The Joyce Theater's BALLET FESTIVAL to Run 8/4-16

By: Tyler Peterson Jul. 07, 2015

Following its successful, sold-out festival of ballet in 2013, The Joyce Theater Foundation (Linda Shelton, Executive Director) will once again present a two-week long season of America's most exciting contemporary ballet companies and choreographers. This remarkable Ballet Festival, designed to recognize dancers and choreographers who are creating work outside the traditional large company setting - and, in some cases, forming their own companies - will take place from August 4 - 16 at The Joyce Theater and feature such rising choreographers and companies as Ballet X, The Ashley Bouder Project and Joshua Beamish: MOVE the company, among others. Tickets start at $10, and can be purchased online at www.Joyce.org or by calling JoyceCharge at 212-242-0800. The Joyce Theater is located at 175 Eighth Avenue at West 19th Street.

Joshua Beamish/MOVE: the company

August 4-5 at 7:30pm

Canadian born choreographer Joshua Beamish takes The Joyce stage with a dazzling program featuring the U.S. premiere of burrow, a duet for Royal Ballet dancers Matthew Ball and Nicol Edmonds, and the world premiere of Surface Properties, an ensemble work performed by ten American Ballet Theatre dancers in which the brash, relentless music of Mark Mellits and Michael Gordon informs the artists' astounding speed and precision. Also on the program are excerpts from Pierced, Beamish's 2013 piece exploring the dark side of love.

Chamber Dance Project, dancers & musicians

August 6-7 at 8pm

Chamber Dance Project, dancers and musicians returns to New York with a repertoire program of sweeping athleticism, artful sensuality, arresting emotional shifts, and a power that lingers long after the curtain. The program features a live string quartet, six soloist dancers and three acclaimed choreographers in five New York premieres: Wild Swans by Darrell Grand Moultrie; Sur, a tango ballet by Argentinean, Jorge Amarante; the poignant male duet, Exit Wounds by Diane Coburn Bruning; structured improvisations, SI 8 & 9, created in the moment; and Arranged, an hypnotic dance for three women and nine chairs and set to Arvo Part's Fratres.

The Ashley Bouder Project

August 8 at 8pm; August 9 at 2pm

New York City Ballet Principal Dancer Ashley Bouder joins the Ballet Festival with three premieres alongside a New York City Ballet cast. The works include an intimate new pas de deux by Miami City Ballet's Adriana Pierce; the world premiere of In Passing, a multi-media work directed and choreographed by Netherlands Dans Theater alum Andrea Schermoly; and the New York premiere of Joshua Beamish's Rouge et Noir, a bold homage to the collaborative spirit of the Ballet Russes featuring costumes by CFDA member B Michael, and sets by Mark Howard.

BALLETX

August 11-12 at 7:30pm

After a smashing appearance in The Joyce's 2012 season ballet festival, the Philadelphia-based troupe cofounded by Matthew Neenan and Christine Cox, returns with Sunset, o639 Hours, an intriguing evening length work enacting the tragic story of Captain Edwin Musick who, in 1938, piloted the first airmail service flight between New Zealand and the United States.

Emery LeCrone

August 13-14 at 8pm

Since 2006 when she created her first ballet, Emery LeCrone has gone on to create over fifty works. For the company's Joyce debut, the program will include two NY premieres, the revival of LeCrone's 2014 Guggenheim Works & Process ballet Partita No. 2 in C Minor, and a world-premiere new work for six dancers. Partita No. 2 in C Minor will be danced by NYC Ballet's Sara Mearns and Russell Janzen alongside ABT's Stella Abrera and Alex Hammoudi. Harpist Marion Ravot and Soprano Molly Netter will perform for the NY Premiere of Lasciatemi Qui Solo danced by Kimi Nikaidoh. Izabela Syzlinska and Shane Ohmer will dance in the NY Premiere of Ritonare with music by Ludovico Einuadi and Victoria Bartlett of VPL will collaborate on new designs for the World-Premiere work for six dancers.

Amy Seiwert's Imagery

August 15 at 8pm; August 16 at 2pm

Amy Seiwert's 19-year career was primarily spent with Smuin Ballet, both as a dancer and as Choreographer in Residence. Imagery, her contemporary ballet company, makes its Joyce debut with three New York premieres, all of which demonstrate Seiwert's talent in combining works of contemporary composers like Max Richter, Jeff Buckley, and Holcombe Waller with innovative contemporary dance.

The Joyce Theater Foundation's Ballet Festival, a sampling of six of the country's most exciting young dance companies whose works represents a range of ballet styles from neo classical to contemporary, will be presented at The Joyce Theater from August 4 - 16 according to the following schedule: