Press Center
For Immediate Release
July 29, 2009
Media Contact: John Dakin
(970) 949-1999
VAIL, Colorado—If you love Balanchine, then the August 1 performance by Miami City Ballet at the Gerald R. Ford Amphitheater is for you. The internationally celebrated company, directed by one of America’s greatest dance heroes, Edward Villella, will perform a trio of the master’s classic pieces, including Tarantella, The Four Temperaments, and Serenade.
No less than the New York Times has offered that “to watch it (Miami City Ballet) dance Balanchine is to see aspects of his choreography more clearly than with any other company today.”
The evening will start off with Tarantella, with music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk. The tarantella, the famous folk dance of southern Italy, has inspired a number of stylized, classicized versions in many different ballets. Brisk, flying jumps recall the original folk dance, with the name itself, meaning tarantula, alluding to the legend that the spider's bite causes a feverish, hyperkinetic restlessness.
Most noticeable about Balanchine's Tarantella is its speed: it never takes a breath. The dance demands the greatest speed and stamina the human body can muster, but doesn't allow a hint of flagging energy. It is frothy and witty, flirtatious and even sexy, even though the partners barely link arms.
This whirling dervish will followed by The Four Temperaments, with music by Paul Hindermith. Created by Balanchine in 1946 to depict the four medieval temperaments of Melancholic, Sanguinic, Phlegmatic, and Choleric, the piece is captivating in both the expressiveness of the soloists and the meticulous accuracy of the supporting dancers.
Groups of women, often in sets of four, enter the stage throughout the ballet and move as one body; legs at the same height, every movement of the body occurring at the same time.
The evening will conclude with Serenade, with music by Peter Ilyitch Tschaikovsky. Swirling movements and elegant moves performed by 28 dancers, the piece is a kaleidoscope of patterns and graceful syncopations. The mostly female cast is dressed in long flowing neoclassical romantic tutus, set against a dreamy blue background.
This ballet was choreographed in 1934 when Balanchine had just arrived in the United States and opened the School of American Ballet. It is based very simply on an evening ballet class and its moving choreography has stood the test of time.
Tickets for the August 1 Balanchine evening with Miami City Ballet are priced at $65 and $85 for Reserved pavilion seating and $17 for General Admission lawn seating.
Tickets for all performances of the 2009 Vail International Dance Festival are available online at www.vaildance.org or by phone at either (970) 845-TIXS (8497) or 888-920-ARTS (2787).
The 2009 Vail International Dance Festival is a project of the Vail Valley Foundation. For additional information on the Festival, please visit www.vaildance.org. For more information on the Foundation, check out www.vvf.org.
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