Boston Ballet Presents BB@home: ChoreograpHER

Boston Ballet presents BB@home: ChoreograpHER, a program dedicated to Company dancers who want to explore the art of choreography. This year's program features new works by Company dancers Lia Cirio, Chyrstyn Fentroy, Lauren Herfindahl, Sage Humphries, Abigail Merlis, and Joy Womack. Performances will be held October 24-25 at 7:30 pm at Boston Ballet's headquarters (19 Clarendon Street) in a state-of-the-art black box theater.

"Providing support and creating space for the next generation of female choreographers is what BB@home: ChoreograpHER and the entire ChoreograpHER Initiative are all about. I have been thrilled by the overwhelmingly positive response to the launch of the initiative last year, and I am looking forward to seeing these new works by so many talented artists," said Artistic Director Mikko Nissinen.

This is part of Boston Ballet's larger initiative that includes the Choreographic Project for Boston Ballet School, which is a series of choreographic workshops providing BBS female dance students with an opportunity to create, rehearse, and present a piece of choreography with their peers. Additionally, Nissinen is planning a program dedicated to female artists in creative fields including choreography, music, design, and visual art for the 2020-2021 season as part of a larger commitment to presenting works by female choreographers on the main stage at the Citizens Bank Opera House.

BB@home: ChoreograpHER will be moderated by celebrated choreographer Helen Pickett, who got her choreographic start with Boston Ballet in 2005. Since then, Pickett has created over 40 ballets in the U.S. and Europe. Her works Tsukiyo and Petal will be performed as part of the Carmen program in May. Petal was originally commissioned as a 10-minute work for a Boston Ballet in-studio workshop in 2007.

Principal Dancer Lia Cirio's Lenore is a pas de deux set to Antonín Dvořák's Piano Trio No. 2 in G Minor Op. 26. She hopes her piece will allow the audience to explore the theme of loss. This is Cirio's third time choreographing for Boston Ballet. She made her choreographic debut at BB@home: ChoreograpHER in 2018 with Sta(i)r(e)s followed by the peppermint wind for Boston Ballet School's Next Generation in 2019.

Soloist Chyrstyn Fentroy's you features seven dancers and is set to "Danse Macabre" in G Minor, Op. 40 by Camille Saint-Saëns, played by the Slovak Radio Symphony Orchestra. Fentroy has choreographed before, but this is her first time doing so with more than two dancers.

Second Soloist Lauren Herfindahl's Baroque in Beauty features music by Johann Heinrich Schmeltzer for three dancers. This is her first time choreographing, and she aims to showcase the dancers' personality and talent through her choreography.

Artist of the Company Sage Humphries' The Joy Translation - Battle of the Sixes features five dancers and is set to music by her brother Michael Humphries. This marks her third time choreographing for Boston Ballet. She choreographed last season for BB@home: ChoreograpHER and for Boston Ballet's debut at the 10th edition of the Boston Calling Music Festival.

Artist of the Company Abigail Merlis' In Every Step is driven by the connections between the dancers and the rhythmic music of Maurice Ravel. Her first choreographic piece features four dancers.

Artist of the Company Joy Womack makes her choreographic debut with Safety. Set to Movement 1 by Jordan Hall, her piece features two dancers and explores what a woman needs to start to fall in love. This is Womack's first season with Boston Ballet.

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