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FOR RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 5, 2010
CONTACT: SHAUNA TYSOR
KIM ESPINOSA
713 535 3226
pr@houstonballet.org
HOUSTON BALLET’S BODY, SOUL & GERSHWIN
LAUNCHES THE 2010-2011 SEASON IN SEPTEMBER 2010
New Principal Dancer Jun Shuang Huang From China
Gives His First Performances in Houston
Jiří Kylián’s Soulful Ballet Forgotten Land Highlights The Program
Stanton Welch’s The Core: Gershwin, the Heart of the Big Apple Is A Blockbuster
Inspired By Hollywood
Welch’s Tu Tu Is A Sexy Look At What It Means To Be A Ballerina
HOUSTON, TEXAS - From September 9-19, 2010, Houston Ballet launches its 2010-2011 season with a mixed repertory program entitled Body, Soul & Gershwin, featuring Stanton Welch's lively and colorful neo-classical work Tu Tu, Jiří Kylián’s emotionally charged abstract ballet Forgotten Land, and The Core: Gershwin, the Heart of the Big Apple, Mr. Welch's Broadway-style ode to 1930s New York City glamour. Houston Ballet will give six performances of Body, Soul & Gershwin in Brown Theater at Wortham Theater Center in downtown Houston. Tickets may be purchased by calling 713 227 2787 or by visiting www.houstonballet.org.
These performances of Body, Soul & Gershwin will offer Houston audiences their first glimpse of Jun Shuang Huang, Houston Ballet's newest principal dancer, joining the company from China. Winner of a gold medal in the senior division at the Helsinki Ballet International Competition in 2009, Mr. Huang began his dance training, and was an honor student, at the Shanghai Dance School in China. In 2007, he joined the the Guangzhou Ballet Company as a principal dancer. His repertoire includes classical principal roles in Swan Lake, La Bayadère, La Sylphide, Coppélia, Paquita, Variations for Four, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, and Diana & Actaeon.
"Huang has a very strong classical technique with a beautiful foundation. He is a magnificent dancer noble - tall, elegant, with huge elevation. He has both the attributes of a lyrical dancer and a virtuoso dancer as well as being a strong and caring partner," comments Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch.
Jiří Kylián’s Forgotten Land:
A Meditation on Lost Homelands, Lovers and Time
Created in 1981 for Stuttgart Ballet, Jiří Kylián’s Forgotten Land is a somber and soulful work for 12 dancers. In creating the piece, Mr. Kylián was inspired by a painting of a woman on a beach by Norwegian expressionist artist Edvard Munch and English composer Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem, with its images of the sea engulfing the land. John Macfarlane's painterly scenic design and Mr. Kylián's movements suggest the rising waves of a grey sea, the ebb and flow of life, and themes of metamorphosis central to human existence. The piece is a statement about lost homelands, lovers and time. The choreography is a series of pas de deuxs where the dancers extend their arms fluidly, as if they were reaching out for something unattainable. There are also pas de deuxs that express violent moods, which incorporate a large ensemble.
Forgotten Land is a non-narrative ballet, which stirs the emotions and grips the senses. "What a ballet! Seldom has a choreographer drawn more deeply from a musical score (Brittan's Sinfonia da Requiem) to choreograph a series of variations on deep-rooted feeling of promise and loss," raved William Littler of The Toronto Star.
"Forgotten Land was an important part of my ballet life. I connected emotionally to Forgotten Land when I first saw it, and it inspired me to want to choreograph. The ballet is a perfect trifecta of design, music, and choreography complementing each other," Mr. Welch remarks. "It is important for our dancers to perform Forgotten Land because Kylián is one of the great masters who is still creating work today. Forgotten Land is contemporary, but needs a clean line and pure technique."
In September 2006, Houston Ballet's company premiere of Forgotten Land was cut short by the impending arrival of Hurricane Rita, and eerily the story behind the ballet paralleled this event: of a community under siege from nature. "Forgotten Land has great emotional resonance for Houston and other Gulf Coast cities that regularly face devastating storms," Mr. Welch points out.
New York City Glamour Leaves Crowds In Awe:
The Core: Gershwin, the Heart of the Big Apple
A lavish, crowd-pleasing blockbuster inspired by the movie musicals of Hollywood's golden age, Mr. Welch's The Core: Gershwin, the Heart of the Big Apple is a highly theatrical depiction of the Big Apple, incorporating archetypal New York characters with plenty of Broadway flash and dazzle in a work featuring the full company. The Core: Gershwin, the Heart of the Big Apple is set to George Gershwin's Piano Concerto in F, and was premiered by Houston Ballet in 2008.
"The Core is a large story ensemble with 57 characters. I created a magical day and night city scene of the Big Apple in the 1940s, combining musical theater and film stars from that era into larger than life archetypes to make a musical ballet," says Mr. Welch. "The ballet is also a tribute to the four years I lived in New York and what a fantastic, exciting city it is. The choreography reflects the everyday hustle and bustle. The scenic designs mirror the extraordinary sky scrapers everyone recognizes as uniquely New York."
Houston Chronicle dance critic Molly Glentzer noted when reviewing the world premiere of The Core: Gershwin, the Heart of the Big Apple, "Welch's choreography – a hyperdriven blast of showbizzy arms, sweeping lunges and classic Broadways steps – moves deftly." (February 23, 2008)
Stanton Welch's Tu Tu Is A Fast And Furious Look At Classical Ballet
"Tu Tu is a large ensemble work in three movements featuring 22 dancers. Tu Tu reflects the different aspects of technique and what it means to be a dancer. The ballet moves through an adagio focusing on the dancers' balance and line, to powerful and energetic soubrette, to pas de deuxs highlighting each couple," explains Mr. Welch. "It is a playful, humorous look at classical ballet. Tu Tu is tart and very tongue-in-cheek."
Set to Maurice Ravel's Concerto for Piano in G major, the dancers are outfitted in brilliantly colored tutus and briefs. Designed by Holly Hynes, the stunning costumes were inspired by Gustav Klimt's gold-hued paintings. Austrian-born Klimt (1862-1918) was a well-known Art Nouveau painter who became famous for his sensual depictions of women. The tutus and briefs worn by the dancers feature a dazzling array of colors: gold, turquoise, red and orange. Bare midriffs and striped retro-fashioned shorts ramp up the sex appeal. "I tried to capture the luscious feeling of Klimt's work in the costume design and choreography," Mr. Welch notes. "The reflective, metallic, chipped away nature of his work."
Arts Houston Magazine dance critic Nancy Wozny noted in April 2007 that "Tu Tu revealed the mighty talents and distinct personalities of its dancers in a shimmering display of technical bravado and gripping choreography." Houston Press critic Marene Gustin observed, "They knock out double fouettés en pointe and attack the floor with lightning steps while flexing supple backs and wafting arms in the most amazing port de bras to Ravel’s lyrical Piano Concerto in G Major. Both women and men use their arms to sublime effect, with rippling back muscles and long limbs." (March 1, 2007)
Tu Tu was originally created for San Francisco Ballet in 2003.
Houston Ballet’s performances of Body, Soul & Gershwin are made possible with the generous support of Cooper Industries.
About Houston Ballet
On February 17, 1969 a troupe of 15 young dancers made its stage debut at Sam Houston State Teacher's College in Huntsville, Texas. Since that time, Houston Ballet has evolved into a company of 53 dancers with a budget of $18.4 million, a state-of-the-art performance space built especially for the company, Wortham Theater Center, and an endowment of just over $50.7 million (as of December 31, 2009), making it the United States fourth largest ballet company by number of dancers. Under the administrative leadership of managing director C.C. Conner since 1995, the company has maintained a strong financial position.
Houston Ballet has toured extensively both nationally and internationally. Over the last decade, the company has appeared in London at Sadler's Wells, at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, in six cities in Spain, in Montréal, at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., in New York at City Center, and in cities large and small across the United States.
Houston Ballet has emerged as a leader in the expensive, labor-intensive task of nurturing the creation and development of new full-length narrative ballets. The company has also commissioned new one-act ballets from some of the world's most respected choreographers, including Julia Adam, Christopher Bruce, James Kudelka, Trey McIntyre, Paul Taylor, Glen Tetley, Natalie Weir and Lila York.
Writing in The Financial Times on March 6, 2006, dance critic Hilary Ostlere praised Houston Ballet as "a strong, reinvigorated company whose male contingent is particularly impressive, a well-drilled corps and an enviable selection of soloists and principals." Dance Europe editor Emma Manning observed of the company in November 2004, "One of the first things that hits you about this company is the technical strengths not just of the principals, but throughout the ranks. Watching artistic director Stanton Welch take class on a Sunday morning before a matinee, one could not help but marvel at the multiple turns tossed off by the young women in the corps....The three new works shown in this program will be followed by no fewer than four more Houston premieres. Can any other major ballet company in the world match that?"
In a move designed to propel Houston Ballet to the next phase of its development, the company broke ground on July 15, 2009 on the Center for Dance, a new 115,000-square-foot facility located in downtown Houston. The building, which will cost $53 million, is set for completion in the spring of 2011. The six-story building will boast nine dance studios, a dance laboratory for presentations as well as rehearsals, and artistic, administrative and support facilities for Houston Ballet and its academy. The new facility will more than double the space that Houston Ballet has at its current home.
Houston Ballet Academy has reached over 19,000 Houston area students (as of the 2009-2010 season) and has had four students place at the prestigious international ballet competition the Prix de Lausanne, with one student winning the overall competition in 2010.
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HOUSTON BALLET’S
BODY, SOUL & GERSHWIN
FACT SHEET
WHAT: BODY, SOUL & GERSHWIN
(FALL MIXED REPERTORY PROGRAM)
TU TU (2003)
Music by Maurice Ravel (1875-1937), Piano concerto in G major
Choreography by Stanton Welch
Costume Designs by Holly Hynes
Lighting by Lisa J. Pinkham
FORGOTTEN LAND (1981)
Music by Benjamin Britten (1913-1976), Sinfonia da Requiem, Opus 20
Choreography by Jiří Kylián
Scenic and Costume Designs by John F. Macfarlane
Lighting by Joop Caboort
THE CORE: GERSHWIN, THE HEART OF THE BIG APPLE (2008)
Music by George Gershwin (1898-1937), Concerto in F for piano and orchestra
Choreography by Stanton Welch
Scenic Designs by Thomas Boyd
Costume Designs by Holly Hynes
Lighting by David Grill
Houston Ballet Orchestra conducted by music director Ermanno Florio
Katherine Burkwall-Ciscon, pianist for Tu Tu and The Core
Generously underwritten by: Cooper Industries
ABOUT THE PROGRAM:
Inspired by a painting by Norwegian expressionist painter Edvard Munch and English composer Benjamin Britten's Sinfonia da Requiem with its images of the sea engulfing the land, Jiří Kylián’s Forgotten Land suggests the rising waves of a grey sea, the ebb and flow of life, and themes of metamorphosis central to human existence. A lavish, crowd-pleasing blockbuster inspired by the movie musicals of Hollywood's golden age, Mr. Welch's The Core: Gershwin, The Heart of the Big Apple is a highly theatrical depiction of the Big Apple, incorporating archetypal New York characters with plenty of Broadway flash and dazzle. Set to Maurice Ravel's Concerto for Piano in G major and featuring 22 dancers in brilliantly colored tutus and briefs, Stanton Welch’s Tu Tu takes a sensuous, playful look at classical ballet.
WHEN: At 7:30 PM on September 9, 11, 17, 18, 2010
At 2:00 PM on September 12, 19, 2010
WHERE: Brown Theater, Wortham Theater Center
501 Texas Avenue in downtown Houston
TICKETS: Start at $18. Call (713) 227 ARTS or 1 800 828 ARTS
Tickets are also available at www.houstonballet.org and
Houston Ballet Box Office at Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas Ave. (at Smith St.)
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Visit Houston Ballet on the web at www.houstonballet.org  |
