With evocative music by Léo Delibes, “La source is one of life’s small pleasures...the choreography looks the way many dancegoers think nineteenth-century ballets must have looked…with the choreography emphasizing steps for women…bewitching women.” - The New York Times
Diversion of Angels Martha Graham
Martha Graham described her lyric creation as the three aspects of love— mature love in perfect balance, erotic love, and adolescent love. The music’s by Norman Dello Joio and the dance is “full of fan kicks and elegant skips… it is the adoration of all things feminine.” - Washington Post
Sandpaper Ballet Mark Morris
“A light and delightfully loopy sprawl of dance” is how the San Francisco Chronicle describes Morris’s wonderful work that’s set to the music of Leroy Anderson. (“Syncopated Clock,” “Sleigh Ride,” “Trumpeter’s Lullaby,” and more.) “Morris is the most influential choreographer alive.” - The New York Times
2018 Performances
Mar. 23, 24 Musical Arts Center 7:30 PM
Mar. 24 Musical Arts Center 2 PM
Explore our IU Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater archive.
Premiere: November 23, 1968 | New York City Ballet New York State Theater
Staged by Deborah Wingert
Stuart Chafetz, Conductor Christian Claessens, Ballet Master Kyra Nichols, Ballet Master Michael Vernon, Ballet Master
Georgia Dalton and Julian Goodwin-Ferris
Sophia Brodin
Alia Federico, Julia Fleming, Rachel Gehr, Camille Kellems, Lauren Smolka, Caroline Tonks, Gillian Worek, Sarah Young
Balanchine’s high regard for composer Léo Delibes led him to choreograph a pas de deux from Delibes’ ballet Sylvia in 1950, which he then expanded into a divertissement in 1965. Adding music from another of Delibes’ ballets, Naila, and incorporating elements of the earlier pas de deux and divertissement, Balanchine completed this homage to nineteenth-century French ballet in 1968.
“It is the place of the Rock and the Ladder, the raven, the blessing, the tempter, the rose. It is the wish of the single hearted, the undivided: play after spirit’s labor: games, flights, fancies, configurations of the lover’s intention: the beloved Possibility, at once strenuous and tender: humors of innocence, garlands, evangels, Joy on the wilderness stair; diversion of angels.” – Ben Belitt
The dance follows no story. Its action takes place in the imaginary garden love creates for itself. The ballet was originally called Wilderness Stair. Martha Graham once described Diversion of Angels as three aspects of love: the white couple represents mature love in perfect balance; red, erotic love; and yellow, adolescent love.
*Used by arrangement with Carl Fischer., publisher and copyright owner.
Presented by arrangement with Martha Graham Resources, a division of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance.
Choreography by Mark Morris Music by Leroy Anderson Lighting Design by James F. Ingalls Costume Design by Isaac Mizrahi
Premiere: April 27, 1999 | War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, California
Staged by Tina Fehlandt Stuart Chafetz, Conductor Sasha Janes, Ballet Master Kyra Nichols, Ballet Master Sarah Wroth, Ballet Master
Ensemble
Mackenzie Allen, Mason Bassett, Gianna Biondo, Sophia Brodin, Reece Conrad,Jadyn Dahlberg, Sam Epstein, Julia Fleming, Rachel Gehr, Julian Goodwin-Ferris,Nicholas Gray, Anna Grunewald, Natalie Hedrick, Antonio Houck, Darren Hsu,Jared Kelly, Sterling Manka, Victoria Manning, Ryan McCreary, Anna Peabody,Lauren Smolka, Caroline Tonks, Anna Lisa Wilkins, Sarah Young, Cecilia Zanone
This work by Mark Morris, set to the music of American composer Leroy Anderson (1908-75), embodies the melodic joy of some of America’s most lighthearted orchestral music. Anderson’s compositions often employ creative instrumentation and occasionally use unique musical tools such as typewriters and, in the case of the title piece for this ballet, sandpaper.
Balanchine’s high regard for composer Léo Delibes led him to choreograph a pas de deux from Delibes’ ballet Sylvia in 1950, which he then expanded into a divertissement in 1965. Adding music from another of Delibes’ ballets, Naila, and incorporating elements of the earlier pas de deux and divertissement, Balanchine completed this homage to nineteenth-century French ballet in 1968.
“It is the place of the Rock and the Ladder, the raven, the blessing, the tempter, the rose. It is the wish of the single hearted, the undivided: play after spirit’s labor: games, flights, fancies, configurations of the lover’s intention: the beloved Possibility, at once strenuous and tender: humors of innocence, garlands, evangels, Joy on the wilderness stair; diversion of angels.” – Ben Belitt
The dance follows no story. Its action takes place in the imaginary garden love creates for itself. The ballet was originally called Wilderness Stair. Martha Graham once described Diversion of Angels as three aspects of love: the white couple represents mature love in perfect balance; red, erotic love; and yellow, adolescent love.
*Used by arrangement with Carl Fischer Inc., publisher and copyright owner.
Presented by arrangement with Martha Graham Resources, a division of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance.
Choreography by Mark Morris Music by Leroy Anderson Lighting Design by James F. Ingalls Costume Design by Isaac Mizrahi
Premiere: April 27, 1999 | War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, California
Staged by Tina Fehlandt Stuart Chafetz, Conductor Sasha Janes, Ballet Master Kyra Nichols, Ballet Master Sarah Wroth, Ballet Master
Ensemble Marissa Arnold, Haley Baker, Anna Barnes, Sophia Brodin, Elizabeth Corsig,Georgia Dalton, Claire Donovan, Liam Doherty, Sam Epstein, Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Kaylee Grippando, Jared Kelly, Mark Lambert, Nicole Langway, Alyssa Lavroff,Lily Leech, Robert Mack, Bryanna Mitchell, Ginabel Padilla, Anna Peabody,Andrew Playford, Claudia Rhett, Andrew Rossi, Bradley Streetman, Gillian Worek
This work by Mark Morris, set to the music of American composer Leroy Anderson (1908-75), embodies the melodic joy of some of America’s most lighthearted orchestral music. Anderson’s compositions often employ creative instrumentation and occasionally use unique musical tools such as typewriters and, in the case of the title piece for this ballet, sandpaper.
Premiere: November 23, 1968 | New York City Ballet New York State Theater
Staged by Deborah Wingert Stuart Chafetz, Conductor Christian Claessens, Ballet Master Kyra Nichols, Ballet Master Michael Vernon, Ballet Master
Georgia Dalton and Julian Goodwin-Ferris
Kyra Muttilainen
Alia Federico, Julia Fleming, Rachel Gehr, Camille Kellems,Kaylee Grippando, Caroline Tonks, Gillian Worek, Sarah Young
Balanchine’s high regard for composer Léo Delibes led him to choreograph a pas de deux from Delibes’ ballet Sylvia in 1950, which he then expanded into a divertissement in 1965. Adding music from another of Delibes’ ballets, Naila, and incorporating elements of the earlier pas de deux and divertissement, Balanchine completed this homage to nineteenth-century French ballet in 1968.
“It is the place of the Rock and the Ladder, the raven, the blessing, the tempter, the rose. It is the wish of the single hearted, the undivided: play after spirit’s labor: games, flights, fancies, configurations of the lover’s intention: the beloved Possibility, at once strenuous and tender: humors of innocence, garlands, evangels, Joy on the wilderness stair; diversion of angels.” – Ben Belitt
The dance follows no story. Its action takes place in the imaginary garden love creates for itself. The ballet was originally called Wilderness Stair. Martha Graham once described Diversion of Angels as three aspects of love: the white couple represents mature love in perfect balance; red, erotic love; and yellow, adolescent love.
*Used by arrangement with Carl Fischer Inc., publisher and copyright owner.
Presented by arrangement with Martha Graham Resources, a division of the Martha Graham Center of Contemporary Dance.
Choreography by Mark Morris Music by Leroy Anderson Lighting Design by James F. Ingalls Costume Design by Isaac Mizrahi
Premiere: April 27, 1999 | War Memorial Opera House, San Francisco, California
Staged by Tina Fehlandt Stuart Chafetz, Conductor Sasha Janes, Ballet Master Kyra Nichols, Ballet Master Sarah Wroth, Ballet Master
Ensemble Mackenzie Allen, Mason Bassett, Gianna Biondo, Sophia Brodin, Reece Conrad,Jadyn Dahlberg, Sam Epstein, Julia Fleming, Rachel Gehr, Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Nicholas Gray, Anna Grunewald, Natalie Hedrick, Antonio Houck, Darren Hsu,Jared Kelly, Sterling Manka, Victoria Manning, Ryan McCreary, Anna Peabody, Lauren Smolka, Caroline Tonks, Anna Lisa Wilkins, Sarah Young, Cecilia Zanone
This work by Mark Morris, set to the music of American composer Leroy Anderson (1908-75), embodies the melodic joy of some of America’s most lighthearted orchestral music. Anderson’s compositions often employ creative instrumentation and occasionally use unique musical tools such as typewriters and, in the case of the title piece for this ballet, sandpaper.
Choreographers
Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, George Balanchine is regarded as the foremost contemporary choreographer in the world of ballet. He came to the United States in late 1933, at the age of 29, accepting the invitation of the young American arts patron Lincoln Kirstein (1907-96), whose great passions included the dream of creating a ballet company in America. At Balanchine’s behest, Kirstein was also prepared to support the formation of an American academy of ballet that would eventually rival the long-established schools of Europe.
This was the School of American Ballet, founded in 1934, the first product of the Balanchine-Kirstein collaboration. Several ballet companies directed by the two were created and dissolved in the years that followed, while Balanchine found other outlets for his choreography. Eventually, with a performance on October 11, 1948, New York City Ballet was born. Balanchine served as its ballet master and principal choreographer from 1948 until his death in 1983.
Balanchine’s more than 400 dance works include Serenade (1934), Concerto Barocco (1941), Le Palais de Cristal, later renamed Symphony in C (1947), Orpheus (1948), The Nutcracker (1954), Agon (1957), Symphony in Three Movements (1972), Stravinsky Violin Concerto (1972), Vienna Waltzes (1977), Ballo della Regina (1978), and Mozartiana (1981). His final ballet, a new version of Stravinsky’s Variations for Orchestra, was created in 1982.
He also choreographed for films, operas, revues, and musicals. Among his best-known dances for the stage is “Slaughter on Tenth Avenue,” originally created for Broadway’s On Your Toes (1936). The musical was later made into a movie.
A major artistic figure of the twentieth century, Balanchine revolutionized the look of classical ballet. Taking classicism as his base, he heightened, quickened, expanded, streamlined, and even inverted the fundamentals of the 400-year-old language of academic dance. This had an inestimable influence on the growth of dance in America. Although at first his style seemed particularly suited to the energy and speed of American dancers, especially those he trained, his ballets companies throughout the world.
Martha Graham was the central figure of the modern dance movement. She started dancing in 1916 with the Denishawn Company and began her independent career in 1926 in New York City. In more than 180 works created during a career of over 70 years, Graham used the principles of contraction and release as the foundation of her technique. She built a vocabulary of movement that would “increase the emotional activity of the dancer’s body.” Her dancing and choreography exposed the depths of human emotion through movements that were sharp, angular, jagged, and direct.
Graham’s ballets were inspired by a wide variety of sources, including modern painting, the American frontier, religious ceremonies of Native Americans, and Greek mythology. As an artist, she conceived each new work in its entirety—dance, costumes, and music. During her 70 years of creating dances, she collaborated with such artists as sculptor Isamu Noguchi; fashion designers Halston, Donna Karan, and Calvin Klein; and renowned composers, including Aaron Copland, Louis Horst (her mentor), and Samuel Barber. Her company was the training ground for future modern dance choreographers such as Merce Cunningham, Paul Taylor, and Twyla Tharp.
Her uniquely American vision and creative genius earned her numerous honors and awards. In 1976, President Gerald R. Ford bestowed upon Graham the highest civilian honor in the United States, the Medal of Freedom, and declared her a “National Treasure,” making her the firstdancer and choreographer to receive this honor. In 1985, President Ronald Reagan designated her among the first recipients of the National Medal of Arts. Her legacy continues to be perpetuated in performances by the members of the Martha Graham Dance Company and Martha Graham Ensemble, and by students of the Martha Graham School of Contemporary Dance.
Mark Morris was born on August 29, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, where he studied with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson. In the early years of his career, he performed with the companies of Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean, Eliot Feld, and the Koleda Balkan Dance Ensemble. He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) in 1980, and has since created over 150 works for the company. From 1988 to 1991, he was director of dance at Brussels’ Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie, the national opera house of Belgium. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Much in demand as a ballet choreographer, Morris has created 20 ballets since 1986, and his work has been performed by companies worldwide, including San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Ballet du Grand Théâtre de Genève, and the Royal New Zealand Ballet. Noted for his musicality, Morris has been described as “undeviating in his devotion to music” (The New Yorker). He began conducting performances for MMDG in 2006 and has since conducted at Tanglewood Music Center, Lincoln Center, and Brooklyn Academy of Music. He served as music director for the 2013 Ojai Music Festival. He also works extensively in opera, directing and choreographing productions for the Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, English National Opera, and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden, among others. He was named a fellow of the MacArthur Foundation in 1991 and has received 11 honorary doctorates to date. He has taught at the University of Washington, Princeton University, and Tanglewood Music Center. He is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society, and has served as an advisory board member for the Rolex Mentor and Protégé Arts Initiative. Morris has received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival Award for Lifetime Achievement, Leonard Bernstein Lifetime Achievement Award for the Elevation of Music in Society, Benjamin Franklin Laureate Prize for Creativity, International Society for the Performing Arts’ Distinguished Artist Award, Cal Performances Award of Distinction in the Performing Arts, Orchestra of St. Luke’s Gift of Music Award, and the 2016 Doris Duke Artist Award. In 2015, he was inducted into the Mr. and Mrs. Cornelius Vanderbilt Whitney Hall of Fame at the National Museum of Dance in Saratoga Springs, New York. He opened the Mark Morris Dance Center in Brooklyn, New York, in 2001 to provide a home for his company, rehearsal space for the dance community, outreach programs for children and seniors, and a school offering dance classes to students of all ages and abilities.
Artistic Staff
Stuart Chafetz is a conductor with a dynamic podium demeanor and a refined sense of audience engagement. Increasingly in demand with orchestras across the continent, this season finds him on the podium in Seattle, Detroit, Naples, Phoenix, Cincinnati, Milwaukee, Vancouver, and many other cities. He has worked with renowned artists such as Chris Botti, Michael Bolton, America, Roberta Flack, George Benson, Richard Chamberlain, The Chieftains, Jennifer Holliday, John Denver, Marvin Hamlisch, Thomas Hampson, Wynonna Judd, Jim Nabors, Randy Newman, Jon Kimura Parker, and Bernadette Peters. He previously held posts as resident conductor of the Milwaukee Symphony Orchestra and associate conductor of the Louisville Orchestra. As principal timpanist of theHonolulu Symphony for 20 years, Chafetz also conducted the annual Nutcracker performances with Ballet Hawaii and principals from American Ballet Theatre. It was during that time that he led numerous concerts with the Maui Pops Orchestra. He annually conducts the Spring Ballet at the Jacobs School of Music. During summers, Chafetz spends his time at the Chautauqua Institution, where he conducts the annual Fourth of July and Opera Pops concerts with the Chautauqua Symphony Orchestra in addition to his role as the orchestra’s timpanist. When not on the podium, he makes his home near San Francisco, California, with his wife, Ann Krinitsky. He earned a bachelor’s degree in music performance from the College-Conservatory of Music at the University of Cincinnati and a master’s degree from the Eastman School of Music.
Mitchell Ost is the lighting supervisor for the Jacobs School of Music. Originally from Chicago, he relocated to Bloomington after living in New York City, where he was the lighting designer at Joe’s Pub, the cabaret space at The Public Theater. In addition to his work in the New York City opera, theater, and dance world, he has designed lighting and scenery on several continents. He is currently the resident scenic and lighting designer for M Ensemble Company in Miami.
Tina Fehlandt was an integral part of the Mark Morris Dance Group (MMDG) for 20 years and performed in more than 50 works choreographed by Morris. With the group, she toured the world and appeared in several television specials, most notably as Louise in Morris’s production of The Hard Nut. She has been the subject of feature articles in Self magazine, Dance Magazine, and Dance Teacher. In Ballet Review, she was hailed as “one of the most beautiful dancers anywhere.” Fehlandt has staged Morris’s work at San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Royal New Zealand Ballet, English National Ballet, Royal Ballet Covent Garden, Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Houston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Washington Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and Princeton University, New York University, Rutgers University, Marymount Manhattan College, Barnard College, Juilliard, Long Island University, and the White Oak Dance Project. Fehlandt is currently a full-time lecturer in dance at Princeton University’s Lewis Center for the Arts, where she teaches all levels of ballet and modern dance. She continues her association with MMDG as an instructor in the Summer Intensives and as faculty at The School, teaching Professional/Advanced Ballet.
Blakeley White-McGuire is a New York-based dance performer, dance maker, and teacher. Critically acclaimed as a principal dancer with the Martha Graham Dance Company (2002-16, 2017) she has embodied the most iconic roles of twentieth-century modern dance, including Appalachian Spring, Chronicle, Deep Song, Errand into the Maze, Frontier, and Rite of Spring. As a leading practitioner of Graham’s technique, she contributed to three historical reimaginings by distinguished Graham alumni: Ardent Song with Susan McClain, Imperial Gesture with Kim Jones, and Notes on a Voyage with Peter Sparling. Blakeley has danced on some of the world’s greatest stages, including Carnegie Hall, the Metropolitan Opera House, Beijing Opera House, Theatre du Chatelet, Sadler’s Wells, the Criterion, the Hollywood Bowl, and the Odeon of Herodes Atticus. During her tenure with the Graham Company, White-McGuire was consistently listed among Dance Magazine’s Best Performances. She was the featured dancer in Google’s “doodle” honoring Graham and received the prestigious Premio Positano LeonideMassine Prize for Contemporary Dance Performance as well as the 2016 Italian Career Achievement Award. Simultaneously and throughout her career, Blakeley has created with and performed in new works by twenty-first-century contemporary artists including Anne Bogart/SITI Company, Jacquelyn Buglisi, Jayoung Chung, Martha Clarke, Sean Curran, Sue deBeer, Nacho Duato, Daniel Ezralow, Larry Kegwin, Michael Klien and Steve Volk, Lar Lubovitch, Richard Move, Bulareyaung Pagarlava, Marta Renzi, Pascal Rioult, Luca Veggetti, and Robert Wilson. White-McGuire earned an M.F.A. in Interdisciplinary Arts from Goddard College, Vermont, and has served on the faculties of The Ailey School, The New School, The Actors Studio, and New York City’s High School for the Performing Arts, teaching technique, repertoire, and improvisation. A faculty member of the Martha Graham Center since 2002, she is also a coach and regisseuse staging Martha Graham’s repertoire internationally, most recently for Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance and Ballet Vlaanderen.
Deborah Wingert began her training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth ballet under Marcia Dale Weary and became a scholarship student at the School of American Ballet in New York. At the age of 16, she was selected by George Balanchine to join New York City Ballet. During her 15 years with the company, Wingert danced more than 25 principal, soloist, and featured roles in productions including Balanchine’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Coppelia, Orpheus, Symphony in C, Jewels, Who Cares?, Stars and Stripes, The Nutcracker, The Four Temperaments, and Mozartiana, Jerome Robbins’ The Concert and Antique Epigraphs, and Peter Martins’ The Sleeping Beauty. A principal and soloist with numerous nationally acclaimed companies, her film and television credits include The Nutcracker (Time-Warner) and PBS appearances in Great Performances productions Dinner With Balanchine, Dance in America featuring Balanchine’s Serenade and Western Symphony, and Peter Martins’ Concerto for Two Solo Pianos, as well as Live from Lincoln Center: A Midsummer Night’s Dream. Wingert is one of a small group of artists selected by the Balanchine Trust to set his choreography. In this capacity, she has traveled throughout the United States, setting and staging the Balanchine repertoire for Butler University, Indiana University, Baltimore School for the Arts, Joffrey Ballet Chicago, and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, to name a few. Wingert is head faculty at Manhattan Youth Ballet and on faculty at The Ailey School/Professional Division. She has been a guest instructor for Princeton University and Harvard University, University of California Santa Barbara, Interlochen, Jessica Lang Dance, Kyle Abraham/A.I.M., Sarasota Ballet, BalletMet, and New York City Public Library.
Christian Claessens is visiting lecturer in ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music. Claessens began his ballet training at the Conservatoire de la Monaie. In 1978, he came to New York on scholarship to the School of American Ballet and the American Ballet Theatre School. After graduating, he performed with the Kansas City Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. In 1984, he returned to Europe as a member of the Dutch National Ballet. As a soloist, Claessens toured internationally with Stars of the American Ballet, Stars of the New York City Ballet, Stars of the Hong Kong Ballet, and Kozlov and Friends. In 1991, he cofounded the Scarsdale Ballet Studio with Diana White. In 1999, he codirected the International Ballet Project with Valentina Kozlova and White, both of New York City Ballet. In 1998, he took over the directorship of the Purchase Youth Ballet. He was the director of La Leçon: Christian Claessens School of Ballet in Westchester, New York.
Sasha Janes is visiting lecturer in ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music. Janes has danced professionally with West Australian Ballet, Australian Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, and Dayton Ballet, performing principal roles in works by Jiri Kylian, George Balanchine, Nacho Duato, Jean Pierre Bonnefoux, Marius Petipa, Septime Webre, Anthony Tudor, Dwight Rhoden, Alonzo King, Twyla Tharp, Alvin Ailey, and many others. He has choreographed several ballets for Charlotte Ballet, including Carmen, Dangerous Liaisons, We Danced Through Life, Last Lost Chance, Shelter, At First Sight, Loss, The Four Seasons, The Red Dress, Utopia, Playground Teasers, The Seed and the Soil, Chaconne, Queen, Sketches from Grace, and Rhapsodic Dances, which was performed as part of the Kennedy Center’s Ballet Across America series in June 2013. The Washington Post called Janes “a choreographer to watch.” He was a participant in New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute and has been a guest choreographer for Richmond Ballet’s New Works Festival.
Carla Körbes is associate professor of ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music. Körbes was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and began training at the age of five. In 1996, Peter Boal encouraged her to come to the United States to study at the School of American Ballet. She joined New York City Ballet as an apprentice in 1999 and was made a member of the corps de ballet in 2000. She was promoted to soloist in 2005 and joined Pacific Northwest Ballet (PNB) as a soloist later that year. She was promoted to principal dancer at PNB in 2006 and retired from the company in 2015. Körbes danced numerous ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon, William Forsythe, Alexei Ratmansky, and Twyla Tharp, and performed classical works including Swan Lake, Giselle, and Don Quixote. Before joining the Jacobs School of Music faculty, she served as associate director of the L. A. Dance Project and taught at the Colburn School in Los Angeles.
Kyra Nichols is professor of ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music, where she holds the Violette Verdy and Kathy Ziliak Anderson Chair in Ballet. Nichols began her early training with her mother, Sally Streets, a former member of New York City Ballet (NYCB). Nichols became an apprentice and then a member of the corps de ballet at NYCB in 1974 and was promoted to soloist in 1978. In 1979, George Balanchine promoted her to principal dancer, and she worked closely with both Balanchine and Jerome Robbins. She performed numerous leading roles in the NYCB repertoire, including Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto Number 2, Stars and Stripes, Liebeslieder Walzer, and Davidsbündlertänze. She has worked with an extensive list of choreographers, including William Forsythe, Susan Stroman, Christopher Wheeldon, Jacques D’Amboise, Robert La Fosse, and Robert Garland. Nichols retired from New York City Ballet in June 2007, after 33 years with the company, as the longest-serving principal dancer in the company’s history. Immediately prior to joining the Jacobs School, she was ballet mistress at Pennsylvania Ballet.
Michael Vernon is chair emeritus of the Ballet Department and professor of ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music. Vernon studied at the Royal Ballet School in London with Dame Ninette de Valois and Leonide Massine. He performed with The Royal Ballet, The Royal Opera Ballet, and the London Festival Ballet before moving to New York in 1976 to join the Eglevsky Ballet as ballet master and residentchoreographer under the directorship of Edward Villella. Vernon served as artistic director of the company from 1989 to 1996. He has choreographed for the Eglevsky Ballet, BalletMet, and North Carolina Dance Theatre, and Mikhail Baryshnikov commissioned him to choreograph the pas de deux In a Country Garden for American Ballet Theatre. Vernon has taught at Steps on Broadway (New York City) since 1980, been involved with the ballet program of the Chautauqua Institution since 1996, and been a company teacher for American Ballet Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater.
Sarah Wroth is associate chair of the Ballet Department and visiting associate professor of ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music. Wroth began her training at the Frederick School of Classical Ballet in Frederick, Maryland. In 2003, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Education from the Jacobs School of Music. That same year, she joined Boston Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet. With the company, Wroth performed principal roles in works by William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Marius Petipa, Jerome Robbins, Helen Pickett, and Mikko Nissinen, and soloist roles in ballets by Sir Frederick Ashton, George Balanchine, and August Bournonville. She has performed with Boston Ballet internationally in Spain, England, South Korea, and Finland, and, in 2009, she was awarded the E. Virginia Williams Inspiration Award for her unwavering dedication to ballet and the Boston Ballet Company. Wroth earned a Master of Science in Nonprofit Management from Northeastern University in 2015 and retired from Boston Ballet in May 2017.
Featured Dancers
Haley Baker is a freshman from Enola, Pennsylvania, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Psychology. She has been dancing since the age of three, beginning her ballet training at Pennsylvania Regional Ballet in 2010 under the direction of Sandra Carlino. There, she also studied under Victoria Silva, Laszlo Berdo, and Erin Stiefel-Inch. She also attended Ribbon Mill Ballet in Carlisle, Pennsylvania, with individual coaching from Leslie Hench. In addition to performing leading roles with Pennsylvania Regional Ballet, Baker has performed in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker and George Balanchine’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier and Valse-Fantaisie with IU Ballet Theater. She has attended summer programs at Pennsylvania Ballet, Miami City Ballet, the USA International Ballet Competition Dance School, and Joffrey Ballet Chicago. Baker has received scholarships from Pennsylvania Regional Ballet and Regional Dance America and is a recipient of the Premier Young Artist Award through the Jacobs School of Music.
Anna Barnes was born in Los Angeles, California, and started her ballet training at age three at the Westside Ballet School in Santa Monica, run by the late Yvonne Mounsey. In 2015, Barnes graduated from Colburn Dance Academy, run by Jenifer Ringer and Benjamin Millepied. Barnes is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance at the Jacobs School with an Outside Field in Marketing at the Kelley School of Business. Her favorite ballets performed while attending Jacobs are Twyla Tharp’s Surfer at the River Styx, George Balanchine’s Serenade, and, most recently, Jerome Robbins’ N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz.
Mason Bassett is a freshman from Bryan, Ohio. He started dancing at Bryan Community School of Dance, under the direction of Kimberly Shaffer, taking ballet, jazz, tap, and modern. He later trained with Nigel Burgoine at the Ballet Theatre of Toledo. For his senior year of high school, he attended Interlochen Arts Academy, studying with Joseph Morrissey. He has attended summer intensives at Interlochen Arts Camp (2014), Pennsylvania Ballet (2015), and The Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory (2016). At the Jacobs School, Bassett is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Arts Management. In IU Ballet Theater’s Fall Ballet, he performed in two pieces choreographed by Sasha Janes (You and I and Lascia la Spina, Cogli la Rosa) and in Jerome Robbins’ N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz.
Sophia Brodin, from Lansing, Michigan, is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Exercise Science. Along with ballet, she was also a featured dancer in IU Opera Theater’s production of Oklahoma! She spent her senior year of high school training with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre before attending the Jacobs School of Music. At Jacobs, she has performed several works choreographed by Twyla Tharp, including Surfer at the River Styx and As Time Goes By. She has also performed in Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare and N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz, and Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker.
Anderson Da Silva is an 18-year-old freshman. He was born in Tampa, Florida, where he received his ballet training at America’s Ballet School under directors Paula Nuñez and Osmany Montano. Da Silva has performed leading roles in The Nutcracker, Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, Coppelia, and Diana and Acteon.
Georgia Dalton was born and raised in Columbus, Ohio, and began her ballet training with Columbus Youth Ballet at age three. From age five to 18, her ballet education included formal training with Dublin Dance Centre and Columbus City Ballet. She has attended summer intensives with American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Ballet Met Columbus, and, most recently, was an apprentice with the Chautauqua Dance Summer program. Dalton is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Marketing and is a recipient of the Jacobs School’s Premier Young Artist Award.
Claire Donovan is a sophomore from Louisville, Kentucky, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Psychology. She began her ballet training at the age of three with the Louisville Ballet School. In 2008, she began training under the direction of Kristen Wenrick at the Louisville Academy of Dance. For her junior and senior year of high school, Donovan attended the University of North Carolina School of the Arts (UNCSA) in Winston-Salem, North Carolina, under the direction of Susan Jaffe. At UNCSA, she performed in an original work by Jaffe, Donizetti Variations by George Balanchine, and the annual Nutcracker. With IU Ballet Theater, she has performed in an original work by Sasha Janes, Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare, and Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker. She has attended summer programs at Houston Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Boston Ballet. Donovan is a recipient of the Premier Young Artist Award at the Jacobs School of Music.
Alexis Eicher was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She began dancing at the age of four in a church dance ministry and did not begin pre-professional ballet training until the sixth grade, at the New American Youth Ballet under the instruction of Beth McLeish. Eicher has participated in master classes with renowned teachers from New York City Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Pacific Northwest Ballet. She spent seven weeks at the Chautauqua Summer Intensive, where she worked closely with Patricia McBride and performed in George Balanchine’s Rubies with the Charlotte Ballet. She has also performed repertoire choreographed by Michael Vernon, Mark Diamond, Eddy Ocampo, Jimmy Orrante, Melinda Howe, and many others. Eicher is a freshman pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Psychology.
Alia Federico is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Urban Studies. Raised in Swarthmore, Pennsylvania, she began studying ballet at the Swarthmore Ballet Theatre under the direction of Lori Ardis and Amber Flynn. In 2014, she started attending the School of Pennsylvania Ballet’s year-round program and studied with Arantxa Ochoa, William DeGregory, Martha Chamberlain, Angel Corrella, Kyra Nichols, and many professional dancers from the company. Federico has attended multiple summer programs, including the Kirov Academy of Ballet Summer Intensive, Harid Conservatory Summer Program, and Miami City Ballet Summer Intensive. In the summer of 2017, she was a resident assistant at the Cincinnati Ballet Summer Intensive and performed pieces from Marius Petipa’s Don Quixote, Harald Lander’s Etudes, and August Bournonville’s Flower Festival. With IU Ballet Theater, she has performed in Giselle, George Balanchine’s Elegie, Divertimento No. 15, and Valse-Fantaisie, Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare, and Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker.
Julian Goodwin-Ferris was raised in Houston, Texas. He is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Music. Last year, he took a leave of absence from IU to dance with Ballet Austin for a season. While there, he traveled to China on tour for a month and performed solo roles in Stephen Mills’ The Nutcracker and Septime Webre’s Alice (in Wonderland), among other ballets. He started his training at the Houston Ballet Academy, where he danced for more than 10 years. In Houston, he performed numerous roles at the academy, including an adagio variation from The Sleeping Beauty, a solo from the Swan Lake hunt scene, and parts in Stanton Welch’s Brigade and Bournonville’s Napoli, as well as multiple small roles with the company. In 2015, Goodwin-Ferris studied for a month at the Palucca Hochschule für Tanz in Dresden, Germany. He has attended summer programs at the Royal Danish Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Houston Ballet, and, most recently, Jacob’s Pillow Dance. Between 2007 and 2009, he sang in the Children’s Chorus for Houston Grand Opera’s productions, and he sang a solo in Village of Waltz for Hope Stone Dance Company in 2009 and 2010. He has performed roles in several Shakespeare plays, including Anthony in Julius Caesar, Oberon in A Midsummer’s Night Dream, and Feste in Twelfth Night. He will perform the Cavalier in The Nutcracker with the San Luis Obispo Civic Ballet this December.
Nicholas Gray is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Theatre and Drama. He grew up in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, where he trained at the First Stage Theater Academy for six years and Milwaukee Ballet for three years. He then began training at The Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory for his junior and senior years of high school and spent summers at Pacific Northwest Ballet and the Chautauqua Institution. Most recently, Gray performed in Jerome Robbin’s Fanfare, Twyla Tharp’s As Time Goes By, and in theroles of the Chinese Dance, Russian Dance, Rat King, and Party Parent in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, in addition to Twyla Tharp’s Surfer at the River Styx and Paul Taylor’s Musical Offering. He also performed in IU Opera Theater’s recent production of Rodgers and Hammerstein’s Oklahoma!
Anna Grunewald, born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Arts Management. She began her training at a small performing arts school and continued at the Ballet Academy of Pittsburgh from the fourth grade through her senior year of high school. There, she danced under the instruction of Steven and Lindsay Piper and Lindy Mandradjieff. During summers, Grunewald has studied at the Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive, Boston Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater, Ballet West, and Chautauqua. With IU Ballet Theater, she has performed in George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Serenade, and Divertimento No. 15, as well as in Giselle, Bournonville’s Flower Festival in Genzano, and Sasha Janes’ Lascia la Spina, Cogli la Rosa.
Antonio Houck was born and raised in Boulder, Colorado, and began dancing at the age of nine at Colorado Conservatory of Dance. He has attended intensive programs at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Orlando Ballet, and Hubbard Street Dance. This is his third year at the Jacobs School, where he is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Public and Environmental Policy. He has appeared in N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz, Musical Offering, Giselle, Saudade, and Sasha Janes’ Sketches from Grace.
Jared Alexander Kelly is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Marketing. He began dancing at the New Macedonia Baptist Church as a member of the Liturgical Dance Ministry under the direction of Renee Henry. He was a student at the Thomas G. Pullen K-8 Performing Arts School in Landover, Maryland. He then attended the Dance Theatre of Harlem Pre-Professional Residency Program at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., under the leadership of Arthur Mitchell. Kelly began more intensive training in the sixth grade, with Kee Juan Han and Katrina Toews at The Washington School of Ballet (TWSB). With TWSB, he performed at the White House for President and First Lady Obama. He also performed in George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker with Pennsylvania Ballet at the Kennedy Center. Additionally, Kelly trained under Norma Pera at the Baltimore School for the Arts. He performed numerous lead roles there, including The Preacher in Appalachian Spring by Martha Graham, Waltz and Elegy Male in Serenade by George Balanchine, and the Nutcracker Prince in Barry Hughson’s The Nutcracker, on the Lyric Opera House stage in Baltimore, Maryland. He has attended summer programs at The Washington School of Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, The Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory, Boston Ballet School, and the School of American Ballet. He has also performed in Paul Taylor’s Musical Offerings, Twyla Tharp’s Surfer at the River Styx, Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, and George Balanchine’s Serenade and Divertimento No. 15.
Sterling Manka is a junior from Fishers, Indiana, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance. He began dancing at age eight at the Butler University’s Jordan Academy of Dance and graduated from Indiana Ballet Conservatory, where he trained with Sergey Sergiev. Manka also trained privately, under Marek Cholewa and Rosanna Ruffo, professors of dance at Butler. He placed in the top 12 in the Ensembles category at the Youth AmericaGrand Prix finals in New York City for his performance in Sergey Sergiev’s Amélie. Additionally, he attended the 2015 Bolshoi Ballet Academy Summer Intensive in New York City, where he won a scholarship to spend a month training at the Bolshoi Ballet Academy in Moscow, Russia, and an invitation to train at the academy year round. Recently, he choreographed the contemporary solo Wake for his twin sister (and apprentice with American National Ballet), Hanna Manka, for the 2016 Varna International Ballet Competition in Varna, Bulgaria. While at IU, he has performed in George Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15 and The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Twyla Tharp’s As Time Goes By, Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare, and IU Opera Theater’s production of Oklahoma! Manka is a member of the Hutton Honors College.
Ryan McCreary is a senior from Cincinnati, Ohio, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Psychology. She first fell in love with ballet during her years at Northern Cincinnati Youth Ballet under the direction of Oliver Arana, Susie Payne, Stephanie Roig, and Tricia Sundbeck. During this time, McCreary performed roles in Don Quixote, Paquita, The Nutcracker, and more. She placed fourth in the World Ballet Competition in 2012 and in the top 12 at Youth America Grand Prix, New York. She received the silver award at YoungArts in Miami, Florida, where she was invited to participate in the Presidential Scholar program. She has attended summer intensives such as the School of American Ballet and Chautauqua Institution. While at Chautauqua, she performed with Charlotte Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and in a special performance alongside some of Chautauqua’s finest alumni. With IU Ballet Theater, McCreary has performed lead roles in works choreographed by Paul Taylor, George Balanchine, Michael Vernon, and Sasha Janes.
Kyra Muttilainen is a sophomore from Richmond, Vermont, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance. She began her training at the age of five at Vermont Ballet Theater under the direction of Alex and Kirsten Nagiba. She has attended summer intensives with the Bolshoi Ballet, Houston Ballet, Ellison Ballet, and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. In her time with IU Ballet Theater, she has performed in Giselle, Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare, George Balanchine’s Valse-Fantaisie, and Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker. Muttilainen is a recipient of the Jacobs School’s Premier Young Artist Award.
Prior to attending the Jacobs School of Music, Anna Peabody spent four years as a student at the Baltimore School for the Arts in Baltimore, Maryland, under the instruction of Norma Pera and Anton Wilson. There, Peabody performed lead roles in Martha Graham’s Appalachian Spring, George Balanchine’s Serenade, and Barry Hughson’s The Nutcracker, as well as in multiple works choreographed by Christopher d’Amboise. Peabody has attended summer intensives with Boston Ballet School and Ballet Austin. Most recently, she spent her summer studying under Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux at the Chautauqua Institution, where she performed with the Charlotte Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. Currently in her third year at IU, she has performed in Paul Taylor’s Musical Offering, Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, Sasha Janes’ Saudade and Sketches from Grace, and Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Elementary Education.
Andrew Playford, from Grand Rapids, Michigan, is a freshman pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance hoping to obtain an Outside Field related to Global and International Studies. Earlier this season, he was a court dancer in Don Giovanni with IU Opera Theater. He is also a part of the William Ludwig bassoon studio at Jacobs, studying privately with Ludwig.
Claudia Rhett is from Nashville, Tennessee, and trained with Harding Academy School of Dance from age three through 18. During her time there, she studied several styles of dance and began assistant teaching in 2008. She has attended summer intensives at the School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and, most recently, Chautauqua Institution. Rhett is a sophomore pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Business, and has performed in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, Giselle as staged by Eve Lawson, and Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare.
Rachel Schultz is a sophomore pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Arts Management. She began her ballet training at age eight in Crystal Lake, Illinois, at the Judith Svalander School of Ballet. She has studied at several ballet schools, including Omaha Theater Ballet School under the direction of Robin Welch, Ruth Page Center for the Arts under the direction of Doloris Lipinski and Victor Alexander, Southold Dance Theater under Erica Fischbach. Schultz graduated from Indiana Ballet Conservatory, where she studied with Alyona Yakovleva-Randall, in 2016. She also studied privately with Allen Fields, Ellen Huston, and Tatiana Pali. Schultz won second place in the senior classical division at Youth America Grand Prix in Indianapolis in 2016. This past spring, she competed in the National Society of Arts and Letters for the Bloomington chapter and won a grant. During her freshman year, she danced in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, Jerome Robins Fanfare, and Giselle.
Mary Kate Shearer is a freshman from Ridgeland, Mississippi. She trained from age three with Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet under the direction of Jennifer Beasley. Shearer joined Indiana University Ballet Theater in January 2018. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in English and plans to minor in French. She has attended summer intensive programs at Atlanta Ballet, The Rock School for Dance Education, Colorado Ballet, the USA International Ballet Competition in Jackson, Boston Ballet, and the Jacobs School of Music, directed by Michael Vernon. With Mississippi Metropolitan Ballet, Shearer has performed leading roles in The Nutcracker and Kristy Nilsson’s Frozen Heart, as well as works by choreographers including Leaia Alsup, Andrew Brader, John Magnus, and Sara Sanford at the annual Southeastern Regional Ballet Festival.
Lauren Smolka, a junior from Greensburg, Pennsylvania, began dancing ballet at age three. She really started to develop her passion for ballet at age 13, when she was admitted into the pre-professional division at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre (PBT). She performed in Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s company production of The Nutcracker as a Snowflake and a Flower alongside company members. In the PBT school performances, she performed in David Lichine’s Graduation Ball and Marius Petipa’s La Bayadere. Smolka has also performed in works by George Balanchine,including Snowflakes, Raymonda Variations, Concerto Barocco, Elegies, Divertimento No. 15, and Valse-Fantaisie. One of her most memorable performances is dancing the role of the Oboe in Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare with IU Ballet Theater. She has attended summer intensive programs at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, and American Ballet Theatre.
Caroline Tonks is a sophomore pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance. She grew up in Huntington, New York, where she trained at the Lynch School of Ballet under the direction of Karen Lynch, Elizabeth Aymong, and Ian Thatcher. She has attended summer programs at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Houston Ballet, Ballet Met, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, and Sarasota Ballet. With IU Ballet Theater, she has performed in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare, Giselle, and George Balanchine’s Valse-Fantaisie. She is a recipient of the Premier Young Artist Award at the Jacobs School of Music.
Anna Lisa Wilkins was born and raised in East Longmeadow, Massachusetts. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Italian as well as a Bachelor of Science in Finance. She hopes to dance with a professional ballet company after graduation. At the Jacobs School of Music, she has been involved with many of the opera and ballet performances, either as a dancer in the ballets or working for the costume department for the operas. Her repertoire at IU includes Concerto Barocco, The Nutcracker, Divertimento No. 15, Fanfare, Flower Festival in Genzano, and N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz. She has been involved with the Pre-College Ballet Program, both in teaching and choreographic roles. This year, Wilkins also became involved with community outreach through the Ballet Department.
Gillian Worek is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Psychology. She grew up in Florence, New Jersey, where she studied under the direction of Julie Caprio at Hamilton Ballet Theatre. Worek has performed with IU Ballet Theater in Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare and George Balanchine’s Valse-Fantaisie, Divertimento No. 15, and Swan Lake (Act III), as well as Giselle (Act II) and Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker. This past summer, she attended the Boca Ballet Theater Advanced Summer Intensive, where she performed Balanchine’s La Source.
Sarah Young was born in Bloomington, Indiana, where she began her ballet training in the Pre-College Ballet Program at the Jacobs School of Music. By the time she was in high school, she had attended summer intensives at the School of American Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, and Houston Ballet. She continued her training under Peter Boal at the Professional Division Program at Pacific Northwest Ballet, where she danced alongside the professional company in numerous roles, including in George Balanchine’s Diamonds, Alexi Ratmansky’s Don Quixote, and Kent Stowell’s The Nutcracker. A junior, Young is a double major pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance at Jacobs and a Bachelor of Science in Marketing at the Kelley School of Business. She remains an active participant in Jacobs, Kelley, and the Hutton Honors College.
