Yuka Kawazu's Danse En L'Air Presents ALFONSINA, An Evening Of Dance And Music

Yuka Kawazu's Danse En L'Air brings Alfonsina, an evening of original dance works, to Ballet Arts at New York City Center (130 W 56 Street, Floor 6) on Saturday, November 23 at 7:30pm. The program offers a mix of solos, duets, and ensemble pieces choreographed by Kawazu and enhanced by digital projections of artwork by Meeke Mutter and Andrea Shapiro. The evening of dance also features live music from talented young singers Felipe Beltran, Luis Rojas and Hiroko Yonekura.

Alfonsina is dedicated to Brendan Barnard who passed away this year.

General admission tickets are $15 in advance, $20 at the door.

Danse En L'Air is a vibrant, dynamic ballet company based in New York City. Under the guidance of Artistic Director Yuka Kawazu, the ensemble's choreographic vision blends the tradition and purity of classical ballet technique with the expressiveness and immediacy of theater dance, presenting work that is refreshing, inviting, and compelling to all audiences. Kawazu's dances are inspired by her international perspective, the diversity of life in New York City, and the many fellow artists she has met throughout her life. Each piece evinces its own distinctive flavor, and is brought to life by the unique personalities of the dancers, who come from all over the world and have performed with numerous renowned companies.

Yuka Kawazu hails from Kanagawa, Japan. Her choreography has been shown by various presenters - including the New Dance Group, New Jersey Dance Theater Project, PMT Dance, and Dance Molinari - at venues such as the Ailey Citigroup Theater, the Duplex and Triad Theaters, Symphony Space, the Kaye Playhouse at Hunter College, and Ballet Arts/City Center Studios. Currently, she teaches ballet at New York City's Peridance Capezio Center, Broadway Dance Center, the Ailey Extension, and Ballet Arts. She is also a guest professor at Showa Music Academia in Japan. Her students have gone on to join Broadway productions and international dance companies. As a performer, she appeared with ballet companies throughout the United States in principle and soloist roles, later becoming ballet mistress for Staten Island Ballet.

For more on Kawazu and Danse En L'Air, visit facebook.com/yuka-kawzudanse-en-lair.

Yuka Kawazu's Danse En L'Air is a member artist of New York Live Arts, Inc., a non-profit tax-exempt organization. Contributions in support of Yuka Kawazu's work are greatly appreciated and may be made payable to New York Live Arts, Inc., earmarked for "the New York Live Arts member project of Yuka Kawazu's Danse En L'Air." A description of the work and current project activities for which such contributions will be used are available from Yuka Kawazu or New York Live Arts, upon request. All contributions are fully deductible to the extent allowed by law. (Note: A copy of New York Live Arts' latest annual financial report filed with the New York State Department of State may be obtained by writing to the N.Y.S. Dept. of State, Charities Registration, 162 Washington Avenue, Albany, NY, 12231, or to New York Live Arts, 219 West 19th Street, New York, NY, 10011)

Andrea Shapiro (Producer, Artist) has been a Broadway and Off-Broadway Producer, and a winner of three OBIE awards. She has been a painter and members of the Art Students League for14 years. She is now producing for Yuka Kawazu's Danse En L'Air.

Meeke Mutter (Artist) is a painter, dancer and designer from the Netherlands. She has her masters in management consultancy and worked in The Hague as communication consultant but changed careers 20 years ago when she discovered her painting calling. She created a new way of capturing dance while working with a fast calligraphic brushstroke. Unique. She never paints from an example and in all her work you can find her heart. Meeke dances herself, starting at age 8. She has been several times on Dutch tv, in magazines and wrote blogs for the Dutch national newspaper De Telegraaf and for the Dutch dance magazine Dans. More info or inquiries: meekemutter.com or instagram meeke_mutter. Enjoy the show!

Haejin Han (Stage Manager/Lighting Designer) is a stage manager and an lighting designer. She was an assistant production manager in the "Brigadoon" on Broadway; she also was an assistant technical director for the "Hero" at the Lincoln Center, David H. Koch Theater and stage managed at the BAM Harvey Theater for "Sweet Science Suite". She received the outstanding stage manager award at the New York Innovative Theater awards. Her lighting design credits are "Window" "Burq off" "Sunken Cathedral" "MoM a Rock Concert Musical" and so on. Currently, she is working at Martha Graham Dance Company as a production supervisor. She is happy to work in the production "ALFONSINA" with Yuka Kawazu. More info, please visit www.haejinhan.com