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The holiday season will be heralded by an extended run of THE NUTCRACKER, and the extremely popular ‘Children’s Series’ will return for it’s sixth season.
“I am so excited by next season’s lineup,” said Artistic/Executive Directory Dennis Nahat. “The dancers will have taken some very welldeserved time off after a tremendously successful 2007-2008 season and our huge five-week tour to eight cities in China. They have been dancing better than ever, and now, not only will they be performing some of the biggest ballets in our repertory, but they will be learning so many brand new pieces. And five of our dancers will be premiering their own works. It just doesn’t get much better than this.”
The season opens November 20-23 with THE TOREADOR, a ballet in two acts by the legendary August Bournonville with new and re-adapted choreography by Flemming Flindt. Ballet San Jose is the only ballet company in the world that has this ballet in the repertory and will present it with full orchestra.
Denmark’s Royal Opera House constructed all the costumes and scenery. The story revolves around the beautiful daughter of a Spanish innkeeper and her love for a brave and handsome toreador, whom she cannot bear to see in danger.
The annual production of THE NUTCRACKER will have an extended run this year from December 11 through 28, with three special children’s hour-long matinee performances for very young children and their families. “These ‘kid’s matinees’ have just been so successful for us,” said Marketing Director Lee Kopp, “that we can’t seem to schedule enough of them. Two years ago, we had one Nutcracker ‘kiddie’ mat. Last year it was two; next season, three. Many companies try to discourage families from bringing three-year olds to the ballet. They think they will be disruptive. We love these performances, and so do the dancers. The kids just go crazy, cheering the action on the stage. They are totally involved.”
The company returns to the stage February 26 through March 1 with HIDDEN TALENTS - AN EVENING OF PREMIERES. Company dancers Karen Gabay, Tiffany Glenn, Alexsandra Meijer, and Preston Dugger, with former dancer and current school instructor and company rehearsal assistant, Dalia Rawson, will show off their dance-making talents with world-premiere ballets. This is the first time in nearly ten years that the choreographic talents of the dancers in the company will be featured in a full-length program. “One of the most exciting things in the theater is to see new works from young dancers,” said Nahat. “This is the future on display. We will give them the stage, they wil have total control of their work.”
In early Spring (April 2-5) Dennis Nahat will remount his magnificent production of A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM, featuring the awardwinning set and costume designs of David Guthrie. Symphony Silicon Valley will perform the remarkable score that, almost overnight, made Felix Mendelssohn a star. This magical, musical Shakespearean comedy is brilliantly told in dance with all the fabulous plot twists and turns, the mistaken and mismatched lovers, the supernatural characters of Puck, Oberon and Titania, with a full retinue of fairies and sprites from the Ballet San Jose SCHOOL, and, of course, the unforgettable and bemused jackass, Bottom.
The season ends May 7-10 with SONG AND DANCE, three Company premieres of ballets set to music with songs. New York City Ballet principal dancer Nilas Martins’ PUCCINI SONGS is a classical ballet for three couples set to eleven operatic songs by Giacomo Puccini performed with live voice and piano accompaniment. Antony Tudor’s DARK ELEGIES is regarded as one of the greatest ballets of the 20th century. Set to Gustav Mahler’s “Kindertotenlieder,” this 1937 setting of poems by Ruckert is a true masterpiece for the ages. And hailed as one of America’s most inventive choreographers, Twyla Tharp has set SINATRA SONGS to recordings by old Blue Eyes himself including High Hopes, Fly Me To The Moon, One More for My Baby (and One More for the Road), and many more Sinatra favorites.
Ballet San Jose SCHOOL will then take center stage when school director Lise la Cour brings back one of her all-time favorite pieces, THE LITTLE MERMAID, presented May 16 and 17 at the beautiful and historic California Theater in downtown San Jose. “Mermaid” is one of five ballets that La Cour has created for young audiences. “Being Danish myself, and working for years at the Royal Danish Ballet in Copenhagen, how could I not love The Little Mermaid,” said La Cour. “It is one of my favorite stories by Hans Christian Andersen, and I think we have created a beautiful ballet of it.” -- www.balletsanjose.org
Posted June 5th, 2008 by ruzik_tuzik
