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FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE Contact:
April 21, 2006 Cindy Reynolds
Media Relations
(714) 541-8314, ext. 19
Saint Joseph Ballet Presents
by leaps and bounds
23rd Annual Concert at the Irvine Barclay Theatre
SANTA ANA, Calif. (April 21, 2006) – Saint Joseph Ballet returns to the Irvine Barclay Theatre June 1-4 to perform by leaps and bounds, its 23rd Annual Concert which will showcase nearly 200 spirited dancers ages 9-18 as well as the members of Saint Joseph Ballet’s newly formed Alumni Dance Company. Under the leadership of Artistic Director Melanie Ríos Glaser, Saint Joseph Ballet once again invites the community to experience a unique coming together of energetic young dancers and renowned choreographers. This year’s Concert offers audience members – and the dancers themselves – a close look at the process of self discovery.
Premiere works include by leaps and bounds by Artistic Director Melanie Ríos Glaser and a howling flower bloomed in my eye by New York choreographer Nami Yamamoto. The program also includes the reprise of Presence by nationally acclaimed choreographer Mark Haim and All Heaven Broke Loose, also by Rios Glaser.
“For Saint Joseph Ballet, creating a new dance is a process that begins with seeking the right choreographer to match our vision, and culminates in a professionally produced concert,” said Ríos Glaser. “It is through the intensity of this process that self discovery, transformation, and play create a journey for our students as well as for the artists and audiences.”
Melanie Ríos Glaser says collaboration and sharing shaped the creation of by leaps and bounds. “For Saint Joseph Ballet, this is the sixth piece I’ve created, but the first for the new Alumni Dance Company. In creating this new work, building trust and a spirit of collaboration was essential, especially considering that these alumni live separate and independent lives, working other jobs or going to school. I was determined to keep outside expectations and inner censorship from editing this piece, and I avoided relying on humor which comes more naturally to me. There is in it a tension of having spent most of my life in a beautiful but war-torn Guatemala. The piece was also informed by issues the Alumni face daily in their lives. What I think has emerged in this dance is a desire for more freedom, mostly coming from within ourselves.
Ríos Glaser also discovers the unbridled and magnificent energy of kids being kids in All Heaven Broke Loose. “Re-staging All Heaven Broke Loose is all fun, bumps and a revisiting of my falling in love with Saint Joseph Ballet back in 1999,” she said.
Nami Yamamoto exposes a poignant beauty through her kind and often humorous perception of humanity in her new work, a howling flower bloomed in my eye. Her first premiere for Saint Joseph Ballet is as rigorous as it is searching. “I usually work with dancers who are over 30 years old, so I wasn’t sure what to expect when I came to Saint Joseph Ballet,” said Nami Yamamoto. I found that kids are very pure, straightforward and there is such beauty in that.” Qualifying her choreography as “contemporary” as opposed to “modern”, her work is about space, time, gesture and presence – about movement qualities with emotional content. She starts with an idea and asks the dancers to generate material. Yamamoto said, “I don’t like the idea of dancers being lost in a group. For this piece, even with a cast of close to 40, I wanted each of the dancers to find their individual voice. They generated some stunning material, and at times could be very funny.” Yamamoto, originally from Matsuyama, Japan, graduated from New York University in 1993 with a M.A. in dance education. Since then, her work has been presented in New York and elsewhere including Dance Theater Workshop, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and Studio 303 in Montreal.
Mark Haim explores his belief that true happiness is found in the simplest of things in Presence, created for Saint Joseph Ballet in 2004 and performed by 34 dancers. “As a choreographer, I am interested in the human aspects of dance – the kind of person performing, what they bring to the piece and the love they bring to the art,” said Haim. An original score by Alan Terricciano includes a collage of the interviews with students, parents and staff as well as choral music performed live by the Irvine Masterworks Chorale. Haim has choreographed for the Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet Frankfurt, Joffrey Ballet, and the Limón Dance Company, among others. Haim is a Julliard School graduate and was named a National Endowment for the Arts Choreographers Fellow.
The award-winning production staff includes Lighting Designer James F. Ingalls who designs for Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Mark Morris, the Metropolitan Opera and Director Peter Sellers; and Costume Designer Jennifer Vaughn who has created for the Olympics, HBO’s Against the Grain, television and Charles Schultz’s ice show, among others.
Performances of by leaps and bounds will take place Thursday through Saturday evenings at 8:00 p.m., and Saturday and Sunday matinee performances at 2:30 p.m. Tickets are available through the Irvine Barclay Theatre Box Office by calling 949-854-4646 or on-line at www.thebarclay.org, or through Ticketmaster by calling 714-740-7878. All seats are reserved. Prices are $20 for general seating and $45 for preferred seating. Children 12 and under are half price.
Founded in 1983, Saint Joseph Ballet is one of Orange County’s most respected after-school programs, and empowers low income youth from diverse backgrounds to strengthen self-esteem, self-discipline and a sense of accomplishment through year-round dance, academic and family programs. Youth, who can participate for up to nine years, benefit from an encouraging and innovative process that instills them with the values of contemporary dance – innovation, creativity, respect, self-exploration, risk-taking and teamwork. Since its inception, Saint Joseph Ballet has touched the lives of more than 50,000 youth, giving them the tools and skills to build a future for themselves, their families and their community.
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