Houston Ballet Announces Winter Mixed Repertory Program

Houston Ballet offers up its Winter Mixed Repertory Program which introduces three masterpieces into the company's repertory in a thrilling evening of dance.
Dyad 1929 is the first work by the celebrated British, Royal Ballet choreographer Wayne McGregor to be performed by Houston Ballet. West Side Story electrified audiences when it premiered on Broadway in 1957, and this collection of dances and songs from that landmark production exemplifies the electricity, vitality and dramatic poignancy of this quintessentially American work. Ji?í Kylián's haunting Wings of Wax rounds out the program.

Celebrated British Choreographer Wayne McGregor's Dyad 1929

Has Houston Ballet Premiere

Set to Steve Reich's Pulitzer Prize-winning Double Sextet and dedicated to the memory of modern dance legend Merce Cunningham, Dyad 1929 showcases Mr. McGregor's trademark style of dynamic contrasts and intensely physical partnering. The ballet features a cast of twelve dancers, six men and six women who perform extraordinary movements against a bold, abstract lighting and stage concept. A white backdrop with rows of block dots dominates the stage and arrests the eye; meanwhile, a horizontal bar of yellow light is raised and lowered throughout the ballet.

The Herald Sun proclaimed, "It's a total work of art in which every element is equally weighted and equally impressive, from the agile and likable music (by Steve Reich, no less) to the designer costumes, and from the (literally) dazzling lighting to the rich, enigmatic and endlessly fascinating choreography.....a minor miracle" (August 25, 2009).

Wayne McGregor is a multi award-winning British choreographer, renowned for his physically testing choreography and ground-breaking collaborations across dance, film, music, visual art, technology and science. He is currently the Artistic Director of Wayne McGregor | Random Dance, resident company at Sadler's Wells Theatre in London; Resident Choreographer of the Royal Ballet (appointed 2006) and the government's first Youth Dance Champion (appointed 2008). In January 2011, McGregor was awarded a CBE (Commander of the Order of the British Empire). He is also a frequent creator of new work for La Scala, Milan, Paris Opera Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet and English National Ballet; as well as movement director for theatre and film (including, Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire).

Dyad 1929 is the first work of Mr. McGregor's to enter Houston Ballet's repertoire.

Jerome Robbins' West Side Story Suite Electrifies Audiences

The musical West Side Story is one of the most popular theatrical productions based on William Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet and became a sensation when it premiered on Broadway in 1957. Set on Manhattan's Upper West Side in the mid-1950s, West Side Story explores the rivalry between two teenage gangs of different ethnic and cultural backgrounds. Tony, who belongs to the native Manhattan gang, the Jets, falls in love with Maria, the sister of the leader of the rival Puerto Rican gang, the Sharks. The dark theme, sophisticated music, extended dance scenes, and focus on social problems marked a turning point in American musical theater.

The original 1957 Broadway production, directed and choreographed by Jerome Robbins, marked Stephen Sondheim's Broadway debut. The production earned a Tony Award in 1957 for Robbins' choreography. The musical led to the innovative, award-winning 1961 musical film, winning 10 Academy Awards out of 11 nominations, including Best Director, for Robbins and Robert Wise, and Best Picture. Robbins extracted a sequence of dances from West Side Story to make this suite for New York City Ballet in 1995. The suite consists of seven crucial dances from the musical and Houston Ballet dancers will take to the stage to not only dance Robbins' famous choreography, but to sing, as well.

Writing for the Seattle Times, Moira Macdonald wrote, "West Side Story Suite - and, indeed, the entire evening - was a welcome reminder that glorious musicals never die. The audience immediately began snapping fingers along with Riff during the prologue; each remembering, perhaps, their first viewing of it long ago. West Side Story Suite melds together seven crucial dances from the musical, distilling it into an intense, ever-pulsing half-hour" (March 13, 2009).

New York-born choreographer Jerome Robbins, one of the first great American ballet masters, had a wide-ranging career in the fields of both theater and dance - as a performer and choreographer in ballet and musical theater, and as a director and choreographer in theater, movies, television and opera. In a career that spanned five decades, he won four Tony Awards, two Academy Awards, an Emmy, and countless other awards for his achievements. He joined Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre) in 1940 and choreographed his first work, Fancy Free, for that company in 1944. This was followed by Interplay (1945) andFacsimile (1946), after which he embarked on a prolific and enormously successful career as a choreographer and later as a director of Broadway musicals and plays. He was simultaneously creating ballets for New York City Ballet, which he joined in 1949 as associate director with George Balanchine. Among his outstanding works for that company were The Guests (1949), The Age of Anxiety (1951), The Cage(1951), The Pied Piper (1951), Afternoon of a Faun (1953), Dances at a Gathering (1969), The Goldberg Variations (1971) and Glass Pieces (1983). Houston Ballet has four works by Jerome Robbins in its repertory: Fancy Free, which the company premiered in 2010; Afternoon of a Faun, which received its company premiere in 2008; The Concert, which entered the company's repertory in 2007; and In the Night, which the company first performed in 1987.

Jiri Kylian's Visually Arresting Wings of Wax Enters Repertory

Ji?í Kylián's haunting Wings of Wax rounds out the program in a visually arresting work that references the myth of Icarus. The myth states that Icarus attempted to escape the island of Crete with wings made of wax and feathers, but died when he flew too close to the sun, destroying the wings, and plummeted into the ocean.

Created in 1997 for Nederlands Dans Theater, where Kylián was artistic director from 1976 - 199, and chief choreographer and artistic advisor until 2004, the mythological reference can be seen in the stage and lighting concepts. The ballet unfolds underneath the canopy of a giant tree that stretches above the heads of the dancers while a spotlight slowly circles, suggesting the sun.

Dance critic Judith Mackrel, for The Guardian, wrote, "It adds up to a scene of haunting beauty, and Kylián peoples it with an equally haunting ensemble. At times, the eight dancers merge into a tight community, travelling in simple walking patterns. At others, each strives individually to catch the spotlight as details of gesture and rhythm isolate them from the group. The effect is beautifully organic: a work orchestrated as pure dance, but which carries a subtle flickering of human drama" (April 4, 2008).

Ji?í Kylián has proven to be one of the world's most influential choreographers and has had a profound impact on the world of dance. Jack Anderson, writing in The New York Times about Kylián, observed, "Ballets choreographed by Ji?í Kylián are passionate, rhapsodic, even tempestuous. The Czech-born artistic director of Netherlands Dance Theater likes to send dancers surging in great waves across the stage, and he is not afraid to make strong choreographic statements in the theater." (June 21, 1987)

Born in Prague, Ji?í Kylián studied at Prague National Theatre, Prague Conservatory and The Royal Ballet School in London before joining Stuttgart Ballet in 1968 under the direction of John Cranko. Mr. Kylián joined Nederlands Dans Theater in 1973 as a guest choreographer, and was appointed artistic director in 1978. After joining Nederlands Dans Theater he created and realized over 60 productions for the company, including such works as: Sinfonietta (1978), Forgotten Land (1981), Bella Figura (1995), and Last Touch (2003). In 1995 Mr. Kylián celebrated 20 years as artistic director with Nederlands Dans Theater with the large-scale production Arcimboldo as well as receiving Holland's highest honor, Officier in de Orde van Oranje Nassau. In 1999 Kylián retired as artistic director, but still has an active role as resident choreographer and artistic advisor with the company.

With the performance of Wings of Wax, Houston Ballet has nine works by Mr. Kylián in its repertoire, including Symphony in D (created in 1977, performed by Houston Ballet in 1982, 1983, 1984, 1986, and 1994), Sinfonietta (created in 1978, performed by Houston Ballet in 1995, 1996, 1997, and 2013), Forgotten Land (created in 1981, performed by Houston Ballet 2005 and 2010), Svadebka (created in 1982, performed by Houston Ballet in 2007), Falling Angels (created in 1989, performed by Houston Ballet in 2009 and 2011), Soldiers' Mass (created in 1980, performed by Houston Ballet in 2009), Petite Mort(created in 1991, performed by Houston Ballet in 2007 and 2014) and Sechs Tanze (created in 1986, performed by Houston Ballet in 2014).

Houston Ballet's Winter Mixed Repertory Program generously sponsored by: Chevron and Riviana Foods, Inc.

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HOUSTON BALLET

WINTER MIXED REPERTORY

FACT SHEET

All performances listed here are in Wortham Theater Center.

WHAT: WINTER MIXED REPEROTRY featuring:

DYAD 1929 (Houston Ballet Premiere)
Music by Steve Reich
Double Sextet

Choreography by Wayne McGregor

Stage Concept by Wayne McGregor and Lucy Carter

Costume Design by Moritz Junge

Lighting Design by Lucy Carter

WEST SIDE STORY SUITE (Houston Ballet Premiere)

Music by Leonard Bernstein

Lyrics by Stephen Sondheim

Choreography by Jerome Robbins; Co-Choreographed by Peter Gennaro

Set Design by Irene Sharraff

Lighting Design by Jennifer Tipton

WINGS OF WAX (Houston Ballet Premiere)

Music by Heinrich Ignaz Franz Biber, Passacaglia for solo violin;

John Cage, Prelude for Meditation for prepared piano;

Philip Glass, Movement III from String Quartet No. 5;

Johann Sebastian Bach, Variation No. 25, Adagio, in G minor, (arranged for string trio by Dimitri Sitkavetsky) from "Goldberg Variations"

Choreography by Ji?í Kylián

Scenic and Costume Designs by John F. Macfarlane

Lighting by Kees Tjebbes

Houston Ballet Orchestra conducted by Ermanno Florio

PRODUCTION

SPONSORED BY: Chevron and Riviana Foods, Inc.

ABOUT THE

PROGRAM: Houston Ballet offers up its Winter Mixed Repertory Program which introduces three masterpieces into the company's repertory in a thrilling evening of dance.

Dyad 1929 is the first work by the celebrated British, Royal Ballet choreographer Wayne McGregor to be performed by Houston Ballet. West Side Story electrified audiences when it premiered on Broadway in 1957, and this collection of dances and songs from that landmark production exemplifies the electricity, vitality and dramatic poignancy of this quintessentially American work. Ji?í Kylián's haunting Wings of Wax rounds out the program.

WHEN: At 7:30 pm on March 10, 12, 18, 19, 2016

At 2:00 pm on March 13, 19, 20, 2016

WHERE: Brown Theater, Wortham Theater Center, 501 Texas Avenue in downtown Houston

TICKETS: Start at $23. Call (713) 227 ARTS (2787) or 1 800 828 ARTS.

www.houstonballet.org.

Also available at Houston Ballet Box Office at Wortham Theater Center downtown at 501 Texas at Smith Street Monday - Friday 9 am - 5pm

FOR MORE

INFORMATION: Visit Houston Ballet online at www.houstonballet.org.

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