Photo Flash: Glorya Kaufman Presents BALLET HISPANICO

Tickets for Ballet Hispanico are priced from $25 - $105 and are available at the Dorothy Chandler Pavilion Box Office, 135 North Grand Avenue. Tickets are also available through Ticketmaster Phone Charge at (213) 365-3500 or (714) 740-7878, at all Ticketmaster Outlets and online at www.ticketmaster.com. For groups of 15 or more, visit www.musiccenter.org.
Ballet Hispanico explores, preserves, and expands the passion and joyous theatricality of Latino dance through the work in its three core divisions: the Company, the School of Dance, and Primeros Pasos. Its mission is to celebrate and further interpret the moving and beautiful aesthetic of this dynamic culture and to share it with all people.

Ballet Hispanico has forged a reputation among the nation's most beloved and important cultural institutions. The acclaimed professional company has performed for more than two million people in the United States, Europe and South America with a repertory of over 95 works, each created especially for Ballet Hispanico that fuse ballet, modern and Latin dance forms into a spirited image of contemporary Latino culture.

Established by Artistic Director Tina Ramirez in 1970, the Ballet Hispanico School of Dance has forged a reputation among the nation's leading professional training programs, offering a balanced curriculum in classical ballet, modern and Spanish dance - a practice unique among America's dance training institutions. As a result, students receive not only a thorough grounding in the primary techniques required for a successful performing career but also specialized training in the rich and varied dance tradition which, for many, is their cultural heritage.

Last June, after 38 years at the helm, Artistic Director and Founder Tina Ramirez announced that she would step down this June. Under her leadership, the organization grew from a grassroots dance school and community-based performing arts troupe to a world class company, school of dance, and arts education program headquartered in New York City. On April 1, 2009, Ballet Hispanico announced the appointment of Eduardo Vilaro as the Company's new Artistic Director after an extensive national search. Vilaro will assume the Artistic Director position on August 1.

"I am overjoyed that Eduardo is coming back home," Ramirez said. "He is a leader in the next generation of dance professionals who has done great things already in his career, and who will take what we created over the last four decades and bring it to magnificent new heights."

Eduardo Vilaro was a principal dancer with Ballet Hispanico from 1988 to 1996. During his first tenure with the company, Vilaro also taught classes and worked with Ramirez to create and implement arts education and outreach programs in New York City.

In addition to performing with Ballet Hispanico's own company, alumni of the School have gone on to careers in theater (Nancy Ticotin), film (Jennifer Lopez, Leelee Sobieski and Rachel Ticotin) and television (Michael DeLorenzo), as well as with other leading dance companies such as Alvin Ailey and Paul Taylor. Still others are applying the discipline and self-esteem acquired through their dance classes to demanding professions in other fields such as business, education, government, law and medicine.

For more information about this, and all Glorya Kaufman Presents Dance at the Music Center engagements, visit www.musiccenter.org.

About the Repertoire

Club Havana
Choreography: Pedro Ruiz
Music: Israel Lopez, Rubén Gonzales, A.K. Salim, Perez Prado and Francisco Repilado
Costume Design: Emilio Sosa
Lighting Design: Donald Holder
Latin Dancing at its best. The intoxicating rhythms of the Conga, Rumba, Mambo, and Cha Cha are brought to life by choreographer Pedro Ruiz, himself a native of Cuba, as he imagined his very own "Club Havana."

Destino Incierto (West Coast Premiere)
Choreography: Carlos Sierra Lopez
Music: Rodion Shchedrin after Georges Bizet
Costume Design: Anita Yavich
Lighting Design: Don Holder
This passionate piece echoes the timeless characters of Carmen, Don Jose, and Escamillo in an emotional journey through each character's struggle to find harmony for themselves and with one another.

Ritmo y Ruido
Choreography: Ann Reinking
Music: Philip Hamilton and Tobias Ralph
Costume Design: Toni-Leslie James
Lighting Design: Jeff Segal
Tony Award winner Ann Reinking has turned the Ballet Hispanico dancers loose on an urban prowl, set to the irresistible pulse of hip-hop and Afro-Cuban rhythms by percussionists/vocalists Philip Hamilton and Tobias Ralph. Hips swivel and heads pop in Reinking's signature style, as the dancers revel in her slinky choreography.

Tres Bailes (West Coast Premiere)
Choreography: Jean Emile
Music: Astor Piazzolla, Gotan Project, Alberto Iglesias
Costume Design: Anita Yavich
Lighting Design: Don Holder
Tres Bailes is a rich, abstract work of three powerful dances that display the artistry and athleticism of the Ballet Hispanico dancers, set to the pulsing music of Astor Piazzolla, Alberto Iglesias and The Gotan Project.

Photo credit Eduardo Patino