In case you didn’t already know about him, below is a short bio of Mark Morris.

MARK MORRIS was born on August 29, 1956, in Seattle, Washington, where he studied as a young man with Verla Flowers and Perry Brunson.  In the early years of his career, he performed with Lar Lubovitch, Hannah Kahn, Laura Dean, Eliot Feld, and the Koleda Balkan Dance Ensemble.  He formed the Mark Morris Dance Group in 1980, and has since created more than 120 works for the company.  From 1988-1991, he was Director of Dance at the Théâtre Royal de la Monnaie in Brussels, the national opera house of Belgium.  Among the works created during his tenure were three evening-length dances: The Hard Nut; L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato; and Dido and Aeneas. In 1990, he founded the White Oak Dance Project with Mikhail Baryshnikov. Morris is also much in demand as a ballet choreographer.  He has created seven works for the San Francisco Ballet since 1994 and received commissions from American Ballet Theatre, and the Boston Ballet, among others.  His work is also in the repertory of the Pacific Northwest Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, New Zealand Ballet, Houston Ballet, English National Ballet, and The Royal Ballet.  Morris is noted for his musicality and has been described as “undeviating in his devotion to music.”  He has worked extensively in opera, directing and choreographing productions for The Metropolitan Opera, New York City Opera, English National Opera, and The Royal Opera, Covent Garden. Morris was named a Fellow of the MacArthur Foundation in 1991.  He has received eight honorary doctorates to date.  In 2006, Morris received the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Mayor’s Award for Arts & Culture and a WQXR Gramophone Special Recognition Award.  He is the subject of a biography by Joan Acocella (Farrar, Straus & Giroux) and Marlowe & Company published a volume of photographs and critical essays entitled Mark Morris’ L’Allegro, il Penseroso ed il Moderato: A Celebration.  Morris is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences and the American Philosophical Society.  In 2007, he received the Samuel H. Scripps/American Dance Festival lifetime achievement award.

-Mark

Stanton Welch, world renowned choreographer and Director of Houston Ballet is with us this week!

Mr. Welch happens to be the choreographer of MADAME BUTTERFLY which will be given its Ballet West premiere at the Capitol Theatre this February 13th and he is working with the Artists of Ballet West to make sure every movement has a meaning all its own.

STANTON WELCH, CHOREOGRAPHER
MADAME BUTTERFLY
In July 2003, the acclaimed Australian choreographer Stanton Welch assumed the leadership of Houston Ballet, America’s fourth largest ballet company, as artistic director.  Since his arrival, Mr. Welch has transformed Houston Ballet by  raising the level of classical technique, infusing the company with new energy,  drive and vision; introducing works by distinguished choreographers to the repertoire; and attracting some of the world’s best coaches to Houston to work with the dancers.   He is also one of the most sought after choreographers of his generation, having created works for such prestigious international companies as Houston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, The Australian Ballet, Birmingham Royal Ballet, and Royal Danish Ballet.
Mr. Welch was born in Melbourne to Marilyn Jones, O.B.E., and Garth Welch, A.M., two of Australia’s most gifted dancers of the 1960s and 1970s.  In 1986 he began his training at the late age of seventeen, quickly winning a scholarship to San Francisco Ballet School.  In 1989 he was engaged as a dancer with The Australian Ballet, where he rose to the rank of leading soloist, performing such principal roles as Des Grieux in Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s Manon, Lensky in John Cranko’s Onegin, Camille in Ronald Hynd’s The Merry Widow, and Alan Strang in Equus. He has also worked with internationally acclaimed choreographers such as Ji?í Kylían, Nacho Duato, and Maurice Béjart.
Mr. Welch’s choreographic career developed during his time with The Australian Ballet.  In 1990 he received his first choreographic commission from the company, marking the beginning of a series of commissioned works over the next fourteen years and developing his diverse choreographic style.  For The Australian Ballet he has created The Three of Us (1990); Of Blessed Memory (1991), for which he was voted best new choreographer in 1992 by readers of the British magazine Dance & Dancers; Divergence (1994), which has been preformed at The Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C., and City Center in New York; full-length productions of Madame Butterfly (1995) and Cinderella (1997); Red Earth (1996); X (1999); and Velocity (2003).  In 2005, Mr. Welch created a lavish new staging of The Sleeping Beauty for The Australian Ballet.  Madame Butterfly has become a signature work for Mr. Welch internationally, and is in the repertoires of Houston Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Atlanta Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, and Boston Ballet.
In 1995, Mr. Welch was named resident choreographer of The Australian Ballet.  That same year, he was commissioned to create Corroboree (Wildlife) for The Australian Ballet to perform at “United We Dance,” a dance festival in San Francisco celebrating the fiftieth anniversary of the signing of the United Nations Charter and featuring major companies from across the world premiering new works.
Mr. Welch has also staged works for Colorado Ballet; Cincinnati Ballet; Tulsa Ballet; Texas Ballet Theater; The Royal Ballet School; Singapore Dance Theatre; Royal New Zealand Ballet; and Fugate/Bahiri Ballet NY.

Stanton Welch working with Christopher Anderson and Christopher Ruud with Emily Adams and Thomas Mattingly watching.  Photo by Beau Pearson

Stanton Welch working with Christiana Bennett as Christopher Ruud looks on.   Photo by Beau Pearson

-Mark

Here is the Ballet West cover of Dance Magazine!

Congratulations Adam, Kate and BALLET WEST!

-Mark

As you know Tina Fehlandt is here with us staging GONG by Mark Morris.  GONG is very intricate, complicated and beautiful. Staging Mark Morris’ masterpiece is a big job, so Ballet West’s Artistic Director Adam Sklute wanted to make sure that Tina also had the opportunity to see at least a little bit of the beauty of Utah outside the studio.  Friday night he treated her to REGINA/Utah Opera and today he took Tina, Christopher Renstrom and myself to Park City and Deer Valley.

Park City – Tina Fehlandt, Adam Sklute and Christopher Renstrom

Christopher Renstrom, Adam Sklute and Tina Fehlandt

-Mark

GONG rehearsals are fantastic!  Tina Fehlandt is heaven and she loaned me this Christmas card from former American Ballet Theatre dancer and current photographer extraordinare Rosalie O’Conner.  The photo is of ABT in Mark Morris’ GONG – 2001, costumes by Isaac Mizrahi.

-Mark

Very exciting news!  For the first time in more than twenty years Ballet West will be on the cover of the DANCE MAGAZINE!  Make sure to get the February 09 issue and you will see Ballet West soloist Kate Crews as the ‘The Hostess’ from LES BICHES.   When Dance Magazine Editor in Chief Wendy Perron realized that Ballet West’s Artistic Director Adam Sklute would presenting Nijinska’s LES BICHES to celebrate the 100th Anniversary of Diaghilev’s death, she invited Ballet West to be photographed for a possible Dance Magazine cover.  The photoshoot was a great success and voila! Ballet West is on the cover!

Below are two shots from the set of the New York photo session.

Kate Crews and Adam Sklute on the set of the Dance Magazine photo shoot.

-Mark

This coming Monday will be extra special!  Not only will Ballet West have its hands full with getting MADAME BUTTERFLY pulled back together for Stanton Welch’s arrival the week of January 26th, we will also be starting on Mark Morris’ GONG which will be taught to us by Tina Fehlandt.  Below is her very impressive resume.

Tina Fehlandt was an integral part of the Mark Morris Dance Group for twenty years, from its inception in 1980 to January 2000, appearing in over 50 works choreographed by Mark Morris. With the Group she toured the world and appeared in several television specials, most notably as “Louise” in Mr. Morris’ production of The Hard Nut. She has been the subject of feature articles in SELF-Magazine, DANCE MAGAZINE, and DANCE TEACHER. The spring issue of BALLET REVIEW 1998 stated, “Tina Fehlandt is one of the most beautiful dancers anywhere.”

Ms. Fehlandt has staged Mark Morris’ work at Princeton University, New York University, University of Minnesota, University of Texas, Marymount Manhattan College, Barnard College, the Juilliard School, Long Island University, and American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Royal New Zealand Ballet, English National Ballet, The Royal Ballet Covent Garden, Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Houston Ballet, Dutch National Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Washington Ballet, and the White Oak Dance Project.

Ms. Fehlandt is a well-known teacher of both Ballet and Modern Dance. She is on faculty at Princeton University, New York University Tisch School of the Arts, Mark Morris Dance Center, and American Ballet Theatre’s New York Summer Intensives. Her choreography has been performed by Houston Ballet II, Barnard College, Trinity College, Deep Ellum Ensemble, and at the ABT Summer Intensives. She has conducted workshops at the Mark Morris Dance Center, Skidmore College, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, SUNY Brockport, and the University of Washington, and taught master classes at the Edinburgh International Festival, Adelaide (Australia) Festival, American Dance Festival, Cornish College of the Arts, Wesleyan University, and The Place in London among others. Ms. Fehlandt has been Artist-in-Residence at Barnard College and Long Island University Brooklyn Campus. In addition, she has worked in television as Production Coordinator for the Emmy Award winning DANCE IN AMERICA series.

-Mark

Bruce Caldwell has been doing a lot of archive work lately and he is very tolerant of my wanting to grab pix.  Bruce has danced with Ballet West since he was a little boy portraying Fritz in The Nutcracker and he is a great one to ask if you have Ballet West history questions.

In Ronald Hynd’s “Rosalinda” – photo by Michael Covey

Bruce as Tybalt in Smuin’s “Romeo and Juliet” – photo by Paul Barker

-Mark

The 5th Annual Nutcracker Kids Cast Party was held on Thursday, January 8, 2009 at the Discovery Gateway.  This annual party is to celebrate the wonderful job our young dancers did during the Nutcracker the month prior with their families and friends.  The Discovery Gateway (http://www.discoverygateway.org/) was extremely generous in donating the entire museum for our use.  The children had reign over the museum and loved it.  A pizza dinner was served on the top floor in the Junior Achievement City, there was a DJ playing music on the third floor, a mask making workshop conducted by a Discovery Gateway employee, and all of the exhibits were open.  Reviews are in and this has been called the best cast party ever!

Ashlee Christofferson
Development Manager, Special Events
Ballet West
50 West 200 South
Salt Lake City, Utah  84101
801.323.6917 (office)

Nutcracker friends enjoying dinner.                                         Even The Volunteers were having fun.

Turned into quite a dance party.                                                        Having fun at Discovery Gateway.

-Mark

From left to right – Sarah Blodgett, Dane Arbogast, Lindsay Duerfeldt, Adrian Veloz, Alexander MacFarlan, Whiteny Huell, Stephen King, Kaleigh Schock, Robert Goodman and Jenna Hererra

Ballet West 2 is back after only one week off from Nutcracker.  The dancers are working on our ‘Ballet West for Children program’ which will be seen next week in cities such as Logan, Cache, Brigham City, West Desert (which has only 8 students!) and Price.  As usual two groups will go on the road performing in at least two schools each group per day.

We’re also working on Raymonda Pas de Dix and Swan Lake Pas de Trois.

-Mark