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On December 16th, 2008 Los Angeles Ballet appeared on the Dr. Phil show. Los Angeles Ballet Appears on Dr. Phil! December 1, 2008 Company News from the Staff at LAB On December 16th, 2008 Los Angeles Ballet appeared on the Dr. Phil show. Excerpts from The Nutcracker were performed on a special holiday program, and Dr. Phil's studio audience was invited to attend LAB performances throughout the 2008/2009 Season. Home / News / New Item

Aiming to become what artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary call "a major company that belongs to L.A. - that has a local flavor at an international level," the newly formed Los Angeles Ballet has announced its first season of performances and placed subscription tickets on sale. A ballet's next steps October 11, 2006 Company News from the Staff at LAB Los Angeles Ballet announces its first season, to be presented in three areas of the sprawling city By Lewis Segal, Times Staff Writer October 11, 2006 Aiming to become what artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary call "a major company that belongs to L.A. - that has a local flavor at an international level," the newly formed Los Angeles Ballet has announced its first season of performances and placed subscription tickets on sale. The company's debut will take place Dec. 2 at the Wilshire Theatre in a brand-new Christensen / Neary "Nutcracker," with repeat engagements through December at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center and the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Programs dominated by the works of George Balanchine are scheduled for mid-March and early June at these same three venues."We feel that it's part of our mission to bring ourselves to audiences in all of the areas," Neary explained in a recent interview. Christensen added: "You can't blame audience members for not wanting to sit in traffic when they go out at night. By being in the Wilshire Theatre, we're covering the Westside. By being at the Alex, we're covering Glendale and Pasadena. And by being down in Redondo, we're covering the beach communities." Christensen danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet before becoming artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. Neary (his wife) danced with New York City Ballet and has staged Balanchine choreography for a number of major companies. Their Los Angeles Ballet has no connection with the company of the same name run by New York City Ballet alumnus John Clifford from the early 1970s to the mid-'80s, or with Clifford's attempt to restart that company 10 years later. The current roster includes 21 resident professional dancers on 21-week contracts. Home is the Malibu Performing Arts Center. The projected annual budget is $1.7 million, and Christensen said that enough money is on hand, from unspecified sources, to carry the company through the "Nutcracker" engagements "without selling any tickets. We have paid for our production, we have paid for the theaters, and on top of that we have a cash reserve of approximately two- to three-hundred-thousand dollars." "Nutcracker" costumes are being donated by the Royal Danish Ballet, but the sets are newly created by locally based designer Catherine Kanner. "They'll be traditional but a little bit different," Christensen promised. "We wanted to make something very specifically for Los Angeles." Negotiations continue with musicians needed for the "Nutcracker" orchestra and with guest dancers as well. American Ballet Theatre principal Paloma Herrera has been signed for three "Nutcracker" performances. In addition, the company subscription brochure lists Artem Shpilevsky of the Bolshoi Ballet and five principals from New York City Ballet (Yvonne Borree, Nikolaj Hübbe, Maria Kowroski, Nilas Martins and Benjamin Millipied) as guest artists, but who will appear when has to be determined. Christensen and Neary have been working for years for this moment of launch. "Los Angeles is ready for its own ballet company," Christensen declares. "The timing is right for this. We're going to have to develop our own audience — to prove ourselves, to show that the level of excellence that we put on is at a very high level. That's going to be our challenge. But we feel now that we're ready to begin." Home / News / New Item

Memoryhouse, Melissa Barak's first full evening length ballet, choreographed to the 2002 Max Richter album of the same name, was performed at Broadstage in Santa Monica for three nights, June 15-17, 2023, as the concluding pieces of Barak's first season as Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Ballet. Review: The Los Angeles Ballet Steps Out With Barak’s MemoryHouse July 5, 2023 Forbes Tom Teicholz Memoryhouse , Melissa Barak's first full evening length ballet, choreographed to the 2002 Max Richter album of the same name, was performed at Broadstage in Santa Monica for three nights, June 15-17, 2023, as the concluding pieces of Barak's first season as Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Ballet . Memoryhouse is a work whose subject is the Holocaust – however, it is not a narrative account of any one person's experience, nor does it try to render specific occurrences, rather it is a work that uses a series of vignettes (or scenes or movements) to convey a spectrum of Jewish experience during the Holocaust. In my conversations with Barak, both while in rehearsal, and then on stage following the Friday night performance, she shared some of her inspiration and process regarding Memoryhouse . She first heard the Max Richter album years ago, and it stayed with her. "It's so beautiful. It's very haunting. It's very dramatic," Barak said. "I don't remember exactly what I was doing or when it occurred to me what the ballet should be about, but as soon as that thought [that the subject would be the Holocaust] came into my head, it was like: Oh my God, this section sounds like a train… another section is very atmospheric [and] it sounds like people in hiding, like hiding beneath shadows and like flickers of light…." I asked Barak why the Holocaust? "I was always very interested in the subject," Barak said. Barak, who is Jewish, added that, although her own family arrived in the United States in the 1920s, escaping from persecution in Russia, none of her direct family were murdered in the Holocaust. Nonetheless, the subject has always captivated her. "Throughout my twenties and thirties," she told me, "I went to Auschwitz. I have been to Berlin... I went to Sachsenhausen. I went to Dachau when I went to Munich. I've been to the Anne Frank Museum in Amsterdam. I've been to Hungary. I always made it a point to [visit] museums and camps. I went to the [US] Holocaust Museum in DC very soon after it opened. It's just a subject that I've always been very interested in." So, how did this become a ballet? Barak explained: "Once I've taken everything I know, and I've learned and just surrounded myself [with] the stories... the sights, the feelings, the emotions. Then, [Richter's] music is such a guide… I knew what each movement represented in terms of what scene we're talking about. Then it was just a matter of exploring movement that expressed that time and place." Memoryhouse is compelling and innovative in its mix of traditional, modern, and abstract modes of dance as well as in its use of scrims and projections created by Sebastian Pescheira, and a flexible stage-set created with architect Hagy Belzberg (who is also the architect of Holocaust Museum LA). The projections are integral to Memoryhouse , at times looking like musical notes or Hebrew letters that fall and become rain-like slashes; and, at other times, morphing into birds that take flight; and significantly, at one moment of intensity, the rain of slashes convey the rain of ash in the sky from the incineration of the bodies of the murdered. Spoken word poetry is used in each of the ballet’s two acts – in the first act a poem is recited in Russian by the poet Marina Tsvetaeva herself (there is no translation just the voice, that to me conjured the life of Russian Jews during the Holocaust, at Stalingrad and during the famine siege of St. Petersburg). In the second act, John Cage speaks words in an affectless tone that, to me, spoke to the non-sensical zombie world of the Nazis' factories of death. The dancers stand at times behind the scrim, which can look like a hazy screen with rectangular cut outs. At moments, it creates distance from the audience – as if they are not just in a different time but on a different planet, be it in the ghetto, or on the trains, or in the camps. It's very arresting and conveys the various moods of alienation, aloneness, danger, and even adds a level of ominous foreboding. Although the ballet is abstract, the human mind is always striving to find meaning and impose a narrative. In the first half of the ballet as the scenes build, one after another, I imagined the families that existed before the war, their lives in the ghettos, their transport on the trains, and in the death camps themselves- it was an emotional experience. The dramatic first act break left the audience breathless. Memoryhouse signals a dazzling creative accomplishment for Barak, in what has already been an accomplished career. Barak is an LA native who attended Crossroads School for Arts and Sciences from seventh to 11th Grade, while training at Westside Ballet. At a young age, Barak's mother took her to the ballet and put her in ballet classes. Even then, Barak says, "I saw myself both as a dancer performing, and I also was constantly creating ballets in my head." Barak spent two years in the School of American Ballet, before being accepted in 1998 into New York City Ballet (NYCB), the house that Balanchine built. Mr. B. had passed away in 1983 but under the leadership of Peter Martins, the ballet masters were still Balanchine trained, and some of the Balanchine ballerinas such as Merrill Ashley were still working with the company. It was a "very high standard," Barak says of NYCB. "The athleticism and the artistry that was expected of you…. You had to dance fast, move fast, move with grace and precision… A lot was expected of us every day." Ats 18, Barak was part of part of the inaugural class of Peter Martin's choreography workshop. Martins was impressed and "had his eye on her for other choreographic opportunities." So, when the Choreographic Institute began in 2000, she was invited to do a new piece. In 2006, Barak joined Los Angeles Ballet as a dancer, and in 2013 she launched her own company, Barak Ballet. In 2022, she was appointed Artistic Director of the Los Angeles Ballet. Barak's deep understanding of being a dancer informs her role as Artistic Director. "For me as a director, it's important to stay true to who I am," Barak told me. "I like talent. My focus is to find dancers who, when they dance, it's full energy, full passion, full dedication… who bring that athleticism and artistry to the mix. Musicality is important to me [as is] a work ethic... It's fun to guide a dancer to their full potential." Memoryhouse features dancers from Barak Ballet and from Los Angeles Ballet. In some scenes the dancers are in flat shoes, in others in ballet slippers. The mix of movement-styles is Barak's choreographic signature along with a specific emphasis and how the dancers use their arms, at times raised and at times to signal how a duet or group will move as they push, pull, lead, and follow each other. Memoryhouse had specific details that conjured, for me, scenes from the works of Holocaust survivors Imre Kertesz and Primo Levi. In one movement, the dancers move in a group shoulder to shoulder, their heads rolling. This movement reminded me of Hungarian Nobel Prize winner Kertesz's autobiographical novel, Fateless , in which a 14-year-old boy in Auschwitz describes the way the Nazis weaponized boredom, making the inmates stand for countless hours in roll calls, their heads nodding as they tried to stay awake. In a similar fashion, there were several scenes where the dancers were wearing neutral garments made me think of the ruthless depersonalization Levi described in "The Grey Zone" of The Drowned and the Saved. The second act opens in a burst of color with dancers who could be meeting in a bar or cabaret. At first, I thought this might be a pre-war flashback, or a vignette of life lived under false papers. The scenes that follow are different moments of resistance, survival, loss and death. The second act does not land as powerfully as the first and ends abruptly. Maybe that is intentional – perhaps Barak is making us feel the violence of the lives that were interrupted or maybe Barak is expressing the truth that although the War ended, for many the effects of the Holocaust didn’t. Memoryhouse is an emotional, visual, and movement-led journey, an experience that I hope will be performed and seen by many for years to come. Memoryhouse is significant not only because of its subject matter but also because of what it represents in terms of Barak's vision for the Los Angeles Ballet. In my conversation with Barak, we discussed both how she hopes to make the Los Angeles Ballet stand out, and how to make Los Angeles as much a home for dance as it has been for film, TV, and more recently the visual arts. At the base level, Dance in Los Angeles needs to foster a better infrastructure for dancers and companies to thrive. Greater financial and philanthropic support is certainly a top priority. This production of Memoryhouse was made possible by the support of The David and Janet Polak Foundation but more funders and sponsors are needed. On a more nuts and bolts level. The Los Angeles Ballet would benefit from having a permanent place of residency for the company’s performances, as well as a real home for ballet companies. Los Angeles has no real Disney Hall for dance, or dedicated dance performance space like The Joyce Theater in New York. Barak feels that to stand out, the Los Angeles Ballet will need to take risks and make bold choices regarding new work. It is a formula that over the last two decades has made the LA Phil the premier orchestra for new work, and that has drawn critics, artists, as well audience and supporters to Los Angeles. Barak has a vision for Los Angeles Ballet that will mix the new with the classic and that will focus on the dancers. However, without audience attendance and individual, corporate, and philanthropic support, Barak and all other dance companies in Los Angeles cannot succeed. All those who care about dance and want LA dance to thrive for the next generation, need to show up, however they can. The power and artistry of Barak’s Memoryhouse reminds us, as Balanchine said, "Dance is important and significant – yes. But first of all, it is a pleasure." READ ARTICLE AT SOURCE Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Ballet gave its final performance of "Nutcracker" on Saturday at the Alex Theatre in Glendale: a rite of passage, for the next time we see this brand-new company it won't be dancing a homemade version of the Christmas kiddie classic but rather grown-up masterworks from the international repertory. The New Troupe Learns From 'Nutcracker' and Forges Bravely Ahead with Balanchine and Bournonville January 1, 2007 Los Angeles Times by Lewis Segal Los Angeles Ballet gave its final performance of "Nutcracker" on Saturday at the Alex Theatre in Glendale: a rite of passage, for the next time we see this brand-new company it won't be dancing a homemade version of the Christmas kiddie classic but rather grown-up masterworks from the international repertory. That's a big step — one that dozens of Southland companies that present annual "Nutcracker" performances never take. It was brave of artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary to launch LAB with a ballet presented by virtually every classical school or troupe in the whole region plus visiting ensembles from Russia and Korea. And it's braver still to schedule serious Balanchine and buoyant Bournonville for the company's first 2007 performances in March. There's no place to hide in that kind of rep, and though guest artists will again ensure high standards in principal roles, the challenge will be to develop a company style beyond the well-drilled but essentially faceless corps dancing that "Nutcracker" provided. If that statement sounds cruel, consider that American Ballet Theatre — our nation's classical behemoth — seldom achieves anything beyond well-drilled and faceless corps dancing nowadays. But ABT doesn't dance Balanchine's super-refined "Concerto Barocco," and maybe that's just as well. "Nutcracker" looked better organized on Saturday than it had early in December, though the party scene again proved confused and there seemed no sense of purpose — dramatic or choreographic — in the battle between the toy soldiers and the mice. The important scenic and character transformations on view lacked magic. And it would have helped if the Nutcracker (Erik Thordal-Christensen, son of the artistic directors) actually looked like a nutcracker and not just another toy soldier. Act 2 confirmed the classical prowess and personal star power of Oleg Gorboulev and Corina Gill in the Arabian dance, provided a flashy showpiece for the 14-year-old wunderkind Lilit Hogtanian as Clara and allowed Maria Kowroski and Stephen Hanna (guests from New York City Ballet) to display formidable mastery in supported adagio intricacies. You could regret that their solos were moved earlier than Tchaikovsky intended and that the Mirlitons divertissement was cut, but the score was again given loving care by conductor Eimear Noone and her musicians. And, happily, the Alex Theatre offered more space for Catherine Kanner's scenic vistas than the cramped Wilshire Theatre stage allowed when this "Nutcracker" premiered. That's one lesson LAB learned in 2006 — that Southern California has many midsize theaters that look great from the seats but, because they are converted movie houses, have no room on the stage for elaborate scenery or large-scale choreographies. Another lesson — that the ballet public isn't interested in 5 p.m. shows — helped cause a cutback from 12 "Nutcracker" performances to nine. "We will consider everything we've discovered from this first run," the directors said in a statement, "and make necessary adjustments for our upcoming season." Necessary adjustments may be one key to LAB's survival in a ballet landscape haunted by memories of companies that started strongly and even flourished, for a time, without enlisting the longterm support of the public that flocks to touring attractions. There are always plenty of people who say they want someone to start a local ballet company with major artistic ambitions — but too many really mean they want ABT to relocate. Los Angeles Ballet estimates that it danced for more than 6,000 ticket-holders in December. That's a start, but not nearly a large enough audience base to sustain a year-round professional institution. If Christensen and Neary can't rely on the balletomanes in our community who yammer about homegrown classicism but don't show up at the ticket window, developing a new, loyal audience is the key to their future. And that will take more energy and imagination than everything they've done so far. DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

In an era of catastrophic personal belt tightening and calamitous corporate downsizing, too many promising arts organizations have fallen face-first into the chasm of disappearing dollars. When even an established, respected old organization like the Pasadena Playhouse had to close its doors for a time, it is beyond astonishing that a new classical ballet troupe not only survives, but thrives. LA Ballet Opens Fifth Season with Exuberant 'Nutcracker' December 16, 2010 Culturespot LA by Penny Orloff In an era of catastrophic personal belt tightening and calamitous corporate downsizing, too many promising arts organizations have fallen face-first into the chasm of disappearing dollars. When even an established, respected old organization like the Pasadena Playhouse had to close its doors for a time, it is beyond astonishing that a new classical ballet troupe not only survives, but thrives. Since the debut of its original production of “The Nutcracker” in November 2006, the Los Angeles Ballet has been met with critical and commercial success, nearly doubling its budget over five seasons without a penny of government support. “Considering the colossal events of the last five years – Katrina, the tsunami in Indonesia, the financial collapse and subsequent recession, the Haiti earthquake – LAB’s steady growth from $900,000 to $1,624,000 is nothing short of a miracle,” says Julie Whittaker, the company’s executive director. The central ingredient in LAB’s success is the consistent high quality of the product. Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary are clearly the stars of this enterprise. Their uncanny selection and inspired mentoring of some of America’s finest young dancers have resulted in a world-class corps de ballet and several important break-out soloists. Their vision and tireless dedication to the work have produced a large and reliable fan base, and ever-increasing ticket sales. LAB’s “Nutcracker” – playing in venues around LA County this month – is proof of the company’s stature as a game-changing force in the realm of international ballet. The original choreography by Christensen and Neary is fresh and exhilarating, demonstrating the technical skill, individual virtuosity, and razor-sharp precision ensemble work that distinguish this young company. After several reports, I am running out of superlatives to describe the exemplary work of the women’s corps de ballet in the Dance of the Snowflakes and the Waltz of the Flowers, two highlights of the production. Other highlights of this season’s LAB “Nutcracker” include the annual appearance of guest artist Sergey Kheylik as the Cossack Doll. The ecstatic cheers greeting his Act I entrance escalated to a roar as he flung himself into impossible leaps and turns. He was joined in Act II by LAB newcomers Aaron Bahadursingh and Christopher Revels, who matched Kheylik vault for astonishing vault. The off-the-charts athleticism of this Russian Dance whipped the audience into a prolonged, ear-splitting demonstration, literally stopping the show. Returning as Marie (Sugarplum Fairy), Monica Pelfrey remained serene and confident through the long and demanding pas de deux. Her dancing showed off clean stepwork, lovely ports des bras, and marvelous balance. She was partnered by Zheng Hua Li, her cavalier in last season’s Balanchine “Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2.” Li’s emotional physicality contrasts beautifully with Pelfrey’s cool elegance, creating a wonderful chemistry. The audience rewarded his big, floating jetees and effortless lifts with ample appreciation. Making her LAB debut in the Arabian Dance, Julia Cinquemani’s jaw-dropping beauty managed to stun a fairly demonstrative crowd into pin-drop silence. Wrapping her supple, snakelike torso in coils around her partner, newcomer Alexander Castillo, she mesmerized adults and children alike. The breathless silence was broken by an extended, vociferous ovation. Also new this season is Allyssa Bross as the Rose in the Waltz of the Flowers. This young ballerina clearly won over the crowd, her incandescent smile radiating throughout her performance. Thirteen-year-old Helena Thordal-Christensen plays Clara with fragile beauty and dramatic intensity. Having danced the role for the first time last season, this year she exhibits complete confidence and authority. Her long, slender legs extend forever, making an event of each arabesque. She has an arresting innocence about her, a lack of artifice which made her nightmare scene all the more harrowing as she darted, terrified, around the vast stage of Glendale’s Alex Theatre. Perhaps the most moving moment in the performance, for me, came when Clara’s mother – played by Thordal Christensen’s real-life mother, the great Balanchine ballerina, Colleen Neary – kissed the little girl before walking off the stage, a symbolic passing of the torch from the past to the future. Clara’s Nutcracker-turned-Prince is 18-year-old Jordan Veit of the Pacific Northwest Ballet School’s Professional Division. Dancing with strength and ease, and resembling a young Leonardo Di Caprio, this young man exudes charm. The long line of infatuated little girls waiting to meet him after the performance may be the harbinger of good things to come for Veit. Fans in search of guaranteed holiday magic have several chances remaining for performances of LAB’s “Nutcracker” in venues around LA: UCLA’s Royce Hall, Dec. 18 at 1 and 5 p.m., and Dec. 19 at 1 and 5 p.m.; and at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center on Dec. 24 at 2 pm., and Dec. 26 at 1 and 5 p.m.. Tickets and information are available at (310) 998-7782, or at www.LosAngelesBallet.org . DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Ballet's Rubies Gala 2013, chaired by Kirsten Sarkisian and Lori Milken, was held on April 20, 2013 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and was a stunning success. Los Angeles Ballet Rubies Gala April 1, 2013 Company News from the Staff at LAB Los Angeles Ballet's Rubies Gala 2013, chaired by Kirsten Sarkisian and Lori Milken, was held on April 20, 2013 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel and was a stunning success. Attended by more than 350 guests, the black tie event honored Linda Duttenhaver and Nigel Lythgoe. Ms. Duttenhaver received the inaugural Angel Award, while Mr. Lythgoe was honored with the inaugural Global Impact Award. The evening ended with guests dancing to the music of JT and California Dreamin'. The event raised more than $600,000 for Los Angeles Ballet. LEARN MORE Home / News / New Item

Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary’s, wonderfully refreshing Los Angeles Ballet opened their 2018/19 season at the Alex Theatre on Saturday, October 6, with the prolific and brilliant Aszure Barton’s Les Chambres des Jacques. A Wonderfully Refreshing Los Angeles Ballet Performs at The Alex Theatre October 10, 2018 LA Dance Chronicle by Joanne DiVito Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary’s, wonderfully refreshing Los Angeles Ballet opened their 2018/19 season at the Alex Theatre on Saturday, October 6, with the prolific and brilliant Aszure Barton’s Les Chambres des Jacques . Barton is an eclectic inventive artist and choreographic activist, who in this piece combines Québécois folk rhythms and voice of Gilles Vigneault, and Les Yeux Noire, which were then soothed with the lush beauty of Vivaldi, and the humanity of the Cracow Klezmer Band. The cadences and pulse-like heartbeat, so beautifully executed by the now seasoned dancers of Los Angeles Ballet, was not only splendidly performed but enchanting to experience. The intelligent and courageous leadership of Christensen and Neary, L.A. Ballet’s Artistic Directors, and Julie Whittaker, Executive Director, is insistent that Los Angeles have their own ballet company…and succeed they have, as was revealed on Saturday. Tobin Del Cuore staged Barton’s signature choreography with devotional zeal, making sure, as Barton would, that every part of the body was addressed down to the eyes, face, mouth, and fingers. The breadth of the work was eloquently executed by the dancers Joshua Brown, Laura Chachich, Magnus Christoffersen, Dallas Finley, Madeline Houk, Leah McCall, Costache Mihai, Jasmine Perry; with special mention of Clay Murray’s surprising, wonderfully loose and rhythmic opening that mesmerized the audience with dance which came deeply from inside him. Another highlight was the wonderful pas de quatre, danced by Petra Conti, Tigran Sargsyan, Bianca Bulle, and Kenta Shimizu which delighted us with their unusual playfulness that moved shoulders, hips and bodies rolling together and apart with unanticipated changes. And with that, an amazing, subtle and soulful solo by Sargsyan to the Cracow Klezmer Band which harkened back to the shtetles of Eastern Europe as though it was clear to him the feeling of a heritage long gone. As if this were not dessert enough for us all, we were then treated to Alejandro Cerrudo’s sensual stand out piece, Lickety-split, which examined the dynamics of three couples, their interplay between each other and the group as a whole. Jasmine Perry, so beautifully partnered by Dallas Finley, was exquisite in her seamless interplay, her smooth transitions, and effortless soulful relationship with her partner done to the quiet sometimes raspy tones of Devendra Banhart, Equally langorous, was the smooth movements, as if on ice, drawn by the facile partnership of Tigran Sargsyan, and Bianca Bulle, Joshua Brown and Leah McCall. A kind of Greek chorus on the floor followed the scintillating Dallas Finley’s expressive and impassioned solo. Both the Barton and Cerrudo pieces alone would be a gift of creativity and brilliance, yet the last thank you by the entire company doing Balanchine, the Western Symphony, happily ended our joyous evening. This piece requires strength, endurance, charm, technique and…fun! It appears quaint and classic, yet a gift of another time, when cowboys and dancing girls were an accepted part of the American West in the mind of Mr. B. Restaged by Colleen Neary, who clearly understands the work of George Balanchine, having worked closely with this Master during some of his most prolific years. It is through Neary we get the essence of his work and his legacy. The corps did a fine job of creating superb energy as towns-folk, all the way to the rousing finale. In the first coupling we’re delighted by strong and lyrical Laura Chachich. She shares the stage with the talented, technically marvelous dancer, Eris Nesha, who charmed the audience with his sense of play, his strong presence and engaging charm, which was quite reminiscent of the young Edward Villella. In the second movement, the wonderful Petra Conti, and Tigran Sargsyan, took the lead in their engaging, pas de deux, with Bianca Bulle and Kenta Shimizu’s sparkling and flirtatious third movement. Bianca Bulle leads us through the iconic diagonal in competition with her partner to lead the entire company into the iconic pirouettes from fifth as the curtain goes down on the continuing dance which appears to go on forever. My hope is that it will go on forever with the grand legacy of the growing and thriving Los Angeles Ballet. READ ARTICLE AT SOURCE Home / News / New Item

Like adventurous pioneers, Los Angeles Ballet stepped into uncharted territory Saturday for its season opener, “Modern Moves,” which introduced Aszure Barton’s “Les Chambres des Jacques” and Alejandro Cerrudo’s “Lickety-Split” into the company’s repertory at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Review: LA Ballet season opens with adventurous and flirtatious ‘Modern Moves’ October 7, 2018 LA Times by Christina Compodonico Like adventurous pioneers, Los Angeles Ballet stepped into uncharted territory Saturday for its season opener, “Modern Moves,” which introduced Aszure Barton’s “Les Chambres des Jacques” and Alejandro Cerrudo’s “Lickety-Split” into the company’s repertory at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. George Balanchine’s 1954 classic “Western Symphony” capped off an evening devoted to contemporary and neoclassical works that were flecked with folksy charm. Throughout, Los Angeles Ballet proved not only fluent in the three choreographers’ styles but also in the wide-ranging love language of their dances. Longing and desire emanated from almost every move in Barton’s lusty “Les Chambres,” set to a fusion of Quebecois folk music, klezmer and Vivaldi. Men approached women clad in corsets with sensual sniffs; others attempted to hug the empty air around them. Agape mouths in the shape of silent screams looked like lips yearning to be kissed. And principal dancer Tigran Sargsyan’s desperate crawl after the woman he pines for sends a stab straight to the heart. If “Les Chambres” is an intimate study of unrequited love, then “Lickety-Split” gives us a look into love unbound. In one vignette, principal Bianca Bulle and Sargsyan initially play hard to get. He then offers his hand, and she squeezes out some invisible elixir — an aphrodisiac perhaps — that sends them into a joyous jaunt across the stage. As Devendra Barhart’s raspy voice creaks over the speakers like a well-worn rocker, you can’t help but feel as if you’re on a front porch, watching lovers dance by the light of fireflies. The duet culminates with Bulle ecstatically shaking her hand between her partner’s legs and Sargsyan playfully banging his head upon her rear. While an odd image, it’s immensely satisfying — reminiscent of the comfort that comes from knowing another intimately — and avant-garde like a piece of absurdist theater. Against such an edgy program, Balanchine’s “Western Symphony” felt a tad dated — its corps of clean-cut cowboys gallantly strumming air guitars and feather-hatted saloon gals do-si-do-ing primly a far cry from Cerrudo and Barton’s sensuous styles. Even Hershy Kay’s classic orchestrations of American folk songs felt a touch Disney-fied. But there were plenty of enchanting moments. The versatile Sargsyan pulled off a delightful adagio with principal Petra Conti, and the dance’s iconic finale — endless pirouettes as the curtain falls — was a strong reminder of how modern this piece once was. Like the depths of a boundless love, it insisted on having no end. READ ARTICLE AT SOURCE Home / News / New Item

Kate Highstrete has been promoted to Soloist at Los Angeles Ballet. Kate Highstrete Promoted to Soloist August 1, 2015 Company News from the Staff at LAB Kate Highstrete has been promoted to Soloist at Los Angeles Ballet. Kate is from Huntington Beach, California and danced with St. Louis Ballet before joining LAB in 2009. Of her 2011 performance in Giselle, the LA Times said, "Kate Highstrete made Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, an other-worldly creature of pitiless steel." Kate has also been featured as the Choleric soloist in Balanchine's The Four Temperaments, The Rose in The Nutcracker, and the Golden Vine Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty, as well as in multiple original works by Sonya Tayeh. The 2015/2016 Season will be Kate's 7th season with Los Angeles Ballet. Home / News / New Item

For all the opening-night jitters and imperfections, Los Angeles Ballet gave a credible, even moving, performance of “Giselle” on Saturday at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. The essential Giselle experience remained intact: Love survives the grave, bestows forgiveness on an unworthy bad boy and transforms him into a decent human being. Los Angeles Ballet Dances 'Giselle' May 15, 2011 Los Angeles Times by Chris Pasles For all the opening-night jitters and imperfections, Los Angeles Ballet gave a credible, even moving, performance of “Giselle” on Saturday at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center. The essential Giselle experience remained intact: Love survives the grave, bestows forgiveness on an unworthy bad boy and transforms him into a decent human being. Hmm. Sounds like the plot of a movie or two, or a dozen. Giselle is a village girl courted by a prince disguised as a peasant. She falls in love with him, but when she finds out his identity -- and that he’s engaged to someone else -- she loses her mind and dies. End of ballet? Not by a long shot. In Act 2, she appears as a spirit newly enrolled in the ranks of the Wilis, night creatures that wreak vengeance on perjured suitors. Giselle resists her new duties and saves her prince. Allyssa Bross danced the title role with appealing sweetness and vulnerability. She made her mad scene nuanced and sparked with creepiness, and if she had some unsteadiness in her ghostly extended balances, she more than compensated elsewhere with poise. Giselle’s character is straightforward, but that of Prince Albrecht is ambiguous. Is he merely dallying, really in love, torn between court and country? Unfortunately, Christopher Revels gave no clear take on the prince’s motives, although his repentance and sense of loss at the end looked genuine. Revels danced with princely bearing, partnered with consideration, and executed his second act marathon challenges with strength, though he looked more on the edge of real rather than dramatic exhaustion. Chehon Wespi-Tschopp was an intense Hilarion, a villager also in love with Giselle. His prestissimo spins to his death at the hands of the Wilis were terrific. Kate Highstrete made Myrtha, the Queen of the Wilis, an other-worldly creature of pitiless steel. The Peasant Pas de Deux was danced by Allynne Noelle and Zheng Hua Li (who alternates in the role of Prince Albrecht). Noelle was sunny and graceful. Li had crisp, flashing legwork, but tended to land badly. The corps looked well-schooled, although earthbound. The company danced to pre-recorded music. The production was from the Louisville Ballet. Ben Pilat provided the dramatic lighting. L.A. Ballet company co-director Thordal Christensen tweaked the traditional Coralli-Perrot-Petipa choreography, cutting some virtuosic demands, adding some mime, and inventing a poor couple who provide their cottage as the prince’s local digs. Christensen’s wife and company co-director, Colleen Neary, enacted Giselle’s mother, Berthe, with fuss and worry. With this touchstone Romantic ballet, LAB closes its fifth season with a stronger than ever claim for community support. Performances continue Saturday at the Alex Theatre in Glendale and the following weekend at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica. DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Ballet artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary announced the promotion of Zheng Hua Li to Principal Dancer and the promotion of Bianca Bulle, Alexander Castillo, Julia Cinquemani, and Chelsea Paige Johnston to Soloists. Five Dancers Promoted March 7, 2013 LAB Public Relations Los Angeles Ballet annnounces the promotion of five dances featured in the three-month Balanchine Festival beginning March 9, 2013 Los Angeles Ballet artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary announced the promotion of Zheng Hua Li to Principal Dancer and the promotion of Bianca Bulle, Alexander Castillo, Julia Cinquemani, and Chelsea Paige Johnston to Soloists. All five dancers will be featured in Balanchine Festival GOLD, opening Sat., March 9, 2013, and Balanchine Festival RED, opening Sat., May 11, 2013. Each program will be performed at Los Angeles Ballet’s five home theaters: Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, Royce Hall/UCLA, Valley Performing Arts Center, Alex Theatre, and Carpenter Performing Arts Center. Zheng Hua Li was born and trained in Shen Yang, China. He danced with Guangzhou Ballet before joining Los Angeles Ballet. This is his fourth season with Los Angeles Ballet. During the upcoming Balanchine Festival GOLD, Mr. Li will dance the Poet in La Sonnambula and the lead in Phlegmatic in The Four Temperaments. Since joining LAB, Mr. Li has danced featured roles including the Cavalier in The Nutcracker, the Pas de Trois in Swan Lake and danced in LAB’s world premiere programs NewWaveLA and NextWaveLA in choreography by Sonya Tayeh, Mandy Moore, Travis Wall, and Stacy Tookey. Li joins current principal dancers Allyssa Bross, Allynne Noelle, Christopher Revels and Kenta Shimizu. Bianca Bulle was born in Gold Coast, Queensland, Australia where she trained at Ransley Ballet and Dance Centre before training at New York’s School of American Ballet. This is her second season with Los Angeles Ballet. During Balanchine Festival GOLD Ms. Bulle will dance the second lead (2nd Violin) in Concerto Barocco, and Second Theme in The Four Temperaments. Ms. Bulle has danced featured roles in The Nutcracker including Rose in Waltz of the Flowers and Marie (Sugar Plum Fairy), as well as in LAB’s world premiere program NextWaveLA in choreography by Kitty McNamee and Josie Walsh. Alexander Castillo was born in Bayside, New York and trained at Ballet Academy East, Boston Ballet, and School of American Ballet. This is Mr. Castillo’s third season with Los Angeles Ballet. During Balanchine Festival GOLD Mr. Castillo will dance the male lead in Concerto Barocco and Third Theme in The Four Temperaments. He has been featured in the Arabian dance in The Nutcracker, and the Pas de Trois in Swan Lake, as well in LAB’s world premiere program NextWaveLA in choreography by Sonya Tayeh and Stacey Tookey. Julia Cinquemani was born in Dallas, Texas and trained at the Dallas Ballet Center, Pacific Northwest Ballet and School of American Ballet. This is her third season with Los Angeles Ballet. During Balanchine Festival GOLD, Ms. Cinquemani will dance Third Theme in The Four Temperaments and the lead (1st Violin) in Concerto Barocco. Ms. Cinquemani has been featured in the Pas de Trois and the Russian dance in Swan Lake, as the Arabian and Marie (Sugar Plum) in The Nutcracker, as well as in LAB’s world premieres program NextWaveLA in choreography by Sonya Tayeh and Josie Walsh. Chelsea Paige Johnston was born in Carlsbad, California and trained with San Elijo Dance and Music Academy, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School and UC Irvine. She danced with Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre and Milwaukee Ballet II before joining Los Angeles Ballet. This is her fourth season with Los Angeles Ballet. During Balanchine Festival GOLD, Ms. Johnston will dance The Sleepwalker in La Sonnambula. Since joining Los Angeles Ballet she has danced the title role in Giselle, the Russian dance in Swan Lake, Marie (Sugar Plum) in The Nutcracker, and was featured in LAB’s world premiere programs NewWaveLA and NextWaveLA in choreography by Mandy Moore, Travis Wall, Kitty McNamee, and Josie Walsh. DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Still, it seemed some local dance fans remained wary of the new company, which had adopted the same moniker as so many other upstarts that showed promise, but quickly fizzled out. BCBGMAXAZRIA and Los Angeles Ballet Partner for an Exclusive Event December 30, 2010 Company News from the Staff at LAB Allyssa Bross danced the title role with appealing sweetness and vulnerability. She made her mad scene nuanced and sparked with creepiness, and if she had some unsteadiness in her ghostly extended balances, she more than compensated elsewhere with poise. Home / News / New Item