Balanchine described this work as “Everything I know about ballet in 13 minutes.” It is a joyful piece that challenges the dancers’ technical prowess at every level.
DARK ELEGIES Antony Tudor
Considered by many to be Tudor’s greatest work, this psychological ballet set to Mahler’s “Kindertotenlieder” expresses raw emotions taking us from tenderness to devastation to rage.
BERCEUSE Penny Saunders
This beautiful, incredibly emotional pas de deux challenges the physicality as well as the dynamic give-and-take of true partnering, both as it is demonstrated in life and onstage.
DRINK TO ME ONLY WITH THINE EYES Mark Morris
"The freshness of the inspiration, the consistent upturning of artistic convention, the sheer bravado of it all, is unprecedented, joyful and so volatile you fear it will evaporate before your eyes."— The San Francisco Examiner
2019 Performances
Oct. 11, 12 Musical Arts Center 7:30 PM
Oct. 12 Musical Arts Center 2 PM
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Image from Dark Meets Light dress rehearsal in the Musical Arts Center.Indiana UniversityImage from Dark Meets Light dress rehearsal in the Musical Arts Center.Indiana UniversityImage from Dark Meets Light dress rehearsal in the Musical Arts Center.Indiana UniversityImage from Dark Meets Light dress rehearsal in the Musical Arts Center.Indiana UniversityImage from Dark Meets Light dress rehearsal in the Musical Arts Center.Indiana University
Synopsis: Friday, October 11, 2019 | 7:30 PM
Choreography by George Balanchine* Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. posth. 75
Premiere: March 1, 1956 | New York City Ballet City Center of Music and Drama, New York, New York
Staged by Kyra Nichols Geoffrey Larson, Conductor Bethany Brinson, Piano Christian Claessens, Ballet Master
Sarah Knutson and Anderson Dasilva
Marissa Arnold, Alexis Breen, Colin Canavan, Julia Metzger, Rachel Gehr, Jack Grohmann, Andrew Rossi, Bradley Streetman
Allegro Brillante was created by George Balanchine for New York City Ballet in 1956. Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3 sets a thrilling pace for the dancers, and the intricately musical choreography challenges their timing, precision, and technical ability. Balanchine said of this work, “It contains everything I know about the classical ballet in 13 minutes.”
Penny Saunders offers a sweeping and intricate duet in Berceuse, set to Benjamin Godard’s gorgeous piece of the same name. Berceuse, meaning “lullaby” in French, explores the nuanced line between classical and contemporary movement and zooms in on a relationship, amplifying all of its twists and turns as it falls forward through time.
Choreography by Antony Tudor^ Music by Gustav Mahler | Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) Costume Design by Raymond Sovey after Nadia Benois
Premiere: February 19, 1937 | Ballet Rambert Duchess Theatre, London, United Kingdom
Staged by Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner Geoffrey Larson, Conductor Jack Canfield, Baritone Michael Vernon, Ballet Master Sarah Wroth, Ballet Master
Scene One Laments of the Bereaved First Song Caroline Tonks
Second Song Lily Bines and Mark Lambert
Third Song Sam Epstein
Fourth Song Mary Kate Shearer
Fifth Song Keith Newman
The Chorus Alexis Breen, Jadyn Dahlberg, Lexi Eicher, Alexandra Jones, Rachel Schultz, and Andrew Rossi
Scene Two The Resignation The Company
Costumes Courtesy of New York Theatre Ballet Diana Byer, Founder and Artistic Director
Antony Tudor’s 1937 masterwork, Dark Elegies, is a deceptively powerful and emotionally restrained ballet. It is a landmark in the development of ballet technique and form as a vehicle for the portrayal of personal and subjective emotion. The choreographer depicts a spare, elegant, and communal ritual; we witness men and women in the process of mourning the death of the community’s children. Unmoored from a specific time and place, the ballet conveys the physical and psychic toll of unbearable grief and culminates in the group’s communal catharsis and resignation in the wake of unimaginable tragedy.
^This performance of Dark Elegies, presented by arrangement with the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust, salutes the artistry, vision, and enduring relevance of Antony Tudor’s work.
Choreography by Mark Morris Music by Virgil Thomson | Etudes for Piano
Premiere: May 31, 1988 | American Ballet Theatre Metropolitan Opera House, New York, New York
Staged by Elisa Clark Bethany Brinson, Piano Tina Fahlandt, Ballet Master Sasha Janes, Ballet Master
Marissa Arnold, Mason Bassett, Caroline Buckheit, Reece Conrad, Anderson Dasilva, Jaya Dhand, Mikayla Geier, Jack Grohmann, Belen Guzman, Natalie Hedrick, Andrew Rossi, Joaquin Ruíz
Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes was choreographed by Mark Morris for American Ballet Theatre and had its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1988. The original cast, featuring such iconic figures as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Robert Hill, and Susan Jaffe, helped set the standard for technical execution in this playfully challenging work. The music, selected from Virgil Thompson’s Etudes for Piano, is so artfully realized in movement that the choreography feels joyously evanescent and altogether inevitable.
Synopsis: Saturday, October 12, 2019 | 2 PM
Choreography by George Balanchine* Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. posth. 75
Premiere: March 1, 1956 | New York City Ballet City Center of Music and Drama, New York, New York
Staged by Kyra Nichols Geoffrey Larson, Conductor Bethany Brinson, Piano Christian Claessens, Ballet Master
Rachel Schultz and Sam Epstein
Haley Baker, Lexi Eicher, Natalie Hedrick, Keith Newman, Cameron Pelton, Joaquin Ruíz, Mary Kate Shearer, Gabriel Weiner
Allegro Brillante was created by George Balanchine for New York City Ballet in 1956. Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3 sets a thrilling pace for the dancers, and the intricately musical choreography challenges their timing, precision, and technical ability. Balanchine said of this work, “It contains everything I know about the classical ballet in 13 minutes.”
Penny Saunders offers a sweeping and intricate duet in Berceuse, set to Benjamin Godard’s gorgeous piece of the same name. Berceuse, meaning “lullaby” in French, explores the nuanced line between classical and contemporary movement and zooms in on a relationship, amplifying all of its twists and turns as it falls forward through time.
Choreography by Antony Tudor^ Music by Gustav Mahler | Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) Costume Design by Raymond Sovey after Nadia Benois
Premiere: February 19, 1937 | Ballet Rambert Duchess Theatre, London, United Kingdom
Staged by Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner Geoffrey Larson, Conductor Jack Canfield, Baritone Michael Vernon, Ballet Master Sarah Wroth, Ballet Master
Scene One Laments of the Bereaved First Song Claire Donovan
Second Song Claudia Rhett and Brandon Silverman
Third Song Cameron Pelton
Fourth Song Grace Armstrong
Fifth Song Robert Mack
The Chorus Elizabeth Corsig, Elaina da Fonte, Amanda Jue, Kyra Muttilainen, Sarah Pfeiffer, and Eli Diersling
Scene Two The Resignation The Company
Costumes Courtesy of New York Theatre Ballet Diana Byer, Founder and Artistic Director
Antony Tudor’s 1937 masterwork, Dark Elegies, is a deceptively powerful and emotionally restrained ballet. It is a landmark in the development of ballet technique and form as a vehicle for the portrayal of personal and subjective emotion. The choreographer depicts a spare, elegant, and communal ritual; we witness men and women in the process of mourning the death of the community’s children. Unmoored from a specific time and place, the ballet conveys the physical and psychic toll of unbearable grief and culminates in the group’s communal catharsis and resignation in the wake of unimaginable tragedy.
^This performance of Dark Elegies, presented by arrangement with the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust, salutes the artistry, vision, and enduring relevance of Antony Tudor’s work.
Choreography by Mark Morris Music by Virgil Thomson | Etudes for Piano
Premiere: May 31, 1988 | American Ballet Theatre Metropolitan Opera House, New York, New York
Staged by Elisa Clark Bethany Brinson, Piano Tina Fahlandt, Ballet Master Sasha Janes, Ballet Master
Gianna Biondo, Colin Canavan, Lilly Leech, Robert Mack, Bryanna Mitchell, Kyra Muttilainen, Cameron Pelton, Brandon Silverman, Bradley Streetman, Nadia Tomasini, Xander Visker, Daisy Ye
Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes was choreographed by Mark Morris for American Ballet Theatre and had its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1988. The original cast, featuring such iconic figures as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Robert Hill, and Susan Jaffe, helped set the standard for technical execution in this playfully challenging work. The music, selected from Virgil Thompson’s Etudes for Piano, is so artfully realized in movement that the choreography feels joyously evanescent and altogether inevitable.
Synopsis: Saturday, October 12, 2019 | 7:30 PM
Choreography by George Balanchine* Music by Peter Ilyich Tchaikovsky | Piano Concerto No. 3 in E-Flat Major, Op. posth. 75
Premiere: March 1, 1956 | New York City Ballet City Center of Music and Drama, New York, New York
Staged by Kyra Nichols Geoffrey Larson, Conductor Bethany Brinson, Piano Christian Claessens, Ballet Master
Sarah Knutson and Anderson Dasilva
Marissa Arnold, Alexis Breen, Colin Canavan, Julia Metzger, Rachel Gehr, Jack Grohmann, Andrew Rossi, Bradley Streetman
Allegro Brillante was created by George Balanchine for New York City Ballet in 1956. Tchaikovsky’s Piano Concerto No. 3 sets a thrilling pace for the dancers, and the intricately musical choreography challenges their timing, precision, and technical ability. Balanchine said of this work, “It contains everything I know about the classical ballet in 13 minutes.”
Penny Saunders offers a sweeping and intricate duet in Berceuse, set to Benjamin Godard’s gorgeous piece of the same name. Berceuse, meaning “lullaby” in French, explores the nuanced line between classical and contemporary movement and zooms in on a relationship, amplifying all of its twists and turns as it falls forward through time.
Choreography by Antony Tudor^ Music by Gustav Mahler | Kindertotenlieder (Songs on the Death of Children) Costume Design by Raymond Sovey after Nadia Benois
Premiere: February 19, 1937 | Ballet Rambert Duchess Theatre, London, United Kingdom
Staged by Amanda McKerrow and John Gardner Geoffrey Larson, Conductor Jack Canfield, Baritone Michael Vernon, Ballet Master Sarah Wroth, Ballet Master
Scene One Laments of the Bereaved First Song Caroline Tonks
Second Song Lily Bines and Mark Lambert
Third Song Sam Epstein
Fourth Song Mary Kate Shearer
Fifth Song Keith Newman
The Chorus Alexis Breen, Jadyn Dahlberg, Lexi Eicher, Alexandra Jones, Rachel Schultz, and Andrew Rossi
Scene Two The Resignation The Company
Costumes Courtesy of New York Theatre Ballet Diana Byer, Founder and Artistic Director
Antony Tudor’s 1937 masterwork, Dark Elegies, is a deceptively powerful and emotionally restrained ballet. It is a landmark in the development of ballet technique and form as a vehicle for the portrayal of personal and subjective emotion. The choreographer depicts a spare, elegant, and communal ritual; we witness men and women in the process of mourning the death of the community’s children. Unmoored from a specific time and place, the ballet conveys the physical and psychic toll of unbearable grief and culminates in the group’s communal catharsis and resignation in the wake of unimaginable tragedy.
^This performance of Dark Elegies, presented by arrangement with the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust, salutes the artistry, vision, and enduring relevance of Antony Tudor’s work.
Choreography by Mark Morris Music by Virgil Thomson | Etudes for Piano
Premiere: May 31, 1988 | American Ballet Theatre Metropolitan Opera House, New York, New York
Staged by Elisa Clark Bethany Brinson, Piano Tina Fahlandt, Ballet Master Sasha Janes, Ballet Master
Marissa Arnold, Mason Bassett, Caroline Buckheit, Reece Conrad, Anderson Dasilva, Jaya Dhand, Mikayla Geier, Jack Grohmann, Belen Guzman, Natalie Hedrick, Andrew Rossi, Joaquin Ruíz
Drink to Me Only With Thine Eyes was choreographed by Mark Morris for American Ballet Theatre and had its premiere at the Metropolitan Opera House in 1988. The original cast, featuring such iconic figures as Mikhail Baryshnikov, Robert Hill, and Susan Jaffe, helped set the standard for technical execution in this playfully challenging work. The music, selected from Virgil Thompson’s Etudes for Piano, is so artfully realized in movement that the choreography feels joyously evanescent and altogether inevitable.
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 are now performed by all the major classical ballet companies throughout the world.
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 more than 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.
Originally from West Palm Beach, Florida, Penny Saunders graduated from the Harid Conservatory in 1995 and began her professional career with American Repertory Ballet under the direction of Septime Webre. She went on to dance with Ballet Arizona, MOMIX Dance Theater, and Cedar Lake Ensemble, and in 2004, she joined Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. In 2011, Saunders won the International Commissioning Project, which launched her choreographic career, creating pieces for Hubbard Streets’ main and second company, Cincinnati Ballet, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Whim W’Him, BalletX, Tulsa Ballet 2, Ballet Idaho, SFDanceworks, SALT Contemporary Dance, Neos Dance Theater, Missouri Contemporary Ballet, and Owen Cox Dance Group, among others. Saunders is honored to be the resident choreographer at Grand Rapids Ballet, where she recently completed her first full-length work, The Happy Prince and Other Wilde Tales, that focused on the life and fairy tales of Oscar Wilde. Saunders has received support from the New York City Ballet Choreographic Commissions Initiative, participated in the National Choreographers Initiative, and was the recipient of the 2016 Princess Grace Choreographic Fellowship. In the 2019-20 season, she is excited to be collaborating with Tulsa Ballet, Oklahoma City Ballet, the Royal New Zealand Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Whim W’Him, BalletX, Dayton Ballet, Diablo Ballet, Ballet Idaho, Indiana University, Seattle Dance Collective, and Point Park University.
Antony Tudor, one of the giants of twentieth-century choreography, began dancing professionally with Ballet Rambert in London. All of his early ballets, Cross garter’d (1931), Lysistrata (1932), and The Planets (1934) were created for that company. In 1939, he was invited by American Ballet Theatre (ABT) to join its first season and to restage three of the works he was known for in London: Jardin aux Lilas, Dark Elegies, and Judgment of Paris. Since that time, Tudor has been represented in every ABT season. Gala Performance was added to the repertory in 194l, Pillar of Fire in 1942, Romeo and Juliet and Dim Lustre in 1943, Undertow in 1945, Shadow of the Wind in 1948, Nimbus in 1950, The Leaves Are Fading and Shadowplay in 1975, The Tiller in the Fields in 1979, and Little Improvisations in 1980. Tudor performed in many of his own ballets as well as in works of other choreographers. In 1950, he gave up performing to become head of faculty of the Metropolitan Opera Ballet School. He choreographed Offenbach in the Underworld in 1955 and set it for American Ballet Theatre the following year. In 1963, he choreographed Echoing of Trumpets for the Royal Swedish Ballet; it was staged for American Ballet Theatre in 1967. In 1986, Tudor was presented with the Capezio Award and in May 1986, with the Handel Medallion, New York City’s highest cultural honor. In December of the same year, he was the recipient of a Kennedy Center Honor. In 1951, Tudor joined The Juilliard School’s Dance Division as a founding faculty member, a position he held until 1971. He was appointed associate director of ABT in 1974, in which capacity he served until his appointment as choreographer emeritus in 1980, a position held until his death in 1987.
Artistic Staff
Geoffrey Larson is founding music director of the Seattle Metropolitan Chamber Orchestra and serves as assistant conductor and chorus master of Berkshire Opera Festival in Massachusetts. Opera News praised his “precise choral work” and The Gathering Note called him “an adroit leader who has a good understanding of musical shape, detail, and each piece’s greater message.” Named one of three finalists for the 2017 Respighi Prize in Conducting, he was assistant conductor for two young artist opera productions in Prague in 2016. There, Larson worked closely with baritone Sherrill Milnes on Mozart’s Don Giovanni at the Estates Theatre, the site of the work’s premiere. In 2014, Larson presented a lecture and complete performance of Schoenberg’s Pierrot Lunaire at Pittsburgh Opera Studio. He has recently been engaged by ensembles such as Orchestra Seattle and the Bainbridge Symphony. He has given the world premieres of numerous works, collaborating with composers such as Erberk Eryilmaz, Nancy Galbraith, Leonardo Balada, and Gabriel Prokofiev. Larson earned a master’s degree from Carnegie Mellon University, where he was a student of Robert Page and Ronald Zollman. He studied at the Pierre Monteux School under the tutelage of Michael Jimbo, and also counts David Neely, George Hurst, and Peter Erös among his teachers in conducting. He currently studies with Arthur Fagen and Thomas Wilkins in the Doctor of Music program at the Jacobs School of Music, where he serves as assistant conductor for Opera and Ballet Theater.
Pianist and composer Bethany Brinson hails from Holly Springs, North Carolina. She is pursuing a Bachelor of Music in Piano Performance at the Jacobs School of Music, studying with Norman Krieger. She has performed as a soloist with the Durham Symphony Orchestra and has won awards including first place and Keyboard Alumni Prize in the East Carolina University Young Artist Competition, as well as first place in the Senior Division of the North Carolina MTNA Piano Competition. In September 2018, Brinson performed a new work in the SCI Student National Conference (Concert VIII). Her original compositions have won awards including first place in the Senior Division of the North Carolina MTNA Composition Competition. In 2016, she was commissioned to write a choral piece for the dedication of a new church building. She is particularly intrigued by the intersection of music with geometric relationships and recently wrote a solo piano composition, “Perpetual Introspection,” that is directly based on a fractal she came up with. Through both her composing and her frequent participation in her colleagues’ recitals, she has had many opportunities to interact and work with other musicians, including flutists, oboists, string players, and singers. Brinson has participated in summer festivals such as the Brevard Music Center and the Bowdoin International Music Festival, and has performed in master classes with Arthur Greene, Frederic Chiu, Nicholas Roth, Marina Lomazov, Peter Takács, and Ann Schein.
Jack Canfield, baritone, was born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia. He is pursuing a Master of Music in Voice Performance at the Jacobs School, studying with Peter Volpe. In 2015, Canfield earned a Bachelor of Music in Voice Performance from Lawrence University, studying with John T. Gates. Later that year, he was a recipient of the Thomas J. Watson fellowship, which allowed him to study indigenous song traditions in the Republic of Congo, Papua New Guinea, Australia, Norway, and Russia. Kindertotenlieder is his debut with IU Jacobs School of Music Opera and Ballet Theater.
Ken Phillips has been the lighting designer and supervisor for the IU Jacobs School of Music's Musical Arts Center since 2019. He earned an M.F.A. in Lighting Design from the University of Arizona and previously worked around the country as a freelance designer for musical theatre and opera. Samples of his work may be seen at KGPhillips.com.
Elisa Clark is an award-winning artist and educator from the Washington, D.C., area, who trained at the Maryland Youth Ballet prior to earning a B.F.A. from The Juilliard School, under Benjamin Harkarvy. Clark was a founding member of Robert Battle’s Battleworks Dance Company, where she also served as company manager. She was a featured member of Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Lar Lubovitch Dance Company, and Mark Morris Dance Group. She has performed with Nederlands Dans Theater and the Metropolitan Opera in works by Jirí Kylián and Crystal Pite, respectively. Clark has held residencies and adjunct faculty positions at the Ailey School/Fordham University, Alabama School of Fine Arts, Brown University, George Mason University, Jacob’s Pillow, Marymount Manhattan College, MOVE (NYC), and New World School of the Arts. She is currently on faculty at the University of the Arts, Princeton University, and the American Dance Festival, in addition to guest teaching and lecturing nationwide. As a repetiteur, she frequently restages the works of Robert Battle and Mark Morris, and continues to be involved in creative projects with them both, most recently assisting and acting in several plays by Samuel Beckett as directed by Morris for the Happy Days Festival in Northern Ireland. Clark is a Princess Grace Award Winner and a Certified Life Coach, frequently leading seminars, empowering artists to navigate their respective field. She is also currently touring alongside Monica Bill Barnes, with Monica Bill Barnes & Company, in Happy Hour.
John Gardner has distinguished himself in two major dance companies, American Ballet Theatre and White Oak Dance Project. He joined American Ballet Theatre in 1978 and was promoted to the rank of soloist in 1984. His diverse repertoire included many soloist and principal roles, which afforded him the opportunity of working with many of the master choreographers of the twentieth century. He currently works for the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust as a repetiteur and director of the Antony Tudor Dance Studies. Together with his wife, Amanda Mckerrow, he stages many Tudor ballets around the world. During the course of his career, Gardner has achieved an excellent reputation as a master teacher and coach for ballet on both the professional and student levels, and has enjoyed choreographing numerous ballets for companies and universities in the United States and abroad. He is also co-director of the Colorado Ballet Academy Summer Intensive in Denver, Colorado.
Amanda McKerrow has the honor of being the first American to receive a gold medal at the International Ballet Competition in Moscow, in 1981. Since then, she has been the recipient of numerous other awards, including the Princess Grace Dance Fellowship. She trained with Mary Day at the Washington School of Ballet and was a member of that company until she joined American Ballet Theatre under the direction of Mikhail Baryshnikov in 1982. She was appointed to the rank of soloist in 1983 and became a principal dancer in 1987. McKerrow danced the leading roles in all the major classics and had numerous works created for her by many of the great choreographers of the twentieth century. She has also appeared as a guest artist throughout the world. McKerrow is now the sole Trustee of the Antony Tudor Ballet Trust and, together with her husband, John Gardner, stages Tudor ballets around the world. McKerrow is also in demand as a master teacher for both students and professional dancers, and has enjoyed staging numerous other ballets for professional companies and universities in the United States and abroad. She is co-director of the Colorado Ballet Academy Summer Intensive.
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.
Christian Claessens is lecturer in ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music. He 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.
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.
Sasha Janes is associate professor of ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music. 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. He has served as both associate artistic director and resident choreographer of Charlotte Ballet. His choreographed works include 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 became 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. (Photo by Patrick Fraser)
Michael Vernon is chair emeritus of the Ballet Department and professor of ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music. He 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 resident choreographer 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 chair of the Ballet Department and associate professor of ballet at the IU Jacobs School of Music. She 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 senior from Enola, Pennsylvania. She is currently pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Psychology. Baker 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 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. Baker has attended summer programs at Pennsylvania Ballet, Miami City Ballet, the USA/IBC Dance School, and Joffrey Ballet Chicago. In her time at Indiana University, Baker has performed in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, George Balanchine’s The Steadfast Tin Soldier, Valse Fantaisie, and La Source, Mark Morris’ Sandpaper Ballet, Twyla Tharp’s Deuce Coupe, Jerome Robbins’ The Concert, and an original work by Nicole Haskins. Baker served as the student representative for the Jacobs School of Music Council for the 2018- 19 school year. She is also a recipient of the Premiere Young Artist Award.
Mason Bassett is a junior at the Jacobs School of Music pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Arts Management. He is from Bryan, Ohio, where he studied at Bryan Community School of Dance with Kimberly Shaffer. He later studied at The Ballet Theatre of Toledo under the direction of Nigel Burgoine. Bassett graduated from Interlochen Arts Academy, where he studied with Joseph Morrissey and performed in Sleeping Beauty, Rodeo, and A Choreographic Offering. At Jacobs, he has notably performed in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, two works by Sasha Janes (You and I, and Lascia La Spina, Cogli La Rosa), Jerome Robbins’s The Concert and NY Export: Opus Jazz, and Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels. He has guested with West Michigan Youth Ballet, playing the role of the Prince in Sleeping Beauty and with Weathervane Playhouse, performing Older Billy in Billy Elliot The Musical.
Lily Bines is a graduating junior in the ballet program at the Jacobs School of Music, pursuing an outside field in exercise science. From Dallas, Texas, she began her ballet training at age 10. She studied at the Dallas Conservatory until age 16, when she went to train in the pre- professional program at Boston Ballet. She was there for one year before coming to the Jacobs School as a Music Faculty Scholarship dancer. With IU Jacobs School Ballet Theater, Bines has performed in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker and has danced featured roles in Antique Epigraphs and Walpurgisnacht.
Anderson Dasilva, from Tampa, Florida, is a junior at the Jacobs School of Music. He began his training in 2012 at America’s Ballet School in Florida, under directors Paula Nunez and Osmany Montano. Dasilva has performed leading roles in Le Corsaire, Don Quixote, Coppelia, Sleeping Beauty, and Diana and Acteon. At Jacobs, he has performed leading roles in Sasha Janes’ Sketches from Grace, Jerome Robbins’ N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz, Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels, and George Balanchine’s La Source and Walpurgisnacht.
Sam Epstein grew up in Saratoga Springs, New York, studying at the National Museum of Dance School of the Arts and New York State Summer School of the Arts under Daniel Ulbricht. In following summers, Epstein studied at Ballet Academy East, Boston Ballet School, and American Ballet Theatre. Epstein began his studies at IU in 2017 as a recipient of the Premier Young Artist Award and a member of the Hutton Honors College and Wells Scholars Program. In summers as an undergraduate, he has studied at the Chautauqua Institution, Centro Coreográfico de Las Palmas de Gran Canaria, Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Ballet School in Covent Garden, and ART of (Zurich). Recently, Epstein performed Christian Claessens’ Souvenir d’un lieu Cher and Jerome Robbins’ Spring from The Four Seasons (Male Principal) and The Concert (Usher). He currently serves on the leadership board of IU Contemporary Dance’s Movement Cooperative.
Mikayla Geier is a senior from Vancouver, Canada, studying entrepreneurship and corporate innovation, and ballet. She began serious ballet training at age 10 at Grand Rapids Ballet. She furthered her studies at the Kirov Academy of Ballet during high school. Geier has attended summer programs at the Royal Winnipeg Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theater, Juilliard, and Tulsa Ballet. At Jacobs, she has performed in George Balanchine’s Walpurgisnacht.
Jack Grohmann is a sophomore from Louisville, Kentucky, studying ballet with an outside field in journalism. Beginning dance at age 8 and ballet at age 14, he trained in ballet and contemporary at local studios in Louisville, as well as at the Youth Performing Arts School, a performing arts high school. His senior year of high school, he trained as a pre- professional student at the Boston Ballet School under Peter Stark and Margaret Tracey. He has attended summer programs at Next Generation Ballet, Miami City Ballet School, Boston Ballet School, and, most recently, the Chautauqua Institution, where his choreography won first place in the choreographic workshop. While at Jacobs, Grohmann has performed in Twyla Tharp’s Deuce Coupe, Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker, and Jerome Robbins’ The Concert and Spring.
Sarah Knutson is a freshman from Baltimore, Maryland. She is currently pursuing an outside field in law and public policy and is a member of Hutton Honors College. She began her ballet training at age five in the preparatory division of the Peabody Institute. She then attended the Baltimore School for the Arts (BSA) for high school, where she performed featured roles in George Balanchine’s Serenade and Who Cares?, among other contemporary and classical works. Last spring, she graduated from BSA, though she spent her senior year training in the pre-professional division at Miami City Ballet School under the direction of Arantxa Ochoa. Knutson has attended summer courses at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Miami City Ballet, and the Chautauqua Institution as an apprentice. While at Chautauqua in 2016, she performed in Balanchine’s Raymonda Variations, Mark Diamond’s La Valse and Sasha Janes’ Saudade with Charlotte Ballet, and Coppelia with Pittsburgh Ballet Theater.
Mark Lambert is a junior 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 Coppélia, The Sleeping Beauty, and New Works pieces. With IU Jacobs School of Music Ballet Theater, he has performed in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker as Snow Cavalier, Arabian, and Flowers, George Balanchine’s Divertimento No. 15, Sasha Janes’ Saudade and Sketches from Grace, Twyla Tharp’s As Time Goes By, and Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare and N.Y. Export: Opus Jazz. Lambert was also a featured dancer in IU Jacobs School of Music Opera Theater’s West Side Story, choreographed by Sasha Janes.
Claudia Rhett, from Nashville, Tennessee, began dancing at age three. She has attended summer intensives at the School of American Ballet and on scholarship at Pacific Northwest Ballet and The Chautauqua Institution. As an apprentice at Chautauqua, she danced with Nashville Ballet in Balanchine’s Western Symphony. She also performed the role of Dark Angel in Balanchine’s Serenade. As a member of the Hutton Honors College and a recipient of a Jacobs School of Music scholarship, Rhett is a senior pursuing a Bachelor of Science in Ballet Performance with an Outside Field in Business. At IU, she has performed in The Nutcracker, Fanfare, Sandpaper Ballet, Walpurgisnacht, Valse Fantaisie, Sketches from Grace, Wildflower, the role of “Red Girl” in Martha Graham’s Diversion of Angels, and the role of “Star” in Twyla Tharp’s Deuce Coupe. She is also a teacher for the Jacobs Pre-College Ballet Program.
Rachel Schultz is a senior at the Jacobs School of Music 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, and has studied at many different ballet schools since. In 2016, she graduated from Indiana Ballet Conservatory and went on to win second place in the senior classical division at Youth America Grand Prix in Indianapolis. In 2017, Schultz competed in the National Society of Arts and Letters for the Bloomington chapter and won a grant. During her time at Jacobs, she has danced in Michael Vernon’s The Nutcracker as the Sugar Plum Fairy, Jerome Robbins’ Fanfare, Giselle, Balanchine’s La Source as the soloist, Christohper Wheeldon’s Carousel (A Dance), Balanchine’s Walpurgisnacht as the soloist, and Jerome Robbins’ The Concert.
Brandon Silverman started dancing at age five and immediately fell in love with ballet. He studied at the pre-professional level under Marcia Dale Weary for three years. While at Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet, he performed in Lazlo Berdo’s Carnival of the Animals and George Balanchine’s The Nutcracker, and originated one of the demi-soloist roles in Alan Hineline’s Brio. In 2016, he joined Pennsylvania Regional Ballet, where he performed in its production of The Nutcracker as the Harlequin, Snow King, and Arabian Prince. During the 2017-18 season, Silverman was a finalist in the Kennedy Center Master Series Program and received a full scholarship to Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre’s 2019 Summer Intensive from the 2018 Regional Dance America Northeast Festival.
