Ballet, Ohio Conservatory of Dance, Tom and
Susana Evert Dance Theatre, and White Cloud Studios. Dr. Carlson founded the
American Alliance of Dance Artists and served as its first President. She has
served as a Board member and officer for Kids on Broadway, DANCECleveland, the
Cleveland Ballet Council, the American Dance Guild, the Council of Dance
Administrators, the Hong Kong Ballet, the Hong Kong Dance Company and The Hong
Kong Jockey Club Music and Dance Fund. She served as the secretary of the
International Organization for Transition for Professional Dancers, a
sub-committee of UNESCO, based in Switzerland from 1998-2006, and was Treasurer
and Board member of the American Dance Guild in NYC and was its vice-president
for 10 years.  She is known for her
work as the regisseur for the works of Ian (Ernie) Horvath. She received her
doctorate from Durham University in the United Kingdom.

 

New Company Dancer

Stephanie
Krise
began her dance training at The University of Akron’s Dance Institute. She then
continued her training at The North Carolina School of the Arts under Melissa
Hayden and Warren Conover, and at BalletMet under Yoko Ichino. Ms. Krise has
spent summers training at The North Carolina School of the Arts, BalletMet, San
Francisco Ballet, Nashville Ballet, Richmond Ballet, The National Hungarian
Ballet and in New York with Doug Varone and Dancers, as well as workshops with
Taylor 2 and Lines Ballet. Ms. Krise has performed with BalletMet, Richmond
Ballet, and The University of Akron Dance Company.  She recently graduated Summa Cum Laude from The University
of Akron with her B.F.A in Dance Performance. 

 

Verb CLICKS Summer
2010 Interns

Lloyd Boyd
Amir, III just
graduated from the Cleveland School of the Arts.  He has traveled all over with the school, places such as
International Association of Blacks in Dance which took place in Texas,
Colorado and New York. In The fall of 2008, Lloyd was “Joseph” in the Karamu
House Production of Black Nativity. He has performed in numerous shows with
the School, such as Homage, Changing Hands, and Coming of
the King.  Also, with the school, he has traveled
to train at the Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and the Jones Summer
Intensive in Pittsburgh under the direction of Ms. Greer Reed-Jones.  Lloyd has trained under the direction of
Terence Greene for seven years, and even though this is his last year, he is
thankful for all the things that Mr. Greene has passed on to him.  Lloyd hopes to perform in a world
renowned company, then hopes to one day teach at the Cleveland School of the
Arts.  He made a guest appearance
with Verb Ballets in the fall of 2009 but this is his first full summer with
the company. 

 

Katie
Edmonds
trained with the Christine Jones-Meneer School of Dance for 14 years,
was a member of Children's Ballet Theatre for five years, and Ballet Theatre of
Ohio (BTO) for 4 years. While with BTO she danced many lead roles in The
Nutcracker, Cinderella, Sleeping Beauty, The Wizard of Oz and Coppelia. In the Heinz
Poll Summer Dance Festival, she performed in Rosso, Beyond the Stars,
Swingity,
and I Had the Same Dream. 
Ms. Edmonds is excited to work with Verb Ballets this summer, and
looks forward to continuing her dance career with
Ballet Memphis this fall.  

 

Megan
Lara Gurcze,
a native Clevelander, is a graduating senior at Brecksville-Broadview Heights
High School.  She started her dance
training at the age of 10 with Revolutions Dance Academy, where the directors
opened many doors for her by exposing her to conventions, master classes and
competitions, and she has been honored to study with Joe Tremaine, Travis Wall,
Dee Castleberry, and members of Verb Ballets.  Megan has received many awards and scholarships through
these programs and will continue to pursue dance after graduation. She is
honored and excited to be an intern with Verb Ballets.

 

Philip Williams
trains
at the Cleveland School of the Arts where he will be entering the 10th
grade and will begin training under the direction of Terence Greene. He got his start
in dance training through the Rainy Institute.  This is Philip’s first season with Verb Ballets.

 

Apprentices

Garrett
McCann
was born and raised in Akron, Ohio. 
He received his dance education at the University of Akron’s Dance
Institute and Firestone High Schools’ Visual and Performing Arts Program. He
graduated from Firestone in Spring 2010. 
Mr. McCann has worked with choreographers from DCDC, Groundworks Dance
Theater, Francais Patrelle, and many others.  Future plans include attending The University of The Arts in
Philadelphia or The University of Akron.

Kara
Madden
began her training at age five at the School of the Grand Rapids Ballet
Company.  She was a Junior and
Senior Trainee with GRBC under the direction of Gordon Peirce Schmidt,
performing in many professional productions, including The Nutcracker,
Cinderella, A Midsummer Night's Dream, and Can-Can. She also toured
Italy and Croatia with students and professional dancers from GRBC.  Her teachers included world-renowned
dancers Gaiane and Akop Akopian. 
In 2010, Ms. Madden graduated Summa Cum Laude from Aquinas College with
a double major in English and Biology. 
During college, she continued training at GRBC and participated in the
summer intensive programs at STEPS on Broadway, Merce Cunningham, and Hubbard
Street Dance Chicago.  Ms. Madden
also performed with the Chicago Civic Ballet, directed by Larry Long, in its
production of The Nutcracker, and is a founding member of the Grand
Rapids Dance Project.  Kara is
very excited to be joining Verb Ballets. 

 

Rebecca
Nicklos
only recently returned to Cleveland, after pursuing training and performance
opportunities on the East Coast. 
Ms. Nicklos studied Vaganova and Graham techniques at the Nutmeg
Conservatory for the Arts in Connecticut and supplemented her degree with
courses at STEPS on Broadway, the Alvin Ailey School, School of American Ballet
and the Harkness Dance Center.  She
developed her performance skills under the mentorship, direction and coaching
of dance masters Eleanor D’ Antonio, Theresa Capucilli, Kevin Martin, Victoria
Mazzarelli, Alexi Tchernivchov, and Doug Varone.  Ms. Nicklos was honored to qualify to the final round of the
NYC Youth American Grand Prix and enjoyed working and performing with the Kirov
Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, Ohio Dance Theatre and MOMIX Dance Theatre.  In 2009, she had the amazing
opportunity to perform Fraulein Maria with Doug Elkins and Friends as presented
by DANCECleveland.  She has
performed with MegLouise Dance and MorrisonDance since 2008 and is teaching
dance throughout the Northeast Ohio.

 

About Verb Ballets

The Verb Ballets organization has established the company as
Cleveland’s premiere national dance repertory company.  Coolcleveland.com
recently stated “Verb Ballets has a way of upping
the ante and hitting the jackpot…every time they perform.”  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 Ballets 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.  The company is now in
its ninth season.

 

Major sponsors of Verb Ballets
include AHS
Foundation, The Bascom Little Fund, Millie L. Carlson, Change For Charity,
Cuyahoga Arts and Culture, The Cleveland Foundation, The George Gund
Foundation, Kulas Foundation, The Laub Foundation, Lubrizol Foundation, The
McGregor Foundation, Kenneth Milder, John P. Murphy Foundation, The National
Endowment for the Arts, and The Ohio Arts Council.  Additional individual sponsors include Chuck and Ann
Ennis, David R. Pierce, Alan Miles Ruben, and Robert M. Shwab.

 

Additional
sponsors include Baumgarten & Company, LLP; Cedar Hill Communications;
Cleveland Scene; FITWORKS; WCLV; and WCPN/Ideastream.

 

The
Ohio Arts Council helped fund this organization with state tax dollars to
encourage economic growth, educational excellence and cultural enrichment for
all Ohioans.

 

Verb
Ballets is generously funded by Cuyahoga County residents through Cuyahoga Arts
and Culture.





      
-------------- next part --------------
An HTML attachment was scrubbed...
URL: <http://lists.neohiopal.org/pipermail/neohiopal-neohiopal.org/attachments/20100628/dcb84beb/attachment-0003.htm>