New York City Center Presents The 3rd Season Of MORPHOSES/THE WHEELDON COMPANY 10/29-11/1

New York City Center will present the third annual season of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, October 29 - November 1, 2009, featuring two unique programs including U.S. premieres by Artistic Director Christopher Wheeldon and Australian choreographer Tim Harbour, as well as works by Lightfoot León, Alexei Ratmansky and Mr. Wheeldon. The engagement will feature live music performed by the Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas, with the opening night conducted by the orchestra's founder and music director, Alondra de la Parra.

The season celebrates the centenary of the Ballets Russes, inspired by the legendary company's commitment to creating innovative, collaborative productions with the seminal artists of its time. The first program features Wheeldon's Commedia (2008), performed to Stravinsky's "Pulcinella Suite." Husband and wife choreographic team Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, resident choreographers of Nederlands Dans Theater, follow with Softly as I Leave You, re-worked in 2009 as a duet for Morphoses dancers Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Pronk, followed by Alexei Ratmansky's Bolero, re-created for the Bolshoi Ballet in 2004, with music by Maurice Ravel. The program will conclude with Leaving Songs, new work by Tim Harbour commissioned by Morphoses with music by Ross Edwards.

The second program features Wheeldon's Continuum (2002), performed to the music of György Ligeti, followed by Lightfoot Leon's Softly as I Leave You. The program concludes with Rhapsody Fantaisie, Christopher Wheeldon's new work, co-commissioned by New York City Center and Sadler's Wells, London, which will have its world premiere at Sadler's Wells one week prior to its U.S. premiere at City Center. This new work, set to Rachmaninoff's "Suites for Two Pianos," will feature sets by the Havana-based installation artists Los Carpinteros and costumes by Francisco Costa, Women's Creative Director, Calvin Klein Collection. Continuum and Wheeldon's new work will be performed to live piano music.
"I am so excited to be able to present two premieres this year at City Center," said Christopher Wheeldon. "One of these original works, created for our 2009 season, will be my new ballet to the music of Sergei Rachmaninoff. This is a timeless piece music that conjures images of romance and sensuality, offering a rich score around which I can build my choreography. It is incredibly inspiring that in only our third year, we are adding more exciting creative artists to our list of collaborators: Francisco Costa, Los Carpinteros and Tim Harbour, as well as once again, a group of world class dancers. I feel that with every year we follow our mission to bring ballet into the 21st century, and I am personally grateful to both New York City Center and Sadler's Wells Theatre for their support of Morphoses and our goals, and the freedom they offer us to create a repertoire for a new era."

Leading dancers from major U.S. and European ballet companies will once again join the company, including Melissa Barak, Andrew Crawford, Ty Gurfein, Rory Hohenstein, Drew Jacoby, Gabrielle Lamb, Juan Pablo Ledo, Edwaard Liang, Matthew Prescott, Rubinald Pronk, Carrie Lee Riggins, Danielle Rowe, Lucas Segovia, Rachel Sherak and Wendy Whelan.

About the 2009 Morphoses Season:

Christopher Wheeldon

Rhapsody Fantaisie, U.S. Premiere

Christopher Wheeldon's newest work, set to Rachmaninoff's "Suites for Two Pianos" with set designs by the Havana-based installation and collective artists Los Carpinteros and costumes by Francisco Costa, Women's Creative Director, Calvin Klein Collection, will have its U.S. premiere on October 30.
The Havana-based collective Los Carpinteros (The Carpenters) has created some of the most important work to emerge from Cuba in the past decade. Interested in the intersection between art and society, the group merges architecture, design, and sculpture in unexpected and often humorous ways. They create installations and drawings which negotiate the space between the functional and the nonfunctional. Their carefully crafted works use humor to exploit a visual syntax that sets up contradictions among object and function as well as practicality and uselessness. Los Carpinteros's pieces are part of the Permanent Collections of the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, The Museum of Modern Art, New York, the Guggenheim Museum, New York, the Museo de Bellas Artes, Havana and other museums worldwide.

Francisco Costa assumed the role of Women's Creative Director of Calvin Klein Collection after working directly with Calvin Klein and other top design houses of Gucci, Balmain Couture, and Oscar de la Renta. Mr. Costa's first collection for the house debuted for Spring 2004. Mr. Costa has received his critical acclaim and recognition for his work and has received numerous awards. In 2006, and again in 2008, the Council of Fashion Designers of America (CFDA) named Mr. Costa the Womenswear Designer of the Year. In 1993, Mr. Costa began a five-year collaboration with Oscar de la Renta that included the designer's signature collection as well as Pierre Balmain haute couture. Tom Ford recruited Mr. Costa in 1998 to join his Gucci design studio, where he was senior designer concentrating on eveningwear, including custom designs for select clients and celebrities, before joining Calvin Klein's studio in early 2002.

Commedia (2008), performed by eight dancers to Igor Stravinsky's "Pulcinella Suite," has costumes and sets designed by Isabel Toledo and Ruben Toledo.
Continuum (2002), performed by eight dancers to music by György Ligeti, was created for the San Francisco Ballet and set to Ligeti's atonal and arrhythmic score for piano and harpsichord.

Tim Harbour

Leaving Songs, U.S. Premiere

Australian choreographer Tim Harbour's new work for seven dancers, commissioned by Morphoses, features music by Ross Edwards and costumes designed by Benjamin Briones. Harbour danced with The Australian Ballet for 13 years. He made his choreographic debut in 2005 with Sunken Waltz for The Australian Ballet, which was nominated as 'Best New Dance Work' in Australia's Critics' Choice Awards. He followed this with Eve in 2006, Fielder in 2007, and Wa and Schattenwelt in 2008.
Lightfoot León

Softly as I Leave You (revised, 2009) has been re-worked as a duet for Morphoses dancers Drew Jacoby and Rubinald Pronk by husband and wife choreographic team Paul Lightfoot and Sol León, resident choreographers of Nederlands Dans Theater. This work is a combination of solos and duets with music by Arvo Pärt and Johann Sebastian Bach. Paul Lightfoot and Sol León met as dancers with Nederlands Dans Theater in 1987. Since the beginning of their collaboration in 1991, they have created over thirty ballets for NDT. Paul Lightfoot and Sol León were named resident choreographers of the Nederlands Dans Theater in 2002.

Alexei Ratmansky

Bolero (re-created for the Bolshoi Ballet in 2004) is set to the music of Maurice Ravel. Born in St. Petersburg, Alexei Ratmansky trained at the Bolshoi Ballet School in Moscow and performed as principal dancer with the Ukrainian National Ballet, the Royal Winnipeg Ballet and the Royal Danish Ballet. As a choreographer, Ratmansky has created ballets for the Dutch National Ballet, Kirov Ballet, the Royal Danish Ballet, the Royal Swedish Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and the State Ballet of Georgia. He was recently appointed Artist in Residence by American Ballet Theatre.
Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, formed by Christopher Wheeldon and Lourdes Lopez in 2007, has as its mission to broaden the scope of classical ballet by emphasizing innovation and fostering creativity through collaboration. The company is Guest Resident Company at both New York City Center and at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London. Christopher Wheeldon is Associate Artist of Sadler's Wells Theatre.

Funding for the Ballets Russes Centenary Season is made possible in part by American Express, The Jerome Robbins Foundation and The Shubert Foundation.
In addition, American Express is the lead sponsor of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company at New York City Center and a proud supporter of the Company's transatlantic season at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London.

New York City Center also gratefully acknowledges the generous support of Anne H. Bass, Ted and Mary Jo Shen and the New York City Center Dance Council for this presentation of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company at New York City Center. It also salutes Fred and Robin Seegal for their underwriting support of the 2009-2010 dance season.

The Philharmonic Orchestra of the Americas was founded in New York City in 2004 by then 23 year-old Mexican conductor and pianist Alondra de la Parra. Her vision has materialized into what is now an acclaimed orchestra that serves as a platform to showcase young composers and performers from the Americas, ranging from Argentina to Canada, presenting annual subscription concerts in New York City and touring the United States and Latin America. Since its inception, the Orchestra has performed for over 20,000 concertgoers in New York, Mexico City, Guadalajara, Oaxaca, Dallas, and Washington DC, featured 15 young soloists from the Americas, and performed 10 world premieres of American composers. Its musicians hail from 19 different countries and are largely aged under 35. In recent seasons, POA has built on its early success by recording film scores, performing at the Latin Grammys, instigating an international Young Composers' Competition, and creating an innovative arts and education program for underprivileged youth in the United States and Mexico.

New York City Center has long been known and beloved by New York audiences not only as one of the City's preeminent performing arts institutions but also as an accessible and welcoming venue for dance and theater. New York City Center produces the Tony-honored Encores! musical theater series, and is home to some of the country's leading dance companies, including Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor Dance Company and Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, as well as Manhattan Theatre Club, one of New York's leading theater companies. Continuing to fulfill its mission to make the arts accessible to the broadest possible audience, in 2004, City Center launched the acclaimed Fall for Dance Festival. In 2006, City Center formed a partnership with London's Sadler's Wells Theatre to facilitate the exchange of innovative dance works as well as providing a dual home base for Morphoses. In 2007, City Center introduced the Encores! Summer Stars series with the critically acclaimed production of Gypsy, which was followed by the 2008 hit, Damn Yankees, and this summer's production of The Wiz.

Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company will play for four performances, October 29- November 1, at New York City Center, West 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues, according to the following schedule: Thursday, October 29 at 8pm; Friday, October 30 at 8pm; Saturday, October 31 at 8pm; and Sunday, November 1 at 3pm. Tickets can be purchased by calling CityTix® at 212-581-1212, online at www.nycitycenter.org or at the City Center Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues).

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