The Brigham Young University Department of Dance and Theatre Ballet will present “Honoring Tradition — Embracing Innovation,” a variety of classic and contemporary dances, during the annual "Ballet in Concert" Thursday through Saturday, Feb 18-20, at 7:30 p.m. in the Pardoe Theatre.
A matinee performance will be available Saturday, Feb. 20, at 2 p.m. Tickets are
$12 and can be purchased online at byuarts.com, by phone at (801) 422-4322 or in person at the Harris Fine Arts Center Ticket Office.
“With this year’s ‘Ballet in Concert,’ the audience will certainly get a taste of what is possible within the ballet genre,” said BYU ballet faculty member Lynne Thompson. “From neoclassical, jazzy, tango to more deep emotional journeys, the show certainly honors tradition and embraces innovation.”
The ballet company, under the artistic direction of Shani Robison, will present the traditional classic “Les Sylphides,” a one-act romantic reverie with music by Frédéric Chopin, and “Visual Vertex” choreographed by Kalise Child, an energetic piece to music by Aphex Twin that explores the different elements of seeing the end from the beginning.
A highlight of the night will be Robison’s contemporary works “Concealed,” one of 11 dances selected from more than 40 entries to be performed at the American College Dance Festival’s Northwest Regional Gala Concert in March 2009, and “Lost and Found,” set to music composed by Clinton Mansell and Rob Dougan, and performed by Escala. Both pieces center on the theme of personal growth. Her “Playful Persuasion” shows a lighter side to contemporary ballet as the five dancers play with movements and props in unique ways to the music of Anne Dudley.
Other dances during the evening will be “Multiples of One,” an example of George Balanchine’s neoclassic style popularized by George Balanchine that was choreographed by Suzi Wood, and “Tango Sabroso,” a spicy tango based on the Argentine tango choreographed by Marsha Russell to the music “Libertango” and “Oblivion” by Astor Piazzollo, a 20th-century Argentine composer who created the “nuevo tango” movement by adding elements from jazz and classical music to the tango form.
For more information, contact Shani Robison at (801)-422-4748 or shani_robison@byu.edu.
Writer: Ricardo Castro
