The Joffrey Ballet Announces February Events

Just in time for Valentine's Day, The Joffrey Ballet heats up the winter season with a mixed repertory program of four sensual, romantic and playful ballets by master choreographers in "American Legends," presented in ten performances only at the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University, 50 E. Congress Parkway, February 13 - 24, 2013.

The "American Legends" features includes Jerome Robbins' 1945 work Interplay, an energetic, light-hearted and brightly colored ballet with music by Morton Gould that conveys the wonderful playfulness and unfettered curiosity of youth. This is one of Robbins' truly American works, with movement in the same style as his later Broadway choreography for West Side Story. Interplay hasn't been performed by the Joffrey since its Company Premiere in 1972.

Gerald Arpino's classic Sea Shadow returns to the Joffrey stage, a magical and sensual duet set to music by Maurice Ravel about a young man on a beach enamored with an enchanting sea nymph. The Joffrey presents this work in honor of what would have been Arpino's 90th birthday in 2013.

The program also includes the Company Premiere of a wildly popular Twyla Tharp classic, Nine Sinatra Songs, capturing the social dancing of the 1950's through variously sultry, comic and glamorous vignettes, all costumed by Oscar de la Renta. Each Sinatra song has its own pair of characters, portraying various stages of romance with styles ranging from elegant ballroom to steAmy Tango to lively swing.

The "American Legends" program also includes the Chicago Premiere of Son of Chamber Symphony, a new work choreographed by Stanton Welch, Artistic Director of the Houston Ballet, that had its World Premiere by The Joffrey at the Jacob's Pillow Festival in August, 2012. With shapes reminiscent of such classical ballets as Swan Lake, but placed within a distinctly contemporary perspective and set to a score by John Adams, Son of Chamber Symphony mixes classicism, virtuosity and exuberant theatricality.

"Each piece in our winter program is an American portrait, created by some of our most important choreographers, with music by some of our most significant composers," said Joffrey Artistic Director Ashley C. Wheater. "Underlying is a sense of whimsy, vitality, romance, warmth, sensuality, and most importantly, dynamism. Combining the work of Twyla Tharp, Jerome Robbins, Gerald Arpino and Stanton Welch on the same stage offers an opportunity to witness the diversity, and the shared thread, of the American experience."

"The Joffrey is America's ballet company, and we're celebrating that with a 'made in America' program," added Joffrey Executive Director Christopher Clinton Conway. "In light of all the frustration with politics in Washington over the Fiscal Cliff, we need to celebrate what makes this country the greatest - it is the people and the art that they freely create, perform and celebrate."

Single tickets, which range from $31 to $152, are available for purchase at The Joffrey Ballet's official Box Office located in the lobby of Joffrey Tower, 10 E. Randolph Street, as well as the Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University Box Office, all Ticketmaster Ticket Centers, by telephone at (800) 982-2787, or online at www.ticketmaster.com.

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