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FOR RELEASE ON SEPTEMBER 19, 2010
CONTACT: SHAUNA TYSOR
KIM ESPINOSA
713 535 3226
pr@houstonballet.org
HOUSTON BALLET PRESENTS
THE COMPANY PREMIERE OF GEORGE Balanchine's
Jewels
Emeralds, Rubies, and Diamonds:
A Multi-Faceted Look At Three Golden Ages Of Dance
In September 2010
Elyse Borne and Maria Calegari to Stage Works
HOUSTON, TEXAS - From September 23 - October 3, 2010, Houston Ballet presents the company premiere of George Balanchine's masterpiece Jewels, a unified, full-evening work featuring three separate and distinct pieces: Emeralds, set to the music of Gabriel Fauré; Rubies, set to Igor Stravinsky's Capriccio for piano and orchestra; and Diamonds, set to Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29. The gems in Jewels pay tribute to three golden ages of dance and also to the beauty of the ballerinas Balanchine adored. Houston Ballet will give seven performances of Jewels at Wortham Theater Center in downtown Houston. Tickets may be purchased by calling 713 227 2787 or by visiting www.houstonballet.org.
Balanchine was inspired to create Jewels by the jewelry collection of Van Cleef and Arpels in New York, a French jewelry company founded in 1896 in Paris renowned for their precious stones. Premiered on April 13, 1967 by New York City Ballet, Jewels was hailed as the first plotless full-length ballet. In his article on Jewels in The International Dictionary of Ballet, noted critic Robert Greskovic quoted long-time Balanchine observer Professor Robert Garis who pronounced Jewels "a work of genius both as a work of art and as show-business."
"Since becoming artistic director in 2003, one of my goals was to bring Jewels to Houston Ballet. It has been a long process of preparing the company for such a pivotal ballet. The company is full of so much talent right now, and dancing a Balanchine masterpiece every season has prepared the dancers to perform this vivacious, energetic, and important work by increasing their understanding of Balanchine's style," observed Houston Ballet Artistic Director Stanton Welch.
"Jewels is an important benchmark for the world's leading classical ballet companies like The Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, and New York City Ballet, and it is great for Houston Ballet to join this group of companies by performing Jewels. Jewels shows the audience Balanchine's choreographic depth.
"For Houstonians the opportunity to experience one of the greatest works of American ballet is phenomenal. Jewels will showcase the versatility and stylistic depth of our dancers. The audience will see the whole company on stage. This piece celebrates where Houston Ballet's dancers are today," states Mr. Welch.
Poetic and flowing, Emeralds evokes France, the birthplace of Romantic dance. Its ballerinas drift on stage in clouds of tulle, whispering of elegance, fashion and fragrance. Rubies mirrors the carefree spontaneity of America, a throwback to the musical comedies and films Balanchine created soon after he arrived in his beloved adopted country: a sassy, jazzy burst of sunshine. Diamonds dazzles as Balanchine's tribute to the work of the great French choreographer Marius Petipa and evokes the grandeur and precision of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg with each shimmering wave of classical elegance.
"Balanchine's Jewels is a multi-faceted look at Romantic, classical and neo-classical ballet. The Emeralds section is soft and moody with fluid movements in the Romantic style. Rubies is sexy, cheeky and sleek in the neo-classical style, a style Balanchine personified. And Diamonds focuses on precision and cleanness in the classical Russian style," remarks Mr. Welch.
Set to sections of Gabriel Fauré's Pelléas et Mélisande and Shylock, Emeralds features two couples and a trio of two women and one man bordered by 10 corps de ballet women. The Emeralds section evokes nineteenth century Romantic ballets by giving the women an ethereal look, featuring long green tulle skirts.
Set to the jazzy tune of Igor Stravinsky's Capriccio for Piano and Orchestra, Rubies epitomized the legendary collaboration of Balanchine and Stravinsky, and the American style of ballet that Balanchine developed. The piece features a central couple, a female soloist and an ensemble of four men and eight women wearing short, seductive red flapper-like skirts. The dynamic neo-classical choreography is crisp and witty, a true game of wits and teasing.
Diamonds dazzles audiences with its classical Imperial Russian style, representing the refracted colors of a diamond. Set to the last four movements of Peter Tchaikovsky's Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29, the piece features an intimate pas de deux, 14 corps de ballet women, four couples of demi soloists and a forceful polonaise finale of the entire cast. Adorned in classic, white tutus, the ballerinas and their mates fill the stage as glittery diamonds. This final section of this trilogy was originally choreographed on Suzanne Farrell, New York City Ballet prima ballerina.
"We are very lucky to have Elyse Borne, a former soloist with New York City Ballet and one of the most respected repetiteurs from the Balanchine Trust, and former New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Maria Calegari, who danced for Balanchine, staging Jewels. Each will focus on the different styles present in Jewels. For our dancers to work with coaches who have such firsthand knowledge will be indispensable," explains Mr. Welch, "Maria is married to Bart Cook who has set numerous works on us, which has increased Maria's knowledge of our company as well."
Elyse Borne began her dance training in her native Los Angeles and finished at the School of American Ballet in New York. As a recipient of a Ford Foundation scholarship, she joined New York City Ballet where she danced for more than 13 years, being promoted to soloist. She performed numerous principal roles in ballets by Balanchine and Robbins and shared a debut in The Nutcracker with Mikhail Baryshnikov. During this time, she also made several television appearances and traveled on concert tours with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Peter Martins, Suzanne Farrell, Edward Villella, Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefous. She served as ballet mistress for the Miami City Ballet for eight years and San Francisco Ballet for six years. Currently she devotes herself full-time to staging ballets nationally and internationally on behalf of the George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins Trusts, and additional works by Hans van Manen and Helgi Tomasson. She has staged ballets at the Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Dutch National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Ballet, Kirov Ballet, National Ballet of China, Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Zurich Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Ballet Nacional de Danza (Mexico), Alberta Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and many others.
In 1974, at the age of seventeen, Maria Calegari was chosen by George Balanchine to join New York City Ballet. Ms. Calegari became a principal dancer in 1983 and performed over forty soloist roles in Balanchine's ballets. She also worked extensively with Jerome Robbins creating exciting new ballets like Glass Pieces, The Gershwin Concerto and Antique Epigraphs. Other notable choreographers she worked with include Twyla Tharp, Peter Martins, Helgi Tomasson, Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux, Robert La Fosse and Bart Cook. Calegari traveled throughout the world with New York City Ballet and has appeared on television in Dance in America and as Titania in Balanchine's A Midsummer Night's Dream.
Since leaving New York City Ballet in 1994, Ms. Calegari has appeared in Suzanne Farrell Stages Balanchine and joined the ranks of repetiteurs for the George Balanchine Trust. Ms. Calegari has staged works for American Ballet Theatre, Miami City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Perm State Opera Ballet and Boston Ballet.
Russian/American designer Barbara Karinska created the Jewels costumes. Each costume reflects the specific stone in each act - emeralds, rubies, and diamonds - with all the costumes featuring a consistent visual motif of full gem necklaces. The costumes mirrored Balanchine's choreography with distinct designs. Emeralds' green, calf-length tulle skirts reflecting the traditional Romantic era tutu. Rubies' vibrant red costumes for men and women flare slightly at the hips. The Diamonds costumes are white, flat, classical tutus resembling traditional Imperial Russian style.
Karinska began her career as the highly acclaimed interpreter of designs by such artists as Salvador Dalí, Henri Matisse, and Marc Chagall. However, it was as principal costumer of New York City Ballet that she made her name. Karinska's first costumes were made for nightclub performers, but in 1932 she received a commission to make the costumes for Balanchine's ballet Cotillon. After many more commissions for theater and ballet, she quickly became known as the only costumer able to translate an artist's sketches into fabric. In 1948, she won an Academy Award for her designs for Ingrid Bergman in Joan of Arc. In 1962, Karinska's achievements were publicly recognized when she received the Capezio Dance Award for costumes. Balanchine appointed Karinska as principal costumer of New York City Ballet in 1962. She died in New York in October 1983.
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, Balanchine (1904-1983) is regarded as a major artistic figure of the twentieth century who revolutionized the look of classical ballet. Taking classicism as his base, he heightened, quickened, expanded, streamlined, and even inverted the fundamentals of the 400-year-old language of academic dance. This had an inestimable influence on the growth of dance in America. With Lincoln Kirstein, Balanchine founded New York City Ballet in 1948, and served as its ballet master and principal choreographer until his death in 1983. Balanchine's more than 400 dance works include Serenade (1934), Concerto Barocco (1941), Le Palais de Cristal, later renamed Symphony in C (1947), Orpheus (1948), The Nutcracker (1954), Agon (1957), Symphony in Three Movements (1972), Stravinsky Violin Concerto (1972), Vienna Waltzes (1977), Ballo della Regina (1978), and Mozartiana (1981).
Houston Ballet has 12 Balanchine works in its repertory, including Apollo (1928), Serenade (1934), Concerto Barocco (1941), The Four Temperaments (1946), Symphony in C (1947), Theme and Variations (1947), La Valse (1951), Western Symphony (1954), Pas de Dix (1955), Agon (1957), Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux (1960), and Ballo della Regina (1978).
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 $47 million (as of June 2010), 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 estimated $53 million building 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, and become the largest facility for dance in America.
Houston Ballet Academy has reached over 19,000 Houston area students (as of the 2009-2010 season) and has had four academy students win prizes 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
JEWELS
FACT SHEET
WHAT: JEWELS (1967): Houston Ballet Premiere
Choreography by George Balanchine
Costume Designs by Barbara Karinska
Lighting Recreated by Christina R. Giannelli
EMERALDS
Music by Gabriel Fauré (1845-1924), from Pelléas et Mélisande, 1898, and Shylock, 1889
RUBIES
Music by Igor Stravinsky (1882-1971), Capriccio for piano and orchestra, 1929
DIAMONDS
Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893), Symphony No. 3 in D major, Op. 29, first movement omitted
Houston Ballet Orchestra conducted by music director Ermanno Florio September 23, 25, 26; David Briskin, music director and principal conductor for National Ballet of Canada, October 1, 2, 3.
ABOUT THE
PROGRAM:
A ballet in three parts, George Balanchine's Jewels was hailed as the first plotless full-length ballet. The gems in Jewels pay tribute to three golden ages of dance and also to the beauty of the ballerinas Balanchine adored. Poetic and flowing, Emeralds evokes France, the birthplace of Romantic dance. Its ballerinas drift on stage in clouds of tulle, whispering of elegance, fashion and fragrance. Rubies mirrors the carefree spontaneity of America, a throwback to the musical comedies and films Balanchine created soon after he arrived in his beloved adopted country: a sassy, jazzy burst of sunshine. Diamonds dazzles as Balanchine's tribute to the work of Marius Petipa and evokes the grandeur and precision of the Imperial Ballet of St. Petersburg with each shimmering wave of classical elegance.
WHEN: At 7:30 p.m. on September 23, 25, and October 1, 2, 2010
At 2:00 p.m. on September 26 and October 2, 3, 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 online at www.houstonballet.org
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