Congratulations Romi and Ballet West!

-Mark

2009 Ballet West Gala Opportunity Drawing

Support Ballet West by participating in the 2009 Gala Opportunity Drawing which is a his or hers stainless steel Rolex watch with an oyster bracelet and black dial generously donated by OC Tanner.

Opportunity Drawing tickets are available for a suggested donation of $100 for one ticket or $500 for six tickets and can be secured online at http://www.balletwest.org/NewsAndEvents/SpecialEvents/Gala2009 or by calling 801-323-6917.

Ballet West - Ladies Rolex

Ballet West - Mans Rolex

The winner will be announced at the Gala on Saturday, November 14^th and you need not be present to win.

Ashlee Christofferson

Development Manager, Special Events

Ballet West 2 performed “Ballet West and The Sleeping Beauty” at the Rose Wagner this past Saturday morning as part of “Ring Around The Rose”.

Gabriella Hayes Moore and Trevor Naumann as Aurora and Prince.

Henry Philofsky as Carabosse

Gabriella Hayes Moore as Aurora, Henry Philofsky as the old woman.

-Mark

As you know the plot of Ashton’s THE DREAM comes from Shakespeare’s A MIDSUMMER NIGHT’S DREAM.   For Ashton’s interpretation the choreography more than suggests what is going on.  But there are some passages of mime in THE DREAM.  I thought it might be good to share some of the mime with you.   For our first example you will see photos of Romi Beppu and Arolyn Williams as Titania, The Fairie Queen.  Titania has just spent the night with the Donkey – Bottom and she is trying to explain this to Oberon.

Look for more mime passages before we open!

-Mark

One day after we closed in New York City, another contingent of Ballet West dancers performed in Laguna Beach, California.  Adam Sklute and the crew took a red eye to get there in time!   Christiana Bennett, Christopher Ruud, Jacqueline Straughan and Michael Bearden performed RED ANGELS.  Christiana Bennett and Christopher Ruud danced BLACK SWAN Pas de Deux and Jacqueline Straughan and Michael Bearden performed LE CORSAIRE Pas de Deux.

The Hotel!

The View!

“The highlights of the evening were the pas de deux and the work of the ballet companies.

Ballet West brought Ulysses Dove’s “Red Angels,” an emotionally charged but tightly controlled choreography for two men and two women with an astringent score for electric violin by Richard Einhorn. A late work (it was finished two years before Dove’s death in 1996), it’s more rigorously formal and less overtly passionate than much of his choreography. Dove uses the language of ballet in snippets, pulling his dancers through short, stop-start phrases that are Balanchine-like in their balance of hot emotion and cold precision.

Ballet West dancers Christiana Bennett, Christopher Ruud, Jacqueline Straughan and Michael Bearden know the work thoroughly; their performance was thrilling.” – OCRegister

Photos by Pamela Robinson Harris

-Mark

Biches Show Curtain at City Center (Wednesday's tech rehearsal)

Romi Beppu in Class on the 5th floor.

Rehearsal for the 2nd performance - Owen Gaj, Christopher Sellars and Thomas Mattingly with the Ladies of Ballet West.

Owen Gaj, Kate Crews and Thomas Mattingly.

Katie Chritchlow and Allison DeBona warm up before performance #2.

Photo from the New York Times.

“In Nijinska’s stateside-scarce Les Biches – the festival highlight, danced precisely and vibrantly by Utah’s Ballet West – classicism takes the giddy mannerisms of 1920s high society through its paces, and both sides gain clarity from it. This 1924 ballet features a party hostess undulating with self-importance; an impassive “page-boy” girl, all flat lines and endless balances; three muscle-flexing brutes; two girlish lesbians; and and a spritely chorus of flappers. Nijinska creates these caricatures and mysteries – dancers flattened and dancers deepened – with a cornucopia of fascinating steps.”  - Apollinaire Scherr

-Mark