Enjoy this “small gem . . . a windswept pattern of pure dancing attuned to the joyfulness of Glinka’s waltz rhythms.” - The New York Times
Flower Festival in Genzano Bournonville
The principal dancers tease, play, and luxuriate in the pleasures of being in love. Enjoy this charming pas de deux created in 1858 for the Royal Danish Ballet. Music by Edvard Helsted and Holger Simon Paulli.
Lascia la Spina, Cogli la Rosa & Sketches from Grace Sasha Janes
Talented choreographer Sasha Janes is back! First, his “Leave the Thorn, Take the Rose”—danced to George Frideric Handel’s popular soprano aria of the same name. This stunning work is passionate, poetic, and devilishly difficult! Then Sketches from Grace, four romantic vignettes also set to songs, including Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.”
N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz Jerome Robbins
Sexy, raw, and contemporary, this “ballet in sneakers” became a smash hit when it was broadcast on the Ed Sullivan Show. The dance (with music by Robert Prince) conveys the story of disaffected youth through movement that blends ballet, jazz, and ballroom dancing with Latin, African, and American rhythms.
2017 Performances
Sep. 29, 30 Musical Arts Center 7:30 PM
Sep. 30 Musical Arts Center 2 PM
Explore our IU Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater archive.
Alia Federico, Lauren Smolka, Gillian Worek, Sarah Young
Attended by the male dancer, the ballerinas move together in a whirl of perpetual motion. The 1967 rendering of Valse-Fantaisie was originally presented as the second section of Glinkiana, which was choreographed to four different compositions by Glinka. The music, roughly contemporaneous with the waltzes of Fryderyk Chopin, is fast and light, although it was popularly called the “Melancholy Waltz.”
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), Russia’s first nationalist composer, has been called the Mozart of his country. He is best known for his operas A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Ludmila. As a student at the Mariinsky Theatre, Balanchine danced in the latter show. In 1969, he directed and choreographed the opera for the Hamburg State Opera.
The performance of Valse-Fantaisie, a Balanchine® Ballet, is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique®.
Service standards established and provided by the Trust.
Choreography by August Bournonville Music by Edvard Helsted and Holger Simon Paulli
Premiere: December 19, 1858 | Copenhagen, Denmark
Staged by Karina Elver Alvin Ho, Conductor Sarah Wroth, Ballet Mistress Michael Vernon, Ballet Master Anna Grunewald and Darren Hsu
August Bournonville’s one-act ballet The Flower Festival in Genzano was premiered in 1858 by Denmark’s Royal Ballet. The work, based upon a tale by Alexandre Dumas, was created as an homage to Italian culture. While the full ballet is seldom performed today, the pas de deux programmed here has earned its status as a centerpiece of the ballet repertoire and represents a pure expression of Bournonville’s artistry.
This pas de deux involves a sequence of controlled jumps that must be executed to perfection to create a sense of the unfettered joy of love, of freedom beyond the confines of gravity. The carriage of the arms is simplified to accentuate the angles of the body; the head and shoulders are held at angles, and the sharp distinction of the jumps and beats (battu) is essential. A combination of energy and lightheartedness, characteristic of Bournonville’s choreography, expresses both the dancers’ youth and their love and adds to the charm of the piece. This Flower Festival in Genzano pas de deux is often used to educate students in the Bournonville style of dance as well as to showcase their talents in performance.
Choreography by Sasha Janes by Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen, and James Shelton Lighting Design by Jennifer Propst Costume Design by Katherine Zywczyk
Special thanks to Charlotte Ballet for the use of the costumes
You and I . . . . . . . . .Anna Peabody and Mark Lambert Lilac Wine . . . . . . . . .Claudia Rhett and Antonio Houck Hallelujah . . . . . . . . .Ryan McCreary and Jared Kelly
Choreography by Sasha Janes Music by George Frideric Handel Costume Design by Sasha Janes Lighting Design by Michael Korsch
Special thanks to Charlotte Ballet for the use of the costumes
Choreography by Jerome Robbins Music by Robert Prince Costume Design by Márion Talán Original Lighting Design by Jennifer Tipton
Premiere: June, 1958 | Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy
Staged by Gary Chryst Alvin Ho, Conductor Carla Körbes, Ballet Mistress Michael Vernon, Ballet Master
Entrance: Group Dance
Anna Barnes, Mason Bassett, Sophia Brodin, Alexis Eicher Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Nicholas Gray, Antonio Houck, Jared Kelly, Mark Lambert, Bryanna Mitchell, Ginabel Peterson-Padilla, Anna Lisa Wilkins
Statics
Sophia Brodin and Jared Kelly Mason Bassett, Antonio Houck Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Mark Lambert
Theme, Variations, and Fugue
Mackenzie Allen, Anna Barnes, Mason Bassett, Sophia Brodin, Anderson Da Silva, Liam Doherty, Alexis Eicher, Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Nicholas Gray, Antonio Houck, Jared Kelly, Mark Lambert, Bryanna Mitchell, Ginabel Peterson-Padilla, Anna Lisa Wilkins, Alexandra Willson
Jerome Robbins was a master of highlighting the art behind “street dance.” N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz, choreographed in 1958, showcases this talent and reminds us why Robbins was one of the twentieth century’s most important choreographers. This “ballet in sneakers,” originally appearing in the United States to great acclaim on The Ed Sullivan Show, combines ballet, ballroom dance, and jazz dance in an electrifying celebration of the movement of the street.
N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz brings to the stage a world of energy and shared passion that draws the audience into the experience of the performers. Each individual dancer onstage is part of a greater whole, a collective, intertwined to the music of Robert Prince. The audience witnesses the relationships they forge over the course of the piece: some are friendly, some sultry, and some burn with an intensity just on the edge of combat. But throughout, the group is bound together by rhythm, a sense of community, and a desire for shared success.
The performance of N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz is by permission of the Jerome Robbins Trust.
Premiere: January 6, 1953 | New York City Ballet City Center of Music and Drama Staged by Viki Psihoyos Alvin Ho, Conductor Kyra Nichols, Ballet Mistress
Attended by the male dancer, the ballerinas move together in a whirl of perpetual motion. The 1967 rendering of Valse-Fantaisie was originally presented as the second section of Glinkiana, which was choreographed to four different compositions by Glinka. The music, roughly contemporaneous with the waltzes of Fryderyk Chopin, is fast and light, although it was popularly called the “Melancholy Waltz.”
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), Russia’s first nationalist composer, has been called the Mozart of his country. He is best known for his operas A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Ludmila. As a student at the Mariinsky Theatre, Balanchine danced in the latter show. In 1969, he directed and choreographed the opera for the Hamburg State Opera.
The performance of Valse-Fantaisie, a Balanchine® Ballet, is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique®.
Service standards established and provided by the Trust.
Choreography by August Bournonville Music by Edvard Helsted and Holger Simon Paulli
Premiere: December 19, 1858 | Copenhagen, Denmark
Staged by Karina Elver Alvin Ho, Conductor Sarah Wroth, Ballet Mistress Michael Vernon, Ballet Master Anna Lisa Wilkins and Jared Kelly
August Bournonville’s one-act ballet The Flower Festival in Genzano was premiered in 1858 by Denmark’s Royal Ballet. The work, based upon a tale by Alexandre Dumas, was created as an homage to Italian culture. While the full ballet is seldom performed today, the pas de deux programmed here has earned its status as a centerpiece of the ballet repertoire and represents a pure expression of Bournonville’s artistry.
This pas de deux involves a sequence of controlled jumps that must be executed to perfection to create a sense of the unfettered joy of love, of freedom beyond the confines of gravity. The carriage of the arms is simplified to accentuate the angles of the body; the head and shoulders are held at angles, and the sharp distinction of the jumps and beats (battu)is essential. A combination of energy and lightheartedness, characteristic of Bournonville’s choreography, expresses both the dancers’ youth and their love and adds to the charm of the piece. This Flower Festival in Genzano pas de deux is often used to educate students in the Bournonville style of dance as well as to showcase their talents in performance.
Choreography by Sasha Janes Music by Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen, and James Shelton Lighting Design by Jennifer Propst Costume Design by Katherine Zywczyk
Special thanks to Charlotte Ballet for the use of the costumes
You and I . . . .Kaylee Grippando and Mason Bassett Lilac Wine . . . . Alexis Eicher and Anderson Da Silva Hallelujah . . . . Ryan McCreary and Jared Kelly
Choreography by Sasha Janes Music by George Frideric Handel Costume Design by Sasha Janes Lighting Design by Michael Korsch
Special thanks to Charlotte Ballet for the use of the costumes
Choreography by Jerome Robbins Music by Robert Prince Costume Design by Márion Talán Original Lighting Design by Jennifer Tipton
Premiere: June, 1958 | Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy
Staged by Gary Chryst Alvin Ho, Conductor Carla Körbes, Ballet Mistress Michael Vernon, Ballet Master
Entrance: Group Dance
Anna Barnes, Mason Bassett, Sophia Brodin, Alexis Eicher Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Nicholas Gray, Antonio Houck, Jared Kelly, Mark Lambert, Bryanna Mitchell, Ginabel Peterson-Padilla, Anna Lisa Wilkins
Statics
Sophia Brodin and Jared Kelly Mason Bassett, Antonio Houck Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Mark Lambert
Improvisations
Ensemble
Passage for Two
Anna Barnes and Mark Lambert
Theme, Variations, and Fugue
Mackenzie Allen, Anna Barnes, Mason Bassett, Sophia Brodin, Anderson Da Silva, Liam Doherty, Alexis Eicher, Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Nicholas Gray, Antonio Houck, Jared Kelly, Mark Lambert,Bryanna Mitchell, Ginabel Peterson-Padilla, Anna Lisa Wilkins, Alexandra Willson
Jerome Robbins was a master of highlighting the art behind “street dance.” N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz, choreographed in 1958, showcases this talent and reminds us why Robbins was one of the twentieth century’s most important choreographers. This “ballet in sneakers,” originally appearing in the United States to great acclaim on The Ed Sullivan Show, combines ballet, ballroom dance, and jazz dance in an electrifying celebration of the movement of the street.
N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz brings to the stage a world of energy and shared passion that draws the audience into the experience of the performers. Each individual dancer onstage is part of a greater whole, a collective, intertwined to the music of Robert Prince. The audience witnesses the relationships they forge over the course of the piece: some are friendly, some sultry, and some burn with an intensity just on the edge of combat. But throughout, the group is bound together by rhythm, a sense of community, and a desire for shared success.
The performance of N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz is by permission of the Jerome Robbins Trust.
Attended by the male dancer, the ballerinas move together in a whirl of perpetual motion. The 1967 rendering of Valse-Fantaisie was originally presented as the second section of Glinkiana, which was choreographed to four different compositions by Glinka. The music, roughly contemporaneous with the waltzes of Fryderyk Chopin, is fast and light, although it was popularly called the “Melancholy Waltz.”
Mikhail Glinka (1804-1857), Russia’s first nationalist composer, has been called the Mozart of his country. He is best known for his operas A Life for the Tsar and Ruslan and Ludmila. As a student at the Mariinsky Theatre, Balanchine danced in the latter show. In 1969, he directed and choreographed the opera for the Hamburg State Opera.
The performance of Valse-Fantaisie, a Balanchine® Ballet, is presented by arrangement with The George Balanchine Trust and has been produced in accordance with the Balanchine Style® and Balanchine Technique®.
Service standards established and provided by the Trust.
Choreography by August Bournonville Music by Edvard Helsted and Holger Simon Paulli
Premiere: December 19, 1858 | Copenhagen, Denmark
Staged by Karina Elver Alvin Ho, Conductor Sarah Wroth, Ballet Mistress Michael Vernon, Ballet Master
Georgia Dalton and Nicholas Gray
August Bournonville’s one-act ballet The Flower Festival in Genzano was premiered in 1858 by Denmark’s Royal Ballet. The work, based upon a tale by Alexandre Dumas, was created as an homage to Italian culture. While the full ballet is seldom performed today, the pas de deux programmed here has earned its status as a centerpiece of the ballet repertoire and represents a pure expression of Bournonville’s artistry.
This pas de deux involves a sequence of controlled jumps that must be executed to perfection to create a sense of the unfettered joy of love, of freedom beyond the confines of gravity. The carriage of the arms is simplified to accentuate the angles of the body; the head and shoulders are held at angles, and the sharp distinction of the jumps and beats (battu) is essential. A combination of energy and lightheartedness, characteristic of Bournonville’s choreography, expresses both the dancers’ youth and their love and adds to the charm of the piece. This Flower Festival in Genzano pas de deux is often used to educate students in the Bournonville style of dance as well as to showcase their talents in performance.
Choreography by Sasha Janes Music by Jeff Buckley, Leonard Cohen, and James Shelton Lighting Design by Jennifer Propst Costume Design by Katherine Zywczyk
Special thanks to Charlotte Ballet for the use of the costumes
You and I . . . . . . . . .Anna Peabody and Mark Lambert Lilac Wine . . . . . . . . .Claudia Rhett and Antonio Houck Hallelujah . . . . . . . . .Ryan McCreary and Jared Kelly
Choreography by Sasha Janes Music by George Frideric Handel Costume Design by Sasha Janes Lighting Design by Michael Korsch
Special thanks to Charlotte Ballet for the use of the costumes
Premiere: July 20, 2006 | Chautauqua, New York
Staged by Sasha Janes Alvin Ho, Conductor Therese Pirçon, Soprano
Choreography by Jerome Robbins Music by Robert Prince Costume Design by Márion Talán Original Lighting Design by Jennifer Tipton
Premiere: June, 1958 | Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy
Staged by Gary Chryst Alvin Ho, Conductor Carla Körbes, Ballet Mistress Michael Vernon, Ballet Master
Entrance: Group Dance
Anna Barnes, Mason Bassett, Sophia Brodin, Alexis Eicher Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Nicholas Gray, Antonio Houck, Jared Kelly, Mark Lambert, Bryanna Mitchell, Ginabel Peterson-Padilla, Anna Lisa Wilkins
Statics
Sophia Brodin and Jared Kelly Mason Bassett, Antonio Houck Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Mark Lambert
Improvisations
Ensemble
Passage for Two
Anna Barnes and Mark Lambert
Theme, Variations, and Fugue
Mackenzie Allen, Anna Barnes, Mason Bassett, Sophia Brodin, Anderson Da Silva, Liam Doherty, Alexis Eicher, Julian Goodwin-Ferris, Nicholas Gray, Antonio Houck, Jared Kelly, Mark Lambert,Bryanna Mitchell, Ginabel Peterson-Padilla, Anna Lisa Wilkins, Alexandra Willson
Jerome Robbins was a master of highlighting the art behind “street dance.” N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz, choreographed in 1958, showcases this talent and reminds us why Robbins was one of the twentieth century’s most important choreographers. This “ballet in sneakers,” originally appearing in the United States to great acclaim on The Ed Sullivan Show, combines ballet, ballroom dance, and jazz dance in an electrifying celebration of the movement of the street.
N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz brings to the stage a world of energy and shared passion that draws the audience into the experience of the performers. Each individual dancer onstage is part of a greater whole, a collective, intertwined to the music of Robert Prince. The audience witnesses the relationships they forge over the course of the piece: some are friendly, some sultry, and some burn with an intensity just on the edge of combat. But throughout, the group is bound together by rhythm, a sense of community, and a desire for shared success.
The performance of N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz is by permission of the Jerome Robbins Trust.
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.
August Bournonville, born in Copenhagen in 1805, was a dancer and choreographer who directed the Royal Danish Ballet for nearly 50 years and established the Danish style based on bravura dancing and expressive mime. He studied under his father, Antoine Bournonville, one of the major dancers of his day, before going to Paris for further training under Auguste Vestris and Pierre Gardel. After appearances at the Paris Opera and in London, Bournonville returned to Copenhagen as a soloist and choreographer for the Royal Danish Ballet. A strong dancer with excellent elevation and an accomplished mime, he emphasized these qualities in his ballets. His choreographic style also reflected the pre-Romantic approach of his teacher Vestris. Many of his ballets have remained in the repertoire of the Royal Danish Ballet for more than a century. Bournonville also directed the Swedish Royal Opera at Stockholm (1861-64) and staged several of his works in Vienna (1855-56). In 1877, after his return to Denmark, he retired and was knighted. He died on November 30, 1879, in Copenhagen. (Portrait by Louis Aumont, 1828)
Sasha Janes, Sasha Janes is visiting lecturer in music in ballet at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He was born in Perth, Australia, and received his formal dance training from the Australian Ballet School. He 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.
At the invitation of Jean Pierre Bonnefoux and associate artistic director Patricia McBride, Janes joined Charlotte Ballet in 2003. In 2006, he was commissioned to choreograph his first ballet, Lascia la Spina, Cogli la Rosa, and has since 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.”
Janes was a participant in New York City Ballet’s Choreographic Institute and has been a guest choreographer for Richmond Ballet’s New Works Festival. He was a principal dancer with Charlotte Ballet for eight seasons before being named rehearsal director in 2007 then associate artistic director in 2012 and adding the title resident choreographer in 2013. In fall 2016, Janes premiered his latest ballet, Saudade, for the Jacobs School of Music, where he served as guest faculty. In spring 2017, he premiered his newest work for Charlotte Ballet, inspired by Emily Bronte’s classic novel Wuthering Heights.
Born on October 11, 1918, in New York City, Jerome Robbins is world renowned for his work as a choreographer of ballets as well as his work as a director and choreographer in theater, movies, and television. His Broadway shows include On the Town, Billion Dollar Baby, High Button Shoes, West Side Story, The King and I, Gypsy, Peter Pan, Miss Liberty, Call Me Madam, and Fiddler on the Roof. His last Broadway production, Jerome Robbins’ Broadway in 1989, won six Tony Awards, including best musical and best director.
Among the more than 60 ballets he created are Fancy Free, Afternoon of a Faun, The Concert, Dances at a Gathering, In the Night, In G Major, Other Dances, Glass Pieces, and Ives, Songs, which are in the repertories of New York City Ballet and other major dance companies throughout the world. His last ballets include A Suite of Dances created for Mikhail Baryshnikov (1994), 2 & 3 Part Inventions (1994), West Side Story Suite (1995), and Brandenburg (1996).
In addition to two Academy Awards for the film West Side Story, Robbins received four Tony Awards, five Donaldson Awards, two Emmy Awards, the Screen Directors’ Guild Award, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. He was a 1981 Kennedy Center Honors Recipient and was awarded the French Chevalier dans l’Ordre National de la Legion d’Honneur.
Artistic Staff
Alvin Pak Lok Ho is a dynamic young conductor from Hong Kong who is been seen on stages from the United States to Europe. At 24, he is currently assistant conductor at Indiana University Opera and Ballet Theater, and assisted with its productions of Benjamin Britten’s Peter Grimes and Mozart’s Don Giovanni under Arthur Fagen. Recently, Ho was chosen as one of the semi-finalists at the Critical Orchestra Berlin by members of major German orchestras such as the Berlin Philharmonic, Staatskapelle Berlin, and Sächsische Staatskapelle Dresden, among others. He has conducted Gstaad Festival Orchestra, MÁV Symphony Orchestra (Budapest), Bloomington Symphony Orchestra, and Jacobs School of Music orchestras. He has assisted or cover-conducted for Carl St. Clair, Christoph Perick, Paul Nadler, and Stuart Chafetz. His mentors include Neeme Järvi, Johannes Schlaefli, Lothar Zagrosek, Carl St. Clair, Thomas Wilkins, Jan Latham-Koenig, David Neely, and Federico Cortese.
With a strong interest in contemporary music, Ho has conducted numerous works by composition students at IU, including the premiere of Yihan Chen’s Phantasms (2015), which was awarded a 2017 Morton Gould Young Composer Award by theASCAP Foundation. Ho recorded a film score with the IU Symphony Orchestra for an IU television commercial in 2016. With a strong interest in building youth orchestras, he founded the Chinese University Student Orchestra in 2014, currently in its fifth season. In addition, he has served as assistant conductor at the National Youth Orchestra of China 2017, working under Ludovic Morlot. Ho is currently a doctoral candidate in orchestral conducting at the Jacobs School of Music, where he also earned a masters’s degree, having studied with Arthur Fagen and David Effron.
Gary Chryst made his debut with American Ballet Theatre in 1993 as Drosselmeyer in The Nutcracker. He returned to the company in 2006 to stage Petrouchka, in which he performed the role of the Charlatan. Over the past 15 years, Chryst has staged the choreography for the musical Chicago on every continent except Antarctica. In 2013, Jiří Kylián created East Shadow, featuring Chryst, which has been seen in theaters throughout the world. Chryst has also staged Petrouchka for the Mariinsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia and the National Ballet of Canada. He staged Jerome Robbins’ N.Y.Export: Opus Jazz for The Juilliard School and assisted Ann Reinking in a new production of the Kander and Ebb musical The Visit, starring Chita Rivera at Signature Theatre. He was co-choreographer of a new production of West Side Story in Brazil and choreographed a new American production of South Pacific, Nijinsky in Japan, and numerous MTV videos.
His Broadway performing credits include Guys and Dolls, Bob Fosse’s Dancin’, and A Chorus Line. He appeared on international tours of A Chorus Line and West Side Story. He had a notable career as a classical dancer with the Joffrey Ballet and Nederlans Dans Theatre 3. He returned to the Joffrey in October 2006 as one of the Step-Sisters in the sompany premiere of Frederick Ashton’s Cinderella. He performed as a guest with the companies of Twyla Tharp, David Parsons, Lar Lubovitch, Eliot Feld, Jose Limon, and Nureyev and Friends, among others.
Karina Elver was born in 1962 in Copenhagen, Denmark. She began to dance at the age of three, and at age nine, was accepted as a ballet student at the Royal Danish Ballet School. In 1978, she was accepted as an apprentice at the Royal Danish Ballet (RDB), and after two years, she became a dancer there. At RDB, she had many solo parts in several ballets by August Bournonville, Balanchine, Alvin Ailey, and many more. In 1992, she started to create her own choreography. In 2003, after a wonderful career of 32 years, she decided to leave the Royal Danish Theatre to work as a freelance ballet teacher/choreographer/repetiteur and Bournonville specialist. Since 2011, Elver has been working in New York and across the U.S., teaching and staging Bournonville ballets.
Viki Bromberg Psihoyos trained at George Balanchine’s School of American Ballet in New York for eight years before being accepted into his company, New York City Ballet. She performed in more than 70 works by Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Ruth Page, Peter Martins, Richard Tanner, Frederick Ashton, John Taras, and others. Her television appearances include The Cage, Four Temperaments, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Stravinsky Violin Concerto, The Merry Widow, and Chaconne. She has taught ballet and choreographed for a number ofschools in the U.S. and abroad. Psihoyos works with the Balanchine Trust to offer Balanchine Technique Workshops focusing on the master’s unique approach to detail and musicality. She also stages Balanchine works so that students may apply these principles while learning a masterwork in a studio setting.
Carla Körbes is associate professor of music in ballet at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She was born in Porto Alegre, Brazil, and began her ballet training at age five with local teachers. At age 11, she began studying at Ballet Vera Bublitz. In 1996, Peter Boal, former New York City Ballet (NYCB) principal dancer, danced with her as a guest artist of the school and encouraged her to come to New York to study at the School of American Ballet (SAB). For the 1997-98 academic year, her tuition was paid for by Alexandra Danilova so she could continue studying at SAB.
In 1999, Körbes won the Mae. L. Wien Award and was made an apprentice with NYCB. She joined the company as a member of the corps de ballet in 2000 and was the Janice Levin Dancer Honoree for 2001-02. She was promoted to soloist in 2005 and joined Pacific Northwest Ballet as a soloist later that year. She was promoted to principal dancer there in 2006.
Körbes repertory included numerous ballets by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Christopher Wheeldon, William Forsythe, Alexei Ratmansky, and Twyla Tharp, among others. She also performed in most of ballet’s classical works, including Swan Lake, Giselle, and Don Quixote. Körbes last performed with Pacific Northwest Ballet on June 7, 2015. That same year, she joined the L. A. Dance Project as associate director and started teaching at The Colburn School in Los Angeles. (Photo by Patrick Fraser)
Kyra Nichols is Violette Verdy and Kathy Ziliak Anderson Chair in Ballet and professor of music in ballet at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She began her early training in Berkeley, California, with her mother, Sally Streets, a former member of New York City Ballet (NYCB). By age 13, Nichols started spending her summers in New York at the School of American Ballet. She performed with Alan Howard’s San Francisco-based Pacific Ballet before moving to New York full time when she was 15 years old.
Nichols became an apprentice to NYCB in 1974 and quickly became a member of the corps de ballet. She was promoted to soloist in 1978 and in 1979 was promoted by George Balanchine to principal dancer. Her early years in the company were enlivened by the presence of Balanchine and Jerome Robbins, both of whom were choreographing on the company. She danced numerous leading roles in the company repertory, ranging from pyrotechnic displays of bravura skill in ballets such as “Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto Number 2” and “Stars and Stripes” to more lyrical and dramatic roles such as those in “Liebeslieder Walzer” and Robert Schumann’s “Davidsbündlertänze.” In addition to her work with Balanchine and Robbins, Nichols has worked with an extensive list of choreographers, including William Forsythe, Susan Stroman, Christopher Wheeldon, Peter Martins, Jacques D’Amboise, Robert La Fosse, and Robert Garland.
During her performing career, Nichols toured extensively. In 1981, she joined a small group led by Robbins that performed in mainland China as part of a U.S. Information Agency effort to bring American culture to China. She has performed all over the world, including in Great Britain, Japan, France, Denmark, Germany, Hungary, Israel, and Italy.
She appeared as a guest artist in various productions, including Franco Zeffirelli’s “La Traviata” at the Metropolitan Opera. By special invitation, she performed in Cuba as a guest of Alicia Alonso. With NYCB dancer Gen Horiuchi, Nichols led a group of dancers for a three-week series of performances in Tokyo. Her touring included sites all over the United States, from high school gymnasiums in Alabama to the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.
Nichols appeared on national television in Balanchine’s “Vienna Waltzes” in A Lincoln Center Special: A New York City Ballet Tribute to George Balanchine, in Balanchine’s “Serenade” for a Dance in America program, and in Peter Martins’ “Beethoven Romance” for the Dance in America program Ballerinas, Dances by Peter Martins. She also appeared in the twentieth-anniversary broadcast of the PBS series Great Performances, in Martins’ “Not My Girl.” She danced the featured role of Dewdrop in the film version of George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, released in November 1993 by Warner Brothers.
Nichols retired from New York City Ballet in June 2007, after 33 years with the company, the longest-serving ballerina in the company’s history. Since retiring from NYCB, she has been teaching and setting ballets. In 2015, she became a ballet mistress with Pennsylvania Ballet.
Michael Vernon is professor of music in ballet and chair emeritus of the Ballet Department at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. He started dancing at the Nesta Brooking School of Ballet in London before going on to study at the Royal Ballet School in London with such legendary teachers as Dame Ninette de Valois and Leonide Massine. He performed with the Royal Ballet, Royal Opera Ballet, and London Festival Ballet before coming to New York in 1976 to join the Eglevsky Ballet as ballet master and resident choreographer. He became artistic director of the Long Island-based company in 1989 and remained in that position until 1996.
Vernon choreographed numerous ballets for the Eglevsky Ballet, in addition to ballets for many other professional companies in the United States and worldwide, such as BalletMet of Columbus, Ohio, and North Carolina Dance Theatre. Mikhail Baryshnikov commissioned him to choreograph the successful pas de deux In a Country Garden for American Ballet Theatre (ABT). His solo S’Wonderful was danced by ABT principal Cynthia Harvey in the presence of President and Mrs. Reagan and shown nationwide on CBS television. He served as assistant choreographer on Ken Russell’s movie Valentino, starring Rudolph Nureyev and Leslie Caron.
Vernon taught at Steps on Broadway in New York City for many years, working with dancers from New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, and many other high-profile companies. He is an integral part of the Manhattan Dance Project, which brings New York-style master classes to all regions of the United States. He has been involved with the Ballet Program of the Chautauqua Institution since 1996 and is the artistic advisor for the Ballet School of Stamford. He is permanent guest teacher at the Manhattan Youth Ballet and has a long association with Ballet Hawaii.
Vernon has been a company teacher for American Ballet Theatre, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Metropolitan Opera Ballet, and Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater. He hasguest taught in companies all over the world, including West Australian Ballet, National Ballet of China, Hong Kong Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, Berlin Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, and the Norwegian National Ballet. He has been a guest teacher for The Juilliard School and taught for many years at The Ailey School. He has served on the panel of judges for the Youth of America Grand Prix regional semifinals. For Indiana University, Vernon has choreographed Endless Night, Jeux, Spectre de la Rose, and Cathedral, and has staged and provided additional choreography for the full-length classics Swan Lake and The Sleeping Beauty. He has choreographed for many IU Opera Theater productions, such as Faust and the world premiere of Vincent. His production of The Nutcracker has become one of the best attended events at the Jacobs School of Music.
Sarah Wroth is visiting associate professor of music in ballet at the Indiana University Jacobs School of Music. She began her ballet training at the Frederick School of Classical Ballet in Frederick, Maryland. After graduating from high school, she earned a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Education from the Jacobs School of Music in 2003 and became a member of the corps de ballet of Boston Ballet Company under the artistic direction of Mikko Nissinen.
Wroth began working part time for Boston Ballet School in 2004, further studying her craft through the teaching of other dancers. She began teaching for the Boston Ballet Adaptive Dance Program for Children with Downs Syndrome in 2005, and in 2009, she was awarded the E. Virginia Williams Inspiration Award for her unwavering dedication to ballet and the Boston Ballet Company.
In 2013, Wroth began her experience with ballet company management by working on a panel to create a Boston Ballet partnership with Northeastern University. The partnership offered undergraduate education opportunities along with a scholarship to any Boston Ballet dancer willing to weave a formal education into their complex ballet schedule. The partnership also allowed Wroth to earn a master’s degree in nonprofit management.
Wroth performed numerous roles in a variety of styles while dancing with Boston Ballet. She has performed principal roles in works by William Forsythe, Jiri Kylian, Marius Petipa, Jerome Robbins, Helen Pickett, and Mikko Nissinen, as well as 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, also performing with great acclaim at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and the Koch Theater at Lincoln Center in New York City.
Anastasia Kniess earned both her Bachelor of Music Performance and her Performance Diploma from the Jacobs School of Music. A native of New Jersey, she has studied piano and violin intensely since the age of four and received training at Temple Music Prep and the Settlement Music School. She has attended the Aspen Music Festival and School, and the Schleswig-Holstein Musik Festival, and played in the Philadelphia Youth Orchestra. She is a current member of the Columbus Indiana Philharmonic and the Terre Haute Symphony Orchestra. This is her third season with IUBT.
Irina Ter-Grigoryan earned her degrees of piano performance, pedagogy, and accompanist in the former Soviet Union. She was fortunate to start studying piano with L. Egorova, the author of the one of the best tutorial books for piano beginners. Among her teachers, she also studied with R. Atakishiev, the student of C. Igumnoff. She also studied many years with E. Kulesh, student of Henrich Neuhaus. In addition, Ter-Grigoryan is a successful piano teacher. Several of her students have won international competitions. In 2013, she received an award from the University of Chicago as Outstanding Educator. She served as a faculty member at the Baku State Conservatory and as an accompanist for the Azerbaijan State Theater Opera and Ballet. She was selected from a small pool of musicians to accompany international and regional competitions representing the Soviet Union. During her time in the United States, Ter-Grigor’yan has continued her work as an accompanist with the Temple Square Concert Series Recitals in Salt Lake City, Utah; the University of Utah; and Ballet West Co.; and as a collaborative pianist at DePauw University. She has been on the faculty of the Jacobs School of Music Ballet Department since 2000.
Therese Pirçon is pursuing a Performer Diploma in Voice Performance under the instruction of Jane Dutton. She made her Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater debut last spring in Peter Grimes. Pirçon has been celebrated for her striking warmth of tone, dramatic versatility, and exceptional artistry. The Midwestern-born soprano has performed in a variety of venues both nationally and internationally. Her most recent engagement was as apprentice artist for the Miami Music Festival, where she performed the role of Nella from Gianni Schicchi. She has collaborated with directors, coaches, and conductors hailing from the Washington National Opera, Houston Grand Opera, Metropolitan Opera, and several other prestigious opera houses. Her most recent roles include the Marschallin (Der Rosenkavalier), Beauty (Beauty and the Beast), Mrs.Gobineau (The Medium), and Ciesca (Gianni Schicchi).
Featured Dancers
From Bryan, Ohio, Mason Bassett is currently a freshman at the Jacobs School of Music pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Arts Management. Trained at Bryan Community School of Dance, Ballet Theatre of Toledo, and graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, he has attended summer programs at Interlochen Center for the Arts, Pennsylvania Ballet, and Nutmeg Ballet Conservatory. Bassett has performed in Límon’s A Choreographic Offering, as The Wrangler in Agnes de Mille’s Rodeo, The Prince in Sleeping Beauty, and in other roles.
Anderson Da Silva is an 18-year-old freshman at the Jacobs School of Music. He was born in Tampa, Florida, and received his ballet training in Tampa at America’s Ballet School under directors Paula Nuñez and Osmany Montano. He 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 ages 5 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, and Ballet Met Columbus. Most recently, she was an apprentice with the Chautauqua Dance Summer program. Dalton is a recipient of the Premier Young Artist Award and a junior at the Jacobs School of Music pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Marketing.
Alexis Eicher was born in Fort Wayne, Indiana. She began dancing at the age of four in a church dance ministry but 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 taken master classes with 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. Eicher has also performed choreography by Michael Vernon, Mark Diamond, Eddy Ocampo, Jimmy Orrante, Melinda Howe, and many others. She is a freshman at IU pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Psychology.
Sam Epstein is from Saratoga Springs, New York, where he trained at the National Museum of Dance. He began his formal training at the New York State Summer School of the Arts School of Ballet under the direction of Daniel Ulbricht. He has received scholarships to summer programs at Ballet Academy East, Boston Ballet School, and American Ballet Theatre. Currently in his freshman year of study, he is a recipient of the Premiere Young Artist Award and a member of the Hutton Honors College and Wells Scholars Program.
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 Theatre Academy for six years and the 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 and Twyla Tharp’s As Time Goes By as well as in the roles of the Chinese Dance, Russian Dance, Rat King, and Party Parent in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker. He also performed in Twyla Tharp’s Surfer at the River Styx, Paul Taylor’s Musical Offering, and IU Opera Theater’s Oklahoma!
Anna Grunewald was born in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. She began her training at a small performing arts school then the Ballet Academy of Pittsburgh. She danced with the Ballet Academy of Pittsburgh under the instruction of Steven and Lindsay Piper and Lindy Mandradjieff from the fourth grade through her senior year of high school. During summers, Grunewald has studied at the Saratoga Summer Dance Intensive, Boston Ballet, Texas Ballet Theater, Ballet West, and Chautauqua. She is a junior at the Jacobs School of Music pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Arts Management. With IU Ballet Theater, she has performed in Giselle and George Balanchine’s Concerto Barocco, Serenade, and Divertimento No.15.
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 intensives at Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Orlando Ballet, and Hubbard Street. This is his third year at IU, where he is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Public and Environmental Policy. He has appeared in pieces such as Music Offering, Giselle, and Saudade.
Born in 1997 in Rockville Maryland, Darren Hsu began training with the Maryland Youth Ballet at age seven. Based in Silver Spring, Maryland, the Maryland Youth Ballet provided numerous performance opportunities for young dancers, with training from Michelle Lees, Christopher Doyle, Rhodie Jorgenson, and other former professional dancers. Along with daily classes and rehearsals, the Maryland Youth Ballet supported students training from numerous other programs, allowing him to train briefly with programs from Pacific Northwest Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Orlando Ballet School, and the master-class series held at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Hsu is a junior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Informatics at the Jacobs School of Music.
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. In the sixth grade, Kelly began more intensive training, at The Washington School of Ballet (TWSB) with Kee Juan Han and Katrina Toews. 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 of TheWashington School of Ballet, Dance Theatre of Harlem, Nutmeg Conservatory for the Arts, 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.
Mark Lambert is a sophomore at the Jacobs School of Music pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Arts Administration. He began studying ballet at age 14 at Interlochen Arts Academy in Interlochen, Michigan, under Cameron Basden and Joseph Morrissey. There he performed principal roles in The Nutcracker, La Bayadère, and Peter and the Wolf, and numerous roles in Coppelia, The Sleeping Beauty, and New Works pieces. With Indiana University Ballet Theater, he has performed in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker as Snow Cavalier, Arabian, and Flowers, George Balanchine’s Divertimento No.15, Sasha Jane’s Saudade, Twyla Tharp’s As Time Goes By, and Jerome Robbin’s Fanfare.He is a recipient of the Premier Young Artists Scholarship at the Jacobs School.
Sterling Manka is a junior from Fishers, Indiana, pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance. He began dancing at the age of eight at the Jordan Academy of Dance at Butler University 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 University. He placed in the top 12 in the ensembles category at the Youth America Grand Prix finals in New York City for his performance in Sergey Sergiev’s Amélie. 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 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, Manka 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 Oklahoma! He is a member of the Hutton Honors College.
Ryan McCreary is a senior at the Jacobs School of Music double majoring in psychology and ballet. 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. There she 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 won the silver award at YoungArts in Miami, Florida, where she was invited to participate in the Presidential Scholar program. McCreary has attended summer intensives such as The School of American Ballet and Chautauqua. While at Chautauqua, she performed with Charlotte Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre as well as in a special performance alongside some of Chautauqua’s finest alumni. Since coming to the Jacobs School, she has performed lead roles in works by Paul Taylor, George Balanchine, Michael Vernon, and Sasha Janes.
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. During her time there, she attended summer intensives at the Orlando Ballet School, Boston Ballet School, Ballet Austin, and Chautauqua Institution. She performed the roles of the Pioneer Woman in Martha Graham’s Appalachian Spring, Waltz Girl and Dark Angel in George Balanchine’s Serenade, and Sugar Plum Fairy in Barry Hughson’s The Nutcracker, as well as in multiple other works choreographed by Christopher d’Amboise. Peabody spent this past summer studying under Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefoux at the Chautauqua Institution. Currently in her third year at IU, she has performed in Paul Taylor’s Musical Offerings, Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, Sasha Janes’ Saudade, and Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Elementary Education.
Andrew Rossi is a freshman at the IU Jacobs School of Music. Hailing from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, he studied at the Ballet Academy of Pittsburgh and the Dance Conservatory of Pittsburgh. Rossi has attended summer programs at the Chautauqua Institution (2015) and the Pacific Northwest Ballet School (2016 and 2017).
Anna Lisa Wilkins was born in Springfield, Massachusetts, and received much of her early training from Irina Vakhromeeva. She has competed in the Youth American Grand Prix, placing in the top 12 in both contemporary and classical at the regional semi-finals, and was invited to compete in the New York City finals, where she was awarded scholarships to Princess Grace Academy and Orlando Ballet School. In 2012, she attended Boston Ballet’s Summer Intensive on a full-tuition scholarship and was invited to train with the year-round program on scholarship. She worked under Xiomara Reyes and Rinat Imaev for their staging of Giselle at the Hartt School Community Division, where she danced the role of Myrtha. Wilkins was invited on a full scholarship by Reyes to participate in the IBStage program in Barcelona, Spain, where she danced excerpts from Le Corsaire and Mats Ek’s Swan Lake alongside such renowned principals as Marianela Nunez, Xander Parish, and Lauren Cuthbertson. She was a first-prize winner and national finalist for the National Society of Arts and Letters Classical Ballet Competition in 2017. Her repertoire with IU Ballet Theater has included Concerto Barocco, Divertimento No.15, and, most recently, Clarinet in Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Italian and a Bachelor of Science in Finance.
