[NEohioPAL] PRESS RELEASE: Open Your Imagination with Verb Ballets

[Dan Kilbane]

Open Your Imagination 

Verb Ballets 

Friday, February 11, 2011 

Special Valentine’s
Dinner-Performance Packages Available
 

January
14, 2011 -- Cleveland, OH -- Verb Ballets, Cleveland’s National Repertory
Dance Company, continues the company’s ninth season theme of “Imagination.  Strength.  Uniquely American” with a return to the beautiful Breen
Center for the Performing Arts. 
The Board of Trustees and Director Dr. Margaret Carlson are pleased to
feature one World Premiere and one Company Premiere.  Artist-in-Residence Terence Greene continues his skillful
work with the company on the World Premiere “Breath,” and Verb Ballets
continues the company’s exploration of modern dance classics with Alwin Nikolais’
multimedia dance “Noumenon Mobilus.”   The Verb Ballets performance is one show only, on Friday,
February 11, 2011, at 8:00 p.m.  There is also
a special dinner/show package available at nearby critical favorite The Flying
Fig for this Valentine’s performance. 

  

The John P.
Murphy Foundation underwrites the Breen performance, with additional support by
Shah Capital Management. 

  

Dance
Magazine, in 2004,
named Verb one of “25 to Watch,” and in February 2008 bestowed more kudos on
the company by naming Verb Ballets one of 5 “Great Tiny Troupes” in
America.  The Plain Dealer calls the company’s work “vibrant….bold….poetic."  Coolcleveland.com commented “Verb
Ballets has a way of upping the ante and hitting the jackpot…every time they
perform.”  

  

Advanced preferred
seating is $28, general admission is $20, with a $10 student rate, and is
available by calling the Verb Ballets box office at 216.397.3757, or by
ordering online at www.verbballets.org.  Tickets are also available at the door
the night of the performance.  The
theatre is located in the historic Ohio City neighborhood of Cleveland (Lorain
Ave. at W. 30th St., 44113), one block away from such popular restaurants as
The Flying Fig, Bar Cento, Heck’s, and Great Lakes Brewing Company.  Free parking is available. 

  

Verb
Ballets has a great Valentine’s deal in store for patrons, too, and it helps a
good cause:  enjoy dinner prior to
the performance at the nearby, critically lauded The Fly Fig restaurant, and
receive a Preferred Seating ticket to the show.  Tickets are $85 each, and all proceeds benefit Verb Ballets
operations and educational outreach programs.  Call 216.397.3757 to reserve tickets to this benefit/show
package, which begins at The Flying Fig at 6:00 p.m. on February 11, 2011. 

  

The program
at The Breen performance includes the following:   

  

Noumenon
Mobilus (1953)  Company Premiere. Choreographer Alwin Nikolais is not
only a modern dance legend but also a multi-talented performance artist, whose
works, at the time of their creation throughout the 20th century,
seemed futuristic.  Danced today by
companies all over the world, these works remain up-to-the-minute.   “Noumenon Mobilus,” from 1953, is
a multimedia piece for three performers that illustrates his contribution to
contemporary dance and stagecraft. 
Alberto Del Saz, from the Nikolais Louis Foundation for Dance, will
stage the piece.  “His work remains
essential.” –The Star-Ledger  

  

Breath  2010 – 2011 World Premiere.  A new work from Artist-in-Residence Terence Greene, this three movement-structured dance explores the spiritual act of breath.  Greene takes us on an intense ride to another place, where breath ascends and becomes a work of art.  


Ambiguous Drives.  2010 – 2011 Season Premiere.  Choreographed
by Tommie-Waheed Evans of Philadanco, the Philadelphia-based contemporary dance
company.  Waheed, as described by The
Plain Dealer’s
Dance Writer Donald Rosenberg, “has devised a series of sleek encounters that
brim with contrasting patterns and connections.  The energy level is high, with suave solos morphing into
vivid group intertwinings. Set to music by Greg Smith, Evans’ choreography
places myriad challenges on the Verb dancers that they boldly met.”
 

To Have
And To Hold.  2010 – 2011 Company Premiere. (1989) Choreographed by Danial
Shapiro and Joanie Smith, “To Have
And To Hold” is a work that explores human relationships in an environment that
is filled with change.  A dance in
four sections, each one deals with a different aspect of the way that we
communicate.  The final section
focuses on memories and death, finishing the statement, “To Have and To Hold,
Until Death Do Us Part.”  The piece
was originally created for Shapiro and Smith’s Minneapolis-based company
Shapiro & Smith Dance Company. 

  

Biographies 

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 is Treasurer and current 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. 

  

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 and co-director of State Street Ballet’s Summer Intensive (located
in Santa Barbara, CA).  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.  

  

Tommie-Waheed Evans
(Choreographer) commenced
his dance training with Michelle Blossom at Dance Connection and Andrea Calomee
at Hamilton High School in Los Angeles. As the result of Karen McDonald's
guidance, he studied under a fellowship at The Alvin Ailey School.  Mr. Evans has worked and performed for
Matthew Rushing, Benoit-Swan Pouffer, Debbie Allen and was an assistant to Troy
O'Neil Powell.  Mr. Evans'
professional appearances include the Los Angeles Emmy Awards, The Ailey Student
Showcase Group and Lula Washington Dance Theatre. Recently he founded Waheed-Works and presented the first concert
engagement in Philadelphia.  This
is his first time choreographing for Verb Ballets. 

  

Terence Greene is the
Artist-in-Residence at Verb Ballets. 
The company will premiere three Greene works in the coming season:  for the October 2010 program at The
Breen Center for the Performing Art, for the February 2011 program, and then
another new dance for the DanceWorks performances in May 2011.  Additionally, Verb Ballets will revive The
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, Donald McKayle, Ulysses Dove, Mike
Malone, Jeraldyne Blunden, Kevin Ward, Walter Raines, James Truitte, Dawn Wood,
Donald 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.
 

Alwin Nikolais (Choreographer) was born in 1910 in Southington,
Connecticut. He studied piano at an early age and began his performing career
as an organist accompanying silent films. As a young artist he gained skills in
scenic design, acting, puppetry and music composition. It was after attending a
performance by the illustrious German dancer Mary Wigman that he was inspired
to study dance. He received his early dance training at Bennington College from
the great figures of the modern dance world: Hanya Holm, Martha Graham, Doris
Humphrey, Charles Weidman, Louis Horst, and others. 

 

After
teaching two years at his own studio and touring the US with dancers from Hanya
Holm's company, Mr. Nikolais did active duty in the Army during World War II.
Mr. Nikolais relocated in New York City following the war and resumed studying
with Miss Holm. Eventually he became Miss Holm's assistant, teaching at her New
York school and at Colorado College during the summers. In 1948, Mr. Nikolais was
appointed director of the Henry Street Playhouse, where he formed the Playhouse
Dance Company, later renamed and known as the Nikolais Dance Theatre. It was at
Henry Street that Mr. Nikolais began to develop his own world of abstract dance
theatre, portraying man as part of a total environment. His unique
choreographic works placed him in a realm previously untouched by other
choreographers. Mr. Nikolais redefined dance, as “the art of motion which, left
on its own merits, becomes the message as well as the medium.“ It was also at
Henry Street Playhouse that Murray Louis, who was to become a driving force in
the young Playhouse Company, joined Mr. Nikolais.  Mr. Murray became Mr. Nikolais' leading dancer and longtime
collaborator.  

While
developing his choreography, Mr. Nikolais' lifelong interest in music led him
to create his own scores. He reinterpreted music as the art of sound, not as a
form enslaved to scales, rules of harmony or meter. He experimented with
everything from automobile parts to East Asian instruments to gain a sound
library. Eventually he manipulated the various sounds by use of tape recorders.
A Guggenheim Fellowship allowed him to purchase the first electronic
synthesizer from Robert Moog. 

 

In
1956, the Nikolais Dance Theater was invited to its first of many appearances
at the American Dance Festival. With this, his total dance theatre had begun to
take shape, and the company established itself in the forefront of American
contemporary dance. With the company's extraordinary successful 1968 Paris
season at the Theatre Des Champs-Elysees, Mr. Nikolais' impact on dance grew
internationally. Following the Paris triumph, the company began performing in
the world's greatest theaters. Here began a long artistic relationship with the
Theatre de la Ville starting in 1971 and continuing now after his death. 

 

Mr.
Nikolais has been lauded for his accomplishments and contributions many times
over. In 1987 he was awarded our nation's highest cultural honors, the National
Medal of Arts, bestowed by President Reagan, and the Kennedy Center Honors,
conferred during a three day round of official Washington events, which
culminated in a CBS telecast featuring the Nikolais Dance Theater. He received
the City of Paris' highest honor, the Grande Medaille de Vermeille de la Ville
de Paris, as well as medals from Seville, Spain, Athens, Greece, and 30 other
cities both foreign and national as well as a special citation from New York
City's Mayor, which he shared with Murray Louis. Often affectionately referred
to as the American Patriarch of French modern dance, Mr. Nikolais is a knight
of France's Legion of Honor and a commander of the Order of Arts and
Letters. 

 

Mr.
Nikolais has been granted five honorary doctorate degrees, has twice been
designated a Guggenheim Fellow, and was the recipient of a three year
creativity grant from the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation. Mr. Nikolais and his
work have been featured in numerous films and television programs in the US and
abroad. In 1987, Nik and Murray, a documentary film by Christian Blackwood, aired on the
PBS series, “American Masters.“
 

Choreographer,
composer, scenic and costume designer, Mr. Nikolais has blended his many
talents into a single aesthetic force. In a career that has spanned five
decades, he has left his imprint on every theatrical medium, from Broadway to
television. Whenever there is something new, his hand is evident. His lighting
wonders, his sound scores, his choreography, and his costumes have influenced
the contemporary stage and a generation of choreographers. Mr. Nikolais is the
creator of the internationally acclaimed Nikolais Dance Theater and the genius
responsible for dozens of visual masterpieces. 

 

As a
uniquely original exponent of American contemporary dance he toured throughout
Europe and subsequent tours to South America and the Far East. Mr. Nikolais is
renowned as a master teacher, and his pedagogy is taught in schools and
universities throughout the world. He passed away May 8, 1993, and is buried in
Pere La Chaisse cemetery in Paris.
 

Shapiro and Smith Dance
Company.  Founded in 1985, the company began as collaboration between
Danial Shapiro and Joanie Smith. After meeting in the companies of Murray Louis
and Alwin Nikolais, they went on to create their first choreography during a
Fulbright Lectureship in Helsinki, Finland. Since then Shapiro and Smith’s
blend of contemporary dance and dramatic theater has elicited enthusiastic
receptions across the U.S., Europe, Asia and Canada. Major festivals and venues
including the Joyce Theater, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Dance Theater
Workshop, St. Mark’s DanSpace Project, PS 122, Festival di Milano, Teatro de
Danza in Mexico City, Recklinghausen RuhrFestSpiele, and the Korean
International Festival have presented the Company.  Shapiro and Smith Dance Company are based out of
Minneapolis, MN. 

  

The Verb
Ballets company includes Ashley Cohen, Erin Conway
Lewis, Antwon Duncan, Katie Gnagy, Megan Lara Gurcze, Stephanie Krise, Gary
Lenington, Rebecca Nicklos, and Brian Murphy.  Company apprentices are Garrett McCann and Kara Madden.  Intern:  Megan Lara Gurcze. 
The Rehearsal Director is Richard Dickinson, and Artist-in-Residence is
Terence Greene. 

  

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, The Ohio Arts
Council, and Shah Capital Management. 
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. 

  

About
Verb Ballets 

The Verb
Ballets organization has established the company as Cleveland’s National
Repertory Dance 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. 





      


      
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