Ballet Hispanico Completes Rockefeller Brothers Fund's First Dance Residency
Performance at The Pocantico Center, NY
BALLET HISPANICO
completes the Rockefeller Brothers Fund's
First Dance Residency with a performance
including an excerpt of the Work-in-Progress
created during the residency
The Pocantico Center
Ballet Hispanico, recognized as the nation's leading Latino dance organization since 1970, will perform on the Kykuit Tennis Lawn at The Pocantico Center, 200 Lake Road, Pocantico Hills, NY, on Tuesday, August 13, 2013 at 6:30pm. A reception will follow the performance. Tickets are 0 and can be purchased at http://www.artful.ly/store/events/1562. Rain date is Wednesday, August 14. The Company will perform an excerpt from the work-in-progress created during its residency at The Pocantico in May and perform other selections from their repertory, including excerpts from Sortijas, Jardi Tancat and Mad'moiselle.
Ballet Hispanico was the inaugural company in the Rockefeller Brothers Fund's (RBF) first dance residency as part of the Pocantico Arts Collaborative this spring. Ballet Hispanico, one of two dance companies awarded the RBF's Charles E. Culpeper Arts and Culture Grant, developed a new choreographic work as part of its residency program at The Pocantico Center. Tuesday's performance will include an excerpt of the work-in-progress.
"The Pocantico Arts Collaborative aims to provide artists time and space for aesthetic exploration and opportunities for nurturing artistic imagination," said Susanne Pandich, Public Programs manager at The Pocantico Center. "We are thrilled to host a dance company of Ballet Hispanico's caliber as they share their creative process with the public through on-site performances and educational interactions."
Ballet Hispanico's Artistic Director Eduardo Vilaro and six dancers spent the week of May 13-17, 2013 at The Pocantico Center, conceiving and creating an original work to be performed during the Company's 2014 season at the Joyce Theater. Rehearsals took place in the Carriage Room of the Coach Barn, where the public was able to view the creative process.
"The opportunity to work in a new environment, away from our home in the city, feeds the imagination and lends itself to creative exploration," said Eduardo Vilaro, artistic director of Ballet Hispanico. "We are grateful to the Rockefeller Brothers Fund for allowing Ballet Hispanico the freedom to grow its artistic and educational impact within the community at The Pocantico Center."
Ballet Hispanico's Education & Outreach program also visited Pocantico Hill public schools where members of BHdos, Ballet Hispanico's pre-professional second company, performed Ballet Hispanico repertory for young people in local elementary and middle schools. As part of their educational programming, BHdos and Ballet Hispanico company members visited classrooms to engage students in discussions about dance and professional development.
ABOUT THE REPERTORY:
Nacho Duato's very first work, Jardi Tancat, based on Catalonian folk tales sung by Maria del Mar Bonet, won him first prize at the International Choreographic Workshop in Cologne. With equal shades of passion and melancholy, the ballet evokes the despairing yet hopeful prayers of Spaniards who wait for rain on their barren land.
Cayetano Soto, one of the most dynamic and groundbreaking Spanish choreographers of his generation, created Sortijas, his first commission for Ballet Hispanico. A stellar introduction to this exceptionally talented and visionary artist, Sortijas celebrates the Latino experience in its full cultural and social complexity.
Mad'moiselle, a highly theatrical work that explores iconic male/female images and gender role-playing in Latin American cultures, was created by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa to a soundscape inspired by Chavela Vargas. The score, developed by Ms. Ochoa with composer/sound designer Bart Rijnink, draws on the music of Ms. Vargas, who is best known for her rendition of beloved Mexican rancheras.
