Pennsylvania Ballet Premieres Three New Works

Pennsylvania Ballet to captivate audiences this November with its production of World Premieres, featuring three new electrifying ballets A Trace of Inevitability, Connection and Reverberance from celebrated contemporary choreographers Yin Yue, Juliano Nunes and Garrett Smith. Performances will run from November 7-10 at the Merriam Theater.

"It is with such joy that I bring the remarkable work of these three bold choreographers to Pennsylvania Ballet's repertoire," said Pennsylvania Ballet Artistic Director Angel Corella. "It is amazing to see Yin, Garrett and Juliano work their magic on our talented dancers. Our audience is in for a special experience with these unique and unexpected ballets."

Yin Yue is the artistic director at YY Dance Company and is internationally recognized as a versatile performer and choreographer. Born and raised in Shanghai, Yue trained rigorously in technically-demanding and highly-structured Chinese classical and folk dance, as well as classical ballet technique at Shanghai Dance School. Her background lends itself to her unique signature style that is brought to life in A Trace of Inevitability, a powerful, energetic ballet that is earthy and tribal in nature.

Juliano Nunes trained at the Brazilian Dance Conservatory in Rio de Janeiro and danced with Royal Ballet of Flanders, Leipzig Opera Ballet, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe and Stuttgart Gauthier Dance. He's worked alongside choreographers like William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Jirí Kylián and has received critical acclaim for his own choreography. Nunes' ballet Connection is incredibly fluid with dancers partnering and weaving into creatively difficult shapes that are just as seamlessly released.

Garrett Smith was born in Salt Lake City, Utah where he trained with the Utah Regional Ballet and later studied at the Houston Ballet Academy and choreographed his first work there as an apprentice. Later Smith joined Norwegian National Ballet and worked personally with choreographers like Jiři Kylían, Nacho Duato and Alexander Ekman. Smith's ballet Reverberance features beautiful endless movement that is grounded in a sense of classicism.

World Premieres opens Thursday, November 7 at the Merriam Theater at 250 South Broad St. Purchase tickets online at paballet.org or call Ticket Philadelphia at 215-893-1999. Ticket prices range from $35 to $159.

Performances at Merriam Theater

• Thursday, November 7 at 7:30 PM
• Friday, November 8 at 7:30 PM
• Saturday, November 9 at 2:00 PM
• Saturday, November 9 at 8:00 PM
• Sunday, November 10 at 2:00 PM

On Wednesday, October 23 from 6:30 -7:30 p.m. at Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Art's Rhoden Art Center, Yin Yue and Pennsylvania Ballet Choreographer in Residence Matthew Neenan will discuss their choreographic processes in advance of their November and April world premieres. Learn more and register for free here. This is part of a brand-new series of season-related educational panels.

Learn what goes into preparing for a world premiere from a leading dancer during "Conversations with Pennsylvania Ballet" on Monday, November at 6:30 p.m. at the Philadelphia City Institute Library at 19th and Locust Street. This event is part of a season-long series of conversations the Monday before each production opens and is free and open to the public.

Pennsylvania Ballet is one of the nation's premier ballet companies and one of Philadelphia's cultural treasures. Internationally renowned dancer Angel Corella took the reigns as Artistic Director at the start of the 2014/2015 season, bringing the company to a new level of excellence with 46 dancers from around the world and an ever-changing repertoire of works. In addition to its performances on Philadelphia's famed Avenue of the Arts, Pennsylvania Ballet serves more than 15,000 individuals across the Philadelphia region every year with hands-on, high quality arts education activities brought to children and adults alike regardless of socioeconomic background or abilities. For more information visit paballet.org, call 215.551.7000 or connect with us on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram, and YouTube for a behind the scenes look at our dancers in the studio and onstage.