NEW YORK THEATRE BALLET announces PILATES CLASSES

Beginning Tuesday, July 7, 2015

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) is pleased to announce its new Pilates classes, beginning Tuesday, July 7, 2015 at NYTB's home studio, located at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 East 10th Street, 2nd Floor, New York City. Classes will be offered on both Tuesday evenings, from 7-8pm, and Thursday mornings, from 8:15-9:15am. Cost will be $15/class walk in, $60 per 5-class card.

Taught by Amanda Treiber, principal dancer with NYTB, this gentle Pilates class is designed to build strength, coordination, and flexibility while gaining the understanding of the muscles used and the technique of the exercises. Combining the ideas of basic ballet and STOTT Pilates allows for many modifications that are used throughout the class to accommodate the most beginner level to the most advanced. This class is especially good for all types of physically active people who are looking to balance out the body in a gentle constructive way.

NEW YORK THEATRE BALLET to perform Legends & Visionaries 2015 at Danspace Project

New York Theatre Ballet will perform Legends & Visionaries 2015 from June 18-20, 2015 at Danspace Project, 131 E. 10th Street, NYC.

Performances: Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:00pm.

Tickets are $20 ($15 for Danspace members), and are available online at www.danspaceproject.org or by calling OvationTix/TheaterMania at 866.811.4111.

New York Theatre Ballet will perform Richard Alston's Such Longing, Frederick Ashton's Capriol Suite, the World Premiere of Gemma Bond's Cat's Cradle, a new, as-yet-untitled work by David Parker, and Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies.

  • Richard Alston's Such Longing is danced to the music of Chopin, not pretty waltzes or the great virtuoso fireworks but achingly beautiful meditations from his Nocturnes and Etudes. Filled with longing for Chopin's Polish homeland, this lush and lyrical music floods through tender duets and introspective solos for two couples. Frederick Ashton's Capriol Suite will be performed by the full company.
  • "Capriol Suite, Ashton's earliest ballet, was choreographed in 1930 for Rambert's students, before she had a company. The music, by Peter Warlock, is based on themes from the 16th Century treatise Orchesographie, by Thoint Arbeau. As well as the music, the book contains descriptions of such dances as the Pavane and the Galliard. Ashton did not follow these, but made some use of the illustrations and other pictorial sources. The ballet is an imaginative recreation of old dances rather than an authentic reconstruction. Originally danced by four couples, the ballet was danced by the Sadler's Wells Theatre Ballet in 1948. It is the version that is the basis of a later revival staged by Elisabeth Schooling and Sally Gilmour, former members of the Ballet Rambert," said David Vaughan.
  • Elena Zahlmann will perform a solo by David Parker and Dark Elegies will feature Rie Ogura, Elena Zahlmann, Carmella Lauer, Choong Hoon Lee and Stephen Campanella.

"New York Theatre Ballet's move downtown is both a symbol of rebirth and renewal," said Diana Byer, artistic director of New York Theatre Ballet. "With three different programs in three different venues, Legends & Visionaries 2015 is a revolutionary season."

New York Theatre Ballet will celebrate their first season in their new home, and honor longtime friends Richard Alston and Valda Setterfield at a Garden Party on opening night, Thursday, June 18, 2015 at 6pm at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 E. 10th Street, New York City. The evening concludes with a performance at 8pm of NYTB's Legends & Visionaries 2015 at Danspace Project, 131 E. 10th Street, NYC. Tickets are $200 ($100 for children), and include both the party and the performance. Please contact admin@nytb.org to purchase.

These performances are part of DANCE:Access, a self-production series administered by Danspace Project that serves independent choreographers and dance companies.

New York Theatre Ballet to perform CINDERELLA at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival

From June 24-28, 2015

New York Theatre Ballet will perform Donald Mahler's Cinderella at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in the Doris Duke Theatre from June 24-28, 2015.  Jacob's Pillow, a National Historic Landmark, National Medal of Arts recipient, and home to America's longest-running dance festival, is located at 358 George Carter Road, Becket, MA.

Performances: Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Saturday at 8:15pm, and Saturday and Sunday at 2:15pm.

Tickets Information: Tickets are $35 and $25, with $10 Youth tickets also available for every performance. Tickets are on sale now online at jacobspillow.org and via phone at 413.243.0745.

A perennial favorite of NYTB audiences across America, Cinderella is one-hour in length with choreography by Donald Mahler, costumes by Sylvia Taalson Nolan, set design by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith. New York Theatre Ballet last performed at the Inside/Out Stage at Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival in July 2008.

"Gillian Bradshaw-Smith's ingenious scenery included a clock that came alive and danced, and furniture that moved magically about.  And Sylvia Taalsohn Nolan, the imaginative costume designer, created a gasp-producing moment when Cinderella's attire changed miraculously from rags to the riches of a ball gown." -The New York Times

During the week of their engagement, company members of NYTB will also teach a free, all-ages, all-levels ballet class to the Pillow public on Sunday, June 28. Limited space, call 413.243.9919 to register.

For more information, visit www.jacobspillow.org.

The School of American Ballet announces the Workshop Performance Benefit 2015

At the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Lincoln Center on Tuesday, June 2, 2015

The School of American Ballet announces the Workshop Performance Benefit 2015 on Tuesday, June 2, 2015. The evening begins with cocktails at 5:30pm in Juilliard's Morse Hall, followed by the performance at 7pm in the Peter Jay Sharp Theater at Lincoln Center. A seated dinner at 9pm at the Mandarin Oriental will conclude the evening. 

The Workshop Performance Benefit 2015 is The School of American Ballet's most anticipated event of the year. The annual Workshop Performances are SAB's only public performances and a rare opportunity to get a sneak preview of the ballet world's up and coming young stars. A Benefit Dinner follows the Tuesday evening performance at Lincoln Center, and attracts more than 550 arts patrons, corporate VIPs and New York's social elite. 

The School of American Ballet’s 2014 Workshop Performance Benefit Photos by Erin Baiano

This year's event is headed by Chairmen Michele Barakett, Linda Daines, Hillary Lane Hochberg, Nell Kleinschmidt, and Max R. Shulman; and Young Patron Chairman Stephanie Linka.

This year's benefit will celebrate the legendary Rudolf Nureyev and commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Scholarship. At the peak of his career, Mr. Nureyev spent many hours in the classroom, polishing his technique alongside SAB's students in Stanley Williams's acclaimed advanced men's class. In 1995, the Rudolf Nureyev Dance Foundation generously presented the School with funding for an annual scholarship to support promising students in honor of Mr. Nureyev's affinity for SAB and Mr. Williams's teaching.

In 1964, Alexandra Danilova, George Balanchine's former classmate at the Imperial Ballet and a leading ballerina of Diaghilev's Ballets Russes and the Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo joined SAB's faculty. In 1965, Madame Danilova established SAB's annual year-end Workshop Performances, giving the School's advanced students an opportunity to participate in professionally staged, publicly performed productions of classic ballet works. Since its inception, the Workshop Performances have seen hundreds of SAB's advanced students make their public debut as they prepare to leave SAB and go on to dance on the world's top stages. The New York Times coined Workshop a "spot-them-before-they-are-stars showcase". Scores of notable SAB alumni have performed at Workshop, including Merrill Ashley, Peter Boal, Maria Kowroski, Lourdes Lopez, Sara Mearns, Benjamin Millepied, Ethan Stiefel, and Wendy Whelan.

Young Patron Chairmen Brynn Putnam and Erica Sheftman

The post-performance dinner has evolved through the years, from an intimate gathering hosted by SAB co-founder Lincoln Kirstein at his Gramercy Park townhouse into a festive fundraiser held in the SAB studios. The continued success of the Workshop Performance Benefit has led to the use of another wonderful New York venue.The post-performance dinner will take place in the magnificentballroom at the Mandarin Oriental with the City's iconic skyline as a backdrop.

The 2015 Workshop Performances program will include 19th & 20th Century Masters (Petipa, Bournonville, Balanchine & Robbins); Harlequinade ("Ballabile des Enfants"), Choreography by George Balanchine, Music by Riccardo Drigo; William Tell (pas de deux), Choreography by August Bournonville, Music by Gioachino Rossini; The Sleeping Beauty (pas de deux), Choreography by Peter Martins (after Marius Petipa), Music by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky; Valse-Fantaisie, Choreography by George Balanchine, Music by Mikhail Glinka; Stars and Stripes (3rd Regiment "Thunder and Gladiator"), Choreography by George Balanchine, Music by John Philip Sousa, arranged by Hershy Kay; and Fanfare, Choreography by Jerome Robbins, Music by Benjamin Britten.

The Peter Jay Sharp Theater is located at 155 W. 65th Street (between Amsterdam and Broadway). The Mandarin Oriental is located at 80 Columbus Circle at 60th Street, NYC.

For more information,