GK Arts Center to Present Gelsey Kirkland Ballet's MISCHIEF, MISCHIEF AND MORE MISCHIEF

Gelsey Kirkland Ballet has announced that the third and final program of its 2015/2016 season, Mischief, Mischief and More Mischief, will be presented Friday, May 20 at 7:30pm, Saturday, May 21 at 2pm & 7:30pm, Sunday, May 22 at 2pm and 7pm, with a preview performance on Thursday, May 19 at 7:30pm.

Performances of Mischief, Mischief and More Mischief will take place at Gelsey Kirkland Ballet's theater, The GK ArtsCenter located in Dumbo, Brooklyn (29 Jay Street, previously home to Saint Ann's Warehouse and will feature a mixed bill program featuring the second ever U.S. performance Leonid Yakobson's The Wedding Procession.

Russian/Jewish choreographer Leonid Yakobson's The Wedding Procession, subtitled The Jewish Wedding, is set to Shostakovich's "Piano Trio Number 2 in E minor" from 1944 and inspired by Mark Chagall's art. Though less well-known in the west, Yakobson was a major figure in Soviet ballet. For example, Baryshnikov's prize winning performance of Vestris was choreographed by Yakobson. The Wedding Procession tells the story of the poor groom whose pregnant lover is forced to marry into a wealthier family - in front of everyone in the shtetl including, the Fiddler, the Piper, the Rabbi, both families, and of course the town gossip. The workis set by Gelsey Kirkland Ballet's ballet master Nikolai Levitsky. He and his wife Vera Soloveyva, whoserved as the Artistic Directors of the Yakobson Foundation in St Petersburg Russia, previously set two other Yakobson works for the Boston Ballet (Rodin and Pas de Quatre) in 2015.

In contrast, the second ballet of the evening will be Walpurgis Night - the famedBachanalian scene from Charles Gounod's Faust where virgins, satyrs, Pan and Roman Patricians celebrate the festival of Bacchus and culminating in an orgy-tastic finale. This exicitng work features magnificent sets of Roman ruins originally created for New York City Opera's production of Mephistopheles, as well as original costumes form the production. Originally choreographed by Leonid Lavrovsky, this rendition has also been restaged and choreographed by Nikolai Levitsky and Vera Soloveyva.

Back by popular demand and rounding out the evening is the adorable 19th century one-act classic Harlequinade. Showcasing all the stock commedia dell'arte characters, the work features the mischievous shenanigans of the cunning Harlequin and his adorable Columbine, who is jealously guarded by her father who conspires to marry her to a rich fop.

Tickets for Mischief, Mischief and More Mischief, which promises to be a night of drama, sensuous acrobatic ballet and hilarious comedy, start at just $25 and are available for purchase at www.GKArts.org.