OVERVIEW

Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux
Choreography: George Balanchine
Music: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

Elapse
Choreography: Disha Zhang
Music: Zeng Xiaogang

World Premiere
The Lightning Round
Choreography: Dwight Rhoden
Music: David Rozenblatt

The Four Seasons
Choreography: Stanton Welch AM
Music: Antonio Vivaldi

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Our season comes to a close with Four Seasons, featuring four choreographers, each with their own distinct style. After a critically-acclaimed debut in 2019, Disha Zhang’s Elapse returns to the stage for an encore not to be missed. Exploring the idea of aging and the passage of time, her first piece choreographed for an American company is set to a captivating original score by Zeng Xiaogang. George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux is described by New York City Ballet as “an eight-minute display of ballet bravura and technique.” Welch’s The Four Seasons dramatizes the stages of a woman’s life from the vigor of youth in spring to the introspection of old age in winter. Set to Antonio Vivaldi’s beloved score of the same name, the large ensemble work returns for the first time since its premiere in 2007. Rounding out the program is a world premiere by Dwight Rhoden, Founding Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of Complexions Contemporary Ballet – his first for Houston Ballet. Rhoden has created works for notable companies such as New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and The Washington Ballet.

 

Production underwriters: Anne and Albert Chao & Allison and Troy Thacker

 

HAA_MHIA

 

Zhang uses simple, contemporary movement, sharp and fluid, synchronous and staggered, that is all together captivating

Houston Press

SYNOPSIS

Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux Description

New York City Ballet describes George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux as “an eight-minute display of ballet bravura and technique.” It is a brief display piece for two leading dancers, which premiered on March 29, 1960, by New York City Ballet.  It is set to the excerpt from Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act III, the lost 1877 Swan Lake pas de deux score originally intended for Act III.  Tchaikovsky composed this pas de deux later than the rest of the score, so it was not included in the original 1877 published score.  When it was rediscovered in 1953 in the Bolshoi archives, Balanchine asked for – and was granted permission to use it for his choreography for Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux.   

Elapse Description

After a critically-acclaimed debut in September 2019, Disha Zhang’s Elapse returns to the stage for an encore not to be missed. Exploring the idea of aging and the passage of time, her first piece choreographed for a North American company is set to a captivating original score by Zeng Xiaogang.
Zhang, a celebrated Chinese choreographer and dancer, crafted this masterpiece in a remarkably short span of three weeks. Elapse, a testament to her talent and dedication, features a cast of 16 dancers (8 women and 8 men) embodying Zhang’s poem Elapse (In Meaning of Time Passing By). The dancers, dressed in casual street clothes and adorned with antler-like branches on their heads, bring a unique visual element to the performance. The score, composed by Zeng Xiaogang, combines wind and water sounds with the guqin, an ancient stringed instrument, to evoke a poignant sense of loss and the fleeting nature of time, a central theme in Elapse.

The Lightning Round Description - World Premiere

Dwight Rhoden, Founding Artistic Director and Resident Choreographer of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, creates his first world premiere The Lightning Round for Houston Ballet. It features a commissioned original score by David Rozenblatt, marking his 6th ballet collaboration with Rhoden.  The costumes are by Christine Darch and the lighting is by Michael Korsch, fellow Rhoden collaborator.  Sixteen dancers will debut in this piece. Rhoden has created works for notable companies such as New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet and The Washington Ballet.

The Four Seasons Description

Stanton Welch’s The Four Seasons dramatizes the stages of a woman’s life from the vigor of youth in spring to the introspection of old age in winter. Set to Antonio Vivaldi’s beloved score of the same name, the large ensemble work returns for the first time since its premiere in 2007. The Four Seasons traces the arc of life's journey told through four separate dancers—one for each season. The ballet unfolds as do the seasons with spring, summer, autumn, and winter.  Tom Boyd’s scenic design with an oak tree symbolizes the passage of time and life cycles.  Kandis Cook’s costumes are soft earthly pastels set in the 18th century reflecting Vivaldi’s time.

ARTISTS

George Balanchine (1904-1983)

CHOREOGRAPHER, TSCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX

Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, George Balanchine is regarded as the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world of ballet. He came to the United States in late 1933, at the age of 29, accepting the invitation of the young American arts patron Lincoln Kirstein (1907 - 1996), whose great passions included the dream of creating a ballet company in America. At Balanchine’s behest, Kirstein was also prepared to support the formation of an American academy of ballet that would eventually rival the long-established schools of Europe. This was the School of American Ballet, founded in 1934, the first product of the Balanchine-Kirstein collaboration. Several ballet companies directed by the two were created and dissolved in the years that followed, while Balanchine found other outlets for his choreography. Eventually, with a performance on October 11, 1948, the New York City Ballet was born. Balanchine served as its ballet master and principal choreographer from 1948 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). His final ballet, a new version of Stravinsky’s Variations for Orchestra, was created in 1982. He also choreographed for films, operas, revues, and musicals. Among his best known dances for the stage is Slaughter on Tenth Avenue, originally created for Broadway’s On Your Toes (1936). The musical was later made into a movie. A major artistic figure of the twentieth century, Balanchine 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. Although at first his style seemed particularly suited to the energy and speed of American dancers, especially those he trained, his ballets are now performed by all the major classical ballet companies throughout the world. ©The George Balanchine Trust

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840-1893)

COMPOSER, TSCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX

Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky (1840 – 1893), often anglicized as Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky, was a Russian composer of the late-Romantic period, some of whose works are among the most popular music in the classical repertoire. He was the first Russian composer whose music made a lasting impression internationally, bolstered by his appearances as a guest conductor in Europe and the United States. Tchaikovsky was honored in 1884, by Emperor Alexander III, and awarded a lifetime pension.

Disha Zhang

CHOREOGRAPHER, ELAPSE

Disha Zhang was born in Guizhou Province, China, where she began her training in Chinese Dance.  She graduated with a Modern Dance Choreography degree from the Beijing Dance Academy in 2002.  She was a member of the Beijing Modern Dance Company from 2002 until 2007. Her 2003 work Temporary Residence Permit (renamed The Beijing Story in 2004), on which she collaborated with Hu Lei, established her as a choreographer in China.  She has received numerous choreography awards in China and internationally. Her interdisciplinary collaboration of a full-evening musical theater production of The Petals Rain of the Osmanthus for the Guangxi Song and Dance Theatre received the Grand Prize of the prestigious Wenhua Award in 2010. Since 2006, Disha has choreographed contemporary dances for Chinese ballet dancers to compete at international ballet competitions. Her Sad Bird received the Choreography Award at the 2018 USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Mississippi. In 2015, How Beautiful Is Heaven and Linen Braids were choreographed for the National Ballet of China and were performed in the Hamburg Ballet Nijinsky Gala. In 2017, Disha created Us for the Stanislavsky Ballet in Moscow, which premiered in 2018. Disha’s premiere of Elapse in 2019 for Houston Ballet is her first choreographic commission for an American company.  Elapse debuted as part of Houston Ballet’s 50th anniversary season.  In 2020, the dance drama Zhu Ziqing won the 12th China Lotus Cup Dance Drama Award and the Best Director Award, and the Zijin Culture and Art Festival Excellent Drama Award.  In 2024, the dance drama Li Qingzhao is being created and is expected to premiere in June.

Zeng Xiaogang

COMPOSER, ELAPSE

Zeng Xiaogang was born in China, and he has studied at Academy of Music and Drama, Gothenburg University.  He plays Qin/Guqin which is Mandarin for "ancient string instrument". Zeng Xiaogang is a guqin soloist from China who lived for several years in Sweden where he studied world music. In Xiaogang’s words, “My associations on guqin are already much further than just the Chinese classical context, these rhythms are as free as breathing itself.” His understanding of music for guqin he learned from Western music, and extended diverse folk music such as Scandinavian and Arab music. Guqin is his spiritual path that he commits to every day, which he returns to again and again. “Guqin is the teacher and friend of my life.”

Dwight Rhoden

CHOREOGRAPHER, THE LIGHTNING ROUND

(Founding Artistic Director / Choreographer of Complexions Contemporary Ballet)  Dwight Rhoden has established a remarkably wide-ranging career, earning distinction from The New York Times as “one of the most sought out choreographers of the day.”  Rhoden performed with Dayton Contemporary Dance Company, Les Ballet Jazz De Montreal, as a principal dancer with Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.  In 1994, Rhoden and Desmond Richardson founded Complexions Contemporary Ballet, widely considered “America’s Original Multicultural Contemporary Ballet Company” bringing their unique brand of contemporary dance to the world.  Rhoden has created over 100 ballets for Complexions, as well as numerous other companies including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Ballet Arizona, The Atlanta Ballet, BalletMet, The Dance Theater of Harlem, Colorado Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, Miami City Ballet, New York City Ballet, The Pennsylvania Ballet, Philadanco, Mariinsky Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theater, Ballet Nice Méditerranée, Tulsa Ballet, The Washington Ballet, The San Francisco Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Houston Ballet, Rome Opera Ballet, among others. He has also choreographed for TV, film, theater and live performances.  Mr. Rhoden received the New York Foundation for the Arts Award and is in the NYFA Hall of Fame. Nominated for a Benois De La Dance award for his libretto for Gatsby The Ballet, he also received an Honorary Doctorate degree from The Boston Conservatory in recognition of his extensive contributions to the field of dance. Mr. Rhoden is currently an Artistic Professor of Dance at Chapman University.

David Rozenblatt

COMPOSER, THE LIGHTNING ROUND

Grammy-nominated and platinum-selling percussionist and composer, David Rozenblatt, has collaborated with some of the finest talents in pop, jazz, and classical music. This premiere marks Rhoden’s and Rozenblatt’s sixth ballet collaboration: Three Point Turn—written for legendary prima ballerina Diana Vishneva, Desmond Richardson, and the Kirov (now Mariinsky) Ballet—won numerous Golden Mask Awards including “Best Ballet” and “Critic's Prize.” Othello—written for The Charlotte Ballet—premiered to stellar reviews. And Dirty Wire, Imprint Maya, and Chronicle—written for Complexions Contemporary Ballet—had their respective premieres at The Joyce Theater in New York.  Rozenblatt’s most recent work, Dispute In Conclusion Unplugged, was commissioned by Seattle Symphony for its Chamber Series. Bachtrack wrote, “Of the 21st-century composers, David Rozenblatt stole the show [and] left the audience breathless before they shouted a collective ‘Wow!’” Another orchestral work, Flux, for Baltic Sea Philharmonic, was premiered entirely by memory at Abu Dhabi’s Emirates Palace and The Dubai Opera House.  Rozenblatt has collaborated, performed and/or recorded with Tony Bennett, Andrea Bocelli, Pierre Boulez, Elliot Carter, Ornette Coleman, Neil Diamond, Babyface, Will Ferrell, Lady Gaga, Jennifer Hudson, Dimitri Hvorostovsky, Kesha, John Legend, Barry Manilow, Reba McEntire, Bill Murray, Paul Simon, Vladimir Spivakov, Usher, and Stevie Wonder.  Born in Ukraine, Rozenblatt moved to the United States at the age of four. He received a Master’s degree from The Juilliard School and devotes most of his artistic life to composing, recording and performing to sold out stadiums, arenas, concert halls, and clubs all over the world.

Stanton Welch

CHOREOGRAPHER, THE FOUR SEASONS

In July 2003, Australian choreographer Stanton Welch AM assumed leadership of Houston Ballet. Since then, the company has grown to 60 dancers, making it America’s fifth largest classical ballet company. Mr. Welch has revitalized Houston Ballet by raising the level of the company’s classical technique and commissioning new works from the world’s best dance makers. The company has made numerous appearances in the US and internationally including London, Germany, Spain, Montreal, Ottawa, Paris, Australia, New York, Los Angeles, Chicago and Washington, D.C. Mr. Welch has created works for some of the world’s most prestigious companies such as San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Australian Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet and The Royal Danish Ballet. He has choreographed more than 40 works for Houston Ballet including the full-length narrative ballet Marie (2009), Romeo and Juliet (2015), Giselle (2016), The Nutcracker (2016) as well as spectacular stagings of Swan Lake (2006), La Bayadère (2010). Under his leadership, the Houston Ballet Academy teaches over one thousand students every year, and approximately 50% of the current company was trained by the Academy.

Antonio Vivaldi (1678-1741)

COMPOSER, THE FOUR SEASONS

Antonio Vivaldi was an Italian composer, virtuoso violinist and impresario of Baroque music.  He is one of the most renowned composers of European and Baroque-style classical music.  Vivaldi was born in Venice, Italy in 1678.  He pioneered many developments in orchestration, violin technique and programmatic music.  He composed a huge collection of works during his life, including more than fifty operas, instrumental concertos, and sacred choral works.  His best-known composition is a series of violin concertos The Four Seasons.  A set of four violin concerti, Four Seasons, was considered a revolution in the music world.   With each concerto, Vivaldi gave musical life to the seasons, from flowing creeks and buzzing flies to cold winter winds. His influence was widespread across Europe and paramount to the development of numerous composers, most notably, Johann Sebastian Bach. Regarded today as one of the greatest Baroque composers and innovators of classical music of all time, Vivaldi died in Vienna in 1741.

HISTORY

TSCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX REPERTORY HISTORY

This will be Houston Ballet’s fourth time performing George Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux as a part of its main season.  It is a part of Stanton Welch’s 20th anniversary season.  It was also performed at Miller Outdoor Theater and the Woodlands Mitchell Pavilion. Other works by Balanchine in Houston Ballet’s repertoire are Agon, Apollo, Ballet Imperial, Ballo della Regina, Concerto Barocco, The Four Temperaments, Jewels, La Valse, Pas de Dix, Prodigal Son, Serenade, Symphony in C, Theme and Variations, and Western Symphony.

TSCHAIKOVSKY PAS DE DEUX PRODUCTION DETAILS

CHOREOGRAPHER: George Balanchine © The George Balanchine Trust

GENRE: Neo-Classical Ballet

RUN TIME: Ballet in 1 Act; 12 minutes

LOCATION: Brown Theater at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas

COMPOSER: Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky

SCORE: Excerpt from Swan Lake, Op. 20, Act III

ORIGINAL PREMIERE DATE: March 29, 1960 by New York City Ballet at City Center in New York, New York.

HOUSTON BALLET PREMIERE DATE: March 21, 1970 at Jones Hall for the Performing Arts in Houston, Texas.

COSTUME DESIGN: Karinska

HOUSTON BALLET LIGHTING DESIGN: Christina R. Giannelli

HOUSTON BALLET LIGHTING RECREATION: Lisa J. Pinkham

STAGER FOR HOUSTON BALLET (2024): Victoria Simon © The George Balanchine Trust

BALLET MASTER (2024): Julie Kent

HOUSTON BALLET ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS (2024): Ermanno Florio and Simon Thew

HOUSTON BALLET STAGE MANAGER (2024): Jonathan Moore

SPECIAL PROGRAM NOTES (2024):  Houston Ballet’s 2024 performances of Tschaikovsky Pas De Deux, a Balanchine Ballet, were presented by arrangement with ©The George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style© and Balanchine Technique© Service standards established and provided by the Trust.

ELAPSE REPERTORY HISTORY

This will be Houston Ballet’s second time performing Disha Zhang’s Elapse as part of Stanton Welch’s 20th anniversary season. The premiere of Elapse in 2019 for Houston Ballet’s 50th anniversary season is her first choreographic commission for an American company.  Houston Ballet will perform Elapse at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. in June 2024 as part of 10,000 Dreams: A Celebration of Asian Choreography.

ELAPSE PRODUCTION DETAILS

CHOREOGRAPHER: Disha Zhang

GENRE: Contemporary Ballet

 

RUN TIME: Ballet in 1 Act; 17 minutes

 

LOCATION: Brown Theater at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas

 

COMPOSER: Zeng Xiaogang

 

SCORE: Elapse

 

WORLD PREMIERE DATE: September 21, 2019, by Houston Ballet in the Brown Theater at Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas.

 

COSTUME DESIGN: Disha Zhang

 

LIGHTING DESIGN: Lisa J. Pinkham

 

BALLET MASTER (2024): Ian Casady

 

HOUSTON BALLET ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS (2024): Ermanno Florio and Simon Thew

 

HOUSTON BALLET STAGE MANAGER (2024): Jonathan Moore

THE LIGHTNING ROUND REPERTORY HISTORY

This will be Houston Ballet’s first time performing Dwight Rhoden’s World Premiere The Lightning Round with a commissioned original score by composer David Rozenblatt as part of Stanton Welch’s 20th anniversary season.  Sixteen dancers will debut in this ensemble piece.

THE LIGHTNING ROUND PRODUCTION DETAILS

WORLD PREMIERE

CHOREOGRAPHER: Dwight Rhoden

GENRE: Contemporary Ballet

 

RUN TIME: Ballet in 1 Act; 32 minutes

 

LOCATION: Brown Theater at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas

 

COMPOSER: David Rozenblatt

 

SCORE: The Lightning Round

WORLD PREMIERE DATE: June 6, 2024 by Houston Ballet in the Brown Theater at Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas.

 

COSTUME DESIGN: Christine Darch

 

LIGHTING DESIGN: Michael Korsch

 

ASSISTANT TO THE CHOREOGRAPHER: Jillian Davis

 

BALLET MASTER (2024): Steven Woodgate

 

HOUSTON BALLET ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS (2024): Simon Thew

 

HOUSTON BALLET STAGE MANAGER (2024): Jonathan Moore

THE FOUR SEASONS REPERTORY HISTORY

This will be Houston Ballet’s third time  performing Stanton Welch’s The Four Seasons as part of his 20th anniversary season as Artistic Director.  The 2023-2024 season celebrates the 300th anniversary of Vivaldi’s The Four Seasons.  The Four Seasons is Welch’s fourth work to music by Vivaldi, in addition to Blue in 1995 for The Dancers Company, a touring ensemble of The Australian Ballet; Indigo for Houston Ballet in 1999; and Orange for Dance Galaxy in 2001.  Welch has choreographed 43 new works for Houston Ballet including The Four Seasons and 7 full length ballets.

THE FOUR SEASONS PRODUCTION DETAILS

CHOREOGRAPHER: Stanton Welch AM

GENRE: Neo-Classical Ballet

 

RUN TIME: Ballet in 1 Act; 46 minutes

 

LOCATION: Brown Theater at the Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas

 

COMPOSER: Antonio Vivaldi

 

SCORE: The Four Seasons

Violin Concerto in E major, Op. 8 No. 1 - RV 269, 'La primavera' ("Spring")

I. Allegro

II. Largo

III. Allegro pastorale

Violin Concerto in G minor, Op. 8 No. 2 - RV 315, 'L'estate' ("Summer")

I. Allegro non molto

II. Adagio e piano – Presto e forte

III. Presto

Violin Concerto in F major, Op. 8 No. 3 - RV 293, 'L'autunno' ("Autumn")

I. Allegro

II. Adagio molto

III. Allegro

Violin Concerto in F minor, Op. 8 No. 4 - RV 297, 'L'inverno' ("Winter")

I. Allegro non molto

II. Largo

III. Allegro

WORLD PREMIERE DATE: September 20, 2007 by Houston Ballet in the Brown Theater at Wortham Theater Center in Houston, Texas.

COSTUME DESIGN: Kandis Cook

 

SCENIC DESIGN: Thomas Boyd

 

LIGHTING DESIGN: Christina R. Giannelli

 

BALLET MASTER (2024): Stanton Welch AM

 

HOUSTON BALLET ORCHESTRA CONDUCTORS (2024): Ermanno Florio and Simon Thew

 

Denise Tarrant, Violin

 

HOUSTON BALLET STAGE MANAGER (2024): Jonathan Moore

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