- Colorado Ballet
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Colorado Ballet is a classical ballet company based in Denver, Colorado. Comprising two academies as well as a company, Colorado Ballet serves more than 110,000 patrons each year. The main performance venue is Ellie Caukins Opera House in downtown Denver.
Colorado BalletThe Colorado Ballet was the recipient of 2009 Colorado Masterpieces Award. As part of the award, Colorado Ballet will tour Colorado in the 2009–2010 season as a part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius initiative, funded by the Colorado Council on the Arts.[1]
Contents
History
In 1961, Lillian Covillo and Freidann Parker established Colorado Concert Ballet to showcase talented students they had been teaching at their ballet school. Their first production, The Nutcracker, played to sold-out houses in Denver's Bonfils Theatre. By 1978, Colorado Concert Ballet employed 16 men and women, and had achieved full professional status. The board increased the annual budget to $100,000 and refined the company’s name. In doing so, Colorado Ballet was born. In 1987 Parker and Covillo conducted a nationwide search, at their own expense, for a new artistic director. With their choice of Martin Fredmann, they changed the course of Colorado Ballet.
In the late 1980s, a lagging economy in Denver forced Colorado Ballet to look at an emerging national trend among dance companies and as a result entered into an alliance with Tampa Ballet. Through shared expenses, the alliance enabled the companies to develop an excellent artistic product with reduced financial risk. By 1990, Colorado Ballet achieved greater financial stability and community recognition, so the alliance was discontinued to better enable future growth of the Denver company. The decision reestablished Colorado Ballet as a resident company.
For eighteen years, the company grew to a well-respected regional ballet company recognized for its broad ranging repertoire. In March 2006, Gil Boggs, former principal dancer with American Ballet Theater, was hired as the new artistic director.
With an annual operating budget exceeding $6.5 million the company is the single largest presenter of dance in the Rocky Mountain region, employing more than 150 people on either a full-time or part-time basis during the year.
Artistic leaders
The artistic leadership of the Colorado Ballet includes (as of May 2010):[2]
Artistic Director: Gil Boggs, former principal dancer of American Ballet Theater
Ballet Mistresses: Lorita Travaglia, Sandra Brown
Music Director/Principal Conductor: Adam Flatt
Associate Conductor: Catherine Sailer
Company Pianist: Natalia Arefieva
Dancers
Colorado Ballet consists of 31 professional dancers from around the world (as of May 2010):[3]
Principal dancers
- Chandra Kuykendall
- Maria Mosina
- Alexei Tyukov
- Igor Vassine
- Sharon Wehner
Soloists
- Dana Benton
- Viacheslav Buchkovskiy
- Sayaka Karasugi
- Jesse Marks
- Dmitry Trubchanov
Corps de Ballet
- Cara Cooper
- Casey Dalton
- Shelby Dyer
- Christopher Ellis
- Travis Morrison
- Sean Omandam
- Olga Prikhodtseva
- Claire Roseland
- Asuka Sasaki
- Rylan Schwab
- Andrew Skeels
- Daniel Smith
- Adam Still
- Kevin Gael Thomas
- Sally Turkel
- Evelyn Turner
- Luis Valdes
- Caitlin Valentine
- Alyssa Velasquez
- Johnstuart Winchell
Studio Company
The Studio Company is a pre-professional training program; members are selected by audition. The program is designed to offer young dancers training and experience working with the professional company
- Nadia Nisha Belkin
- Morgan Buchanan
- Jaime DeRocker
- Amy Fogarty
- Kirsten Glaser
- Olivia Hartzell
- Amy Hollinger
- Aya Kaneko
- Faith Madison
- Christophor Moulton
- Kathleen O'Brien
- Jessica Ruckstuhl
- Christina Schifano
- Jennifer Sherry
- Kevin Wilson
2009–2010 Season
Great Galloping Gottschalk (choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk)
Rodeo (choreographed by Agnes DeMille, music by A. Copland)
Don Quixote (choreographed by Marius Petipa, music by Ludwig Minkus)
The Nutcracker (music by P.I. Tchaikovsky)
Beauty and the Beast (choreographed by Domy Reiter-Soffer, music by Seen-yee Lam)
Echoing of Trumpets (choreographed by Antony Tudor)
Celts (choreographed by Lila York)
Repertoire
Since 1961 The Nutcracker has been in the Colorado Ballet's repertoire every holiday season. Although primarily a classical ballet company, the Ballet's repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary ballets.
Ballet Choreographer Composer Afternoon of a Faun V. Nijinsky, staged by I. Youskevitch C. Debussy Among Silken Cords L. Wymmer W.A. Mozart Apollo G. Balanchine, staged by P.Neary I. Stravinsky Appalachian Spring M. Graham, staged by T. Capuccilli, J. Herring, J. Eibler A. Copland A Little Love M. Fredmann Songs sung by Nina Simone Beauty and the Beast M. Fredmann M. Ravel Billy the Kid E. Loring, staged by H. Sayette A. Copland Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 C. Tippet M. Bruch Buffalo Bill's Saloon A. Erb R. Jarboe, performed by Tim and Molly O'Brien Carmina Burana G. Gonzales, P. Renzetti, J. Wallace C. Orff Celts L. York Traditional Irish music Centennial Suite M. Fredmann R. Thompson Cinderella (3 Acts) M. Fredmann S. Prokofiev Company B P. Taylor, staged by R. Andrien Songs recorded by The Andrews Sisters Concerto Barocco G. Balanchine, staged by P. Neary J.S. Bach Configurations C. Goh, staged by J. Schergen S. Barber Coppélia M. Fredmann L. Delibes Cry and Silence M. Murdmaa K. Sink Diana and Actaeon (pas de deux) A. Vaganova C. Pugni De Profundis J. Lang Arvo Pärt Don Quixote (3 Acts) M. Petipa/ A. Gorsky L. Minkus Dracula M. Pink P. Feeney Dreamspace M. Fredmann G. Mahler, W. Piston, H. Hanson, C. Ives, S. Coleridge-Taylor, A. Hovhaness The Dying Swan M. Fokine, staged by N. Krassovska C. Saint-Saens Earth Tribe R. Harris D. Ross; Romanthony Elysium T. Korobeynikova Meredith Monk and Kronos Quartet Façade F. Ashton, staged by A. Grant W. Walton Feast of the Gods E. Liang O. Respighi Flames of Paris (solo) J. Lang R. Schumann Giselle (2 Acts) J. Perrot/J. Coralli, staged by Gil Boggs A. Adam The Hunchback of Notre Dame T. Ishida C. Pugni The Hunchback of Notre Dame M. Pink P. Feeney In the Upper Room T. Tharp, staged by S. Washington P. Glass Inversion J. Wallace S. Barber JamNation D. McKayle C. Dobrian, K. Akagi, L. Armstrong, C. Parker, D. Ellington, A.C. Jobin, D. Reinhart, S. Grapelli, J. Johnson La Bayadere (Act II) M. Petipa, staged by M. Stavitskaya L. Minkus Land Beyond Horizons H. Garza T. Bell La Sylphide A. Bournonville, staged by Z. Dubrovskaya, S. Kozadeyev H. Lovenskjold La Vivandiere A. Saint-Leon, staged by P. Renzetti C. Pugni Le Beau Danube L. Massine, staged by G. Verdak J. Strauss II Le Spectre de la Rose M. Fokine, staged by T. Armour C. Von Weber Masquerade Suite M. Fredmann A. Khatchaturian A Midsummer Night's Dream C. Wheeldon F. Mendlessohn Miraculous Mandarin S. Kozadayev B. Bartok Mon Dieu (solo) M. Fredmann Sung by Edith Piaf Nine Sinatra Songs T. Tharp, staged by S. Washington Songs recorded by F. Sinatra The Nutcracker (2 Acts) M. Fredmann P.I. Tchaikovsky Of Blessed Memory S. Welch J. Cantaloube Picture of Sedalia P. Pucci S. Joplin Peter Pan G. Conzales/ A. Thompson L. Delibes Pounds and Stomps D. Varone Songs by the Yardbirds Rachmaninov Second K. Uralsky S. Rachmaninov Raymonda (Act III) M. Petipa, staged by M. Stavitskaya A. Glazunov Ricordanza M. Fredmann F. Liszt Talisman (pas de deux) M. Petipa R. Drigo Things Left Unsaid A. Seiwert F. Mendelson The River A. Ailey, staged by M. Chaya D. Ellington Rodeo A. de Mille, staged by P. Sutherland A. Copland Romeo & Juliet (3 Acts) M. Fredmann S. Prokofiev Rubies G. Balanchine, staged by B. Cook I. Stravinsky Sachertorte M. Fredmann Strauss Family Second Exposure D. Grand Moultrie R. Romaneiro Serenade G. Balanchine, staged by P. Neary P.I. Tchaikovsky Silent Woods (pas de deux) M. Fredmann A. Dvorak The Sleeping Beauty M. Petipa, staged by M. Daukayev, J. Labsan P.I. Tchaikovsky Size Nine Spirit P. Pucci B. Goodman Soul of Porcelain O. Messina P.I. Tchaikovsky Stars and Stripes G. Balanchine, staged by B. Cook J.P. Sousa Swan Lake (4 Acts) M. Petipa/L. Ivanov, staged by S. Kozadayev, Z. Dubroskaya, A. McKerrow, & J. Gardner P.I. Tchaikovsky Theme and Variations G. Balanchine, staged by P. Neary P.I. Tchaikovsky Troy Game R. North, staged by J. Moss B. Downes Vital Sensations D. Moultrie Puente, Sidestepper, R. Size/ Reprazent Western Symphony G. Balanchine, staged by B. Cook H. Kay When the Lad for Longing Sighs M. Fredmann, J. Levinson G. Butterworth Where the Wild Things Are S. Webre R. Woolf Who Cares? G. Balanchine, staged by J. Fugate G. Gershwin Wingborne L. Houlton A. Dvorak Winter Moons P. Tate J. Tate Without Words T. Shimazaki T. Kako, R. Eno, L.M. Gottschalk, F. Mendlessohn Yes, Virginia, Another Piano Ballet P. Anastos F. Chopin References
- ^ Colorado Council of the Arts Press Release
- ^ "Artistic Leadership". Colorado Ballet. http://www.coloradoballet.org/company/leaders. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
- ^ "Dancers". Colorado Ballet. http://www.coloradoballet.org/company/dancers. Retrieved 6 May 2010.
External links
Categories:- Ballet companies in the United States
- Colorado culture
- 1961 establishments in the United States
- Performing groups established in 1961
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