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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

Los Angeles Ballet rehearses the Nutcracker December 3, 2009 LA Observed by Judy Graeme Most ballet dancers have performed in The Nutcracker since they first put on tights. Every holiday season, they have to get excited all over again by the Sugar Plum Fairy and Drosselmeyer. The Nutcracker is a perennial favorite with families that introduces ballet to new audiences and helps pay a company's bills. I was allowed to observe up close as the Los Angeles Ballet prepared for this year's performances. About two dozen dancers arrive in the morning at a nondescript studio on Exposition Boulevard in West L.A. They take class and rehearse the iconic roles with co-artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary, the husband and wife team that started the ballet company four years ago. The Los Angeles Ballet's production features homages to L.A., and while the Tchaikovsky music is familiar, the choreography is original. In the accompanying slide show, Before the Costumes, you'll see and hear Christensen and Neary at work and meet dancers Katie Tomer, Justin Liu, Monica Pelfrey, Matthew Dowsett, Nancy Richer and Alexander Forck. Performances begin Saturday at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, then move to Royce Hall at UCLA on Dec. 19 and 20 and the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center Dec. 26-27. Ticket info. Audio slide show by Judy Graeme READ ARTICLE AT SOURCE Home / News / New Item

The Nutcracker 2019 LAB Ensemble Hannah Keene & Clay Murray Petra Conti, Tigran Sargsyan & LAB Ensemble Mackenzie Moser & LAB Ensemble Joshua Schwartz & Magnus Christoffersen LAB Ensemble Brittany Rand & Mackenzie Moser Laura Chachich & Magnus Christoffersen LAB Ensemble Mackenzie Moser Petra Conti & Eris Nezha LAB Ensemble Hannah Keene & Clay Murray Petra Conti, Tigran Sargsyan & LAB Ensemble Mackenzie Moser & LAB Ensemble Joshua Schwartz & Magnus Christoffersen LAB Ensemble Brittany Rand & Mackenzie Moser Laura Chachich & Magnus Christoffersen LAB Ensemble Mackenzie Moser Petra Conti & Eris Nezha LAB Ensemble Hannah Keene & Clay Murray Petra Conti, Tigran Sargsyan & LAB Ensemble Mackenzie Moser & LAB Ensemble Joshua Schwartz & Magnus Christoffersen LAB Ensemble Brittany Rand & Mackenzie Moser Laura Chachich & Magnus Christoffersen LAB Ensemble Mackenzie Moser Petra Conti & Eris Nezha Christensen and Neary / Tchaikovsky Previous Gallery Next Gallery All photos by Reed Hutchinson Click on image for a fullscreen presentation.

Returning in Full Force Los Angeles Ballet Kicks Off Its Third Season March 9, 2009 Los Angeles Times by Laura Bleiburg It takes commitment, nerve, and ridiculous sums of money to build a successful ballet company. And that’s just the kindling. To get a real blaze going, it helps to have the high-powered dance connections of Los Angeles Ballet’s co-directors, Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary. For their fl edgling company’s third repertory season, launched Saturday at Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, Christensen and Neary brought out their big-gun friends and family, and there was noticeably more heat onstage. Colleen’s sister Patricia Neary, a former principal dancer with New York City Ballet, staged the George Balanchine-Sergei Prokofi ev 1929 masterpiece “Prodigal Son.” One of that ballet’s greatest interpreters of the title part, Miami City Ballet director Edward Villella, loaned them costumes and sets (modeled on Georges Rouault’s originals). Karin von Aroldingen, another former City Ballet powerhouse, was brought in to help stage “Stravinsky Violin Concerto” (1972), one of Balanchine’s neoclassical gems. Finally, there was a snazzy premiere, “An American Camelot” by Jennifer Backhaus, with party costumes by Franco Martinez and hanging light shades by Tony Kudner. “Prodigal” requires an oversized acting style of another era, yet the L.A. Ballet dancers managed it and the dance’s quirky athleticism fl awlessly. This century-old ballet, based on the biblical parable, crackled with freshness. L.A. Ballet shares Cuban-born leading-man dancer Eddy Tovar with Orlando Ballet, and thank them very much. Tovar has dark good looks, not to mention that classic, unfussy Cuban technique. He inscribes beautiful, open shapes with his etched, muscular body. His son took us on a believable journey, leaving home full of insolent bravura and crawling back a repentant, broken man. Ballerina Melissa Barak, coached also by Westside Ballet’s Yvonne Mounsey, came to inhabit the Siren’s wily personality more slowly. She had the moves and an exacting style. Barak wrapped the Siren’s red cape seductively around her thigh and unfurled her turned-out legs in high sideways kicks and those provocative lunges. Barak more fully became the temptress in her pas de deux with Tovar. In one pretzel coupling after another, Barak emotionally reeled Tovar in, and when she became his, her raised hand signaled triumph. The L.A. Ballet men made a notable transformation as the grotesque Drinking Companions. Flopping and rollicking about the stage, they took to this weirdness with all-out freedom. Backhaus’ “An American Camelot” was her second piece for L.A. Ballet. The fi rst work misfi red so badly (last season’s “she said/he said”) that the latest commission came as a surprise. This time, Backhaus and the six couples she cast were on much fi rmer ground. “An American Camelot” advocates dancing through your troubles, and Backhaus’ loose, hip choreography was persuasive. How can you go wrong with Ella Fitzgerald, Count Basie and Eartha Kitt, singing “Bal Petite Bal”? (The night’s music was taped.) The choreographer melded jitterbug, jazz and classic steps in six sections. Male dancers were given virile leaps and push-ups. The women did the Charleston -- never comfortable in toe shoes -- but pointe work too. The tall and loose-limbed Andrew Brader was in his element as leading man. “Stravinsky Violin Concerto,” on the other hand, was occasionally effortful. But the corps de ballet held heads high, and that deer-in-the-headlights expression everyone used to wear has vanished. Hallelujah. Barak and Peter Snow made a complementary match in the fi rst duet. Paired with Brader in the second duet, Corina Gill was a shining light of newfound strength and complexity. Her continued growth and onstage joy were infectious. That’s the fun of having a local ballet company -- watching it grow and develop. Experience it yourself. -- Laura Bleiberg READ ARTICLE AT SOURCE Home / News / New Item

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

The new company's diverse dancers form a robust whole in a program of Balanchine and Bournonville. March 17, 2007 Los Angeles Times by Lewis Segal Los Angeles Ballet's diverse program forms a robust whole. It's hard enough for dancers trained in different styles of ballet — sometimes in different countries — to form a unified ensemble. It's harder still to display that unity in the distinctive dance languages of two choreographic masters. Born just four months ago, Los Angeles Ballet passed that test in its first repertory program Thursday at UCLA's Freud Playhouse — maybe not perfectly, maybe not without a pervasive sense of effort, but splendidly enough to make three challenging pieces come alive for a large, enthusiastic audience. Classical Balanchine, contemporary Balanchine and buoyant, Romantic Bournonville all received scrupulous performances in stagings by company artistic directors Colleen Neary (a Balanchine specialist) and Thordal Christensen (an alumnus of Bournonville's Royal Danish Ballet). Whether or not it can survive in our traditionally inhospitable dance landscape, their Los Angeles Ballet is the real thing, a force for many kinds of excellence that deserves the community's attention and support. One could wish that as the company moves from Westwood to Redondo Beach and then to Glendale this month, the dancers might relax into their roles and enjoy their dancing as much as the audience does. It's not a matter of smiles (of which there were plenty Thursday) but of the sense of interpretive freedom within the choreography that only Melissa Barak and a very few others showed opening night. Barak's individual and often spontaneous attacks came in Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco," which always seems to be a showcase for conservative classical purity until you look more closely and see the innovative body-foldings, partnering experiments and other creative wonders that Balanchine devised in 1941 to music by Bach. Mirroring Barak in the outer sections and becoming the work's focus in the central duet, Corina Gill gave a rapt, secure performance, partnered with great nobility by Oleg Gorboulev. Gill and Gorboulev also brought their remarkable ability to deliver a string of choreographic fireworks as one brilliantly sustained phrase to Balanchine's "Agon," an inspired 1957 game of neoclassic one-upmanship played with and against Igor Stravinsky. All fire and ice, whimsical forays into off-balance balance and a modernistic milestone, the choreography can look a lot jauntier than it did Thursday, but Neary's deadpan staging did allow all the non sequiturs to take you by surprise. As with "Concerto Barocco," the company as a whole often managed the complex passages more artfully than the simplest steps, but Lauren Toole endowed both with a serene confidence in her technical control. Sergey Kheylik threw himself into his solo with complete abandon, but neatness definitely counted here, and his wild vivacity proved far more useful in the divertissements from Bournonville's "Napoli." With music by Helsted and Paulli, the celebratory "Napoli" pas de six and tarantella date from 1842, before classical bravura acquired the edge of aggression it gained, for better or worse, in Russia. If "Agon" is consummately spiky and "Concerto Barocco" supremely flowing, this quasi-Italianate showpiece is indomitably fluffy, marked by major shifts in tempo and pressure (to which the company needs greater attention) but always light and genial. On Thursday, exposed balances in extension sometimes proved shaky and terminations not always ideally clean. But it was fascinating to see what elements of Bournonville style attracted the individual soloists and dominated their performances. Guest Rainer Krenstetter of the Berlin Staatsballett had the sparkle, Masahiro Suehara the precision, Gill the sweetness and Toole the calm center. Kheylik, as always, brought invigorating energy to the party. The excerpt also displayed the talents of Peter Snow, Kelly Ann Sloan, Alexandra Blacker, Nancy Richer and Erin RiveraBrennand. Everyone looked yummy in Soren Frandsen's prismatic abstractions of folk costumes and behaved as if an L.A. company dancing a Danish interpretation of Italian folklore was, somehow, natural casting. Taped music accompanied all the pieces on the program. lewis.segal@latimes.com DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Julia Cinquemani Promoted to Principal Dancer November 1, 2014 Company News from the Staff at LAB On November 1, 2014, LAB Co-Artistic Director Thordal Christensen announced Julia Cinquemani's promotion from Soloist to Principal Dancer. The announcement came minutes after the curtain went down on Julia's debut as Odette/Odile in Los Angeles Ballet's Swan Lake. Julia joined Los Angeles Ballet in 2010 and was promoted to Soloist in March 2013. Home / News / New Item

Get the 'pointe' November 26, 2006 Los Angeles Times from the Staff of the LA Times Los Angeles Ballet is the latest company to attempt success against long odds. We wish it well. Of course we're rooting for the new Los Angeles Ballet, which will debut December 2, at the Wilshire Theatre with a production of (what else?) "The Nutcracker. " Still, it's hard to ignore the historical odds against ballet in the L.A. area. The company may begin with the graceful aarabesque of Clara, but we have to brace ourselves for the thud of "Swan Lake's" Odette dumped to the floor during the pas de deux by a feckless Siefried we call "the public." Locally based ballet has been tutu scarce in Southern California. This remains the only U.S. megopolis without a top-tier classical company, despite well-ranked ballet schools that churn out world-class dancers. There have been at least five attempts to launch a premier company in the last decade, and all of them flopped – in one case, owning large sums of money to its dancers. L.A. Ballet – it even rhymes! – seems like a natural for a dynamic metropolitan area with such a love for arts new and old (including an otherwise lively dance scene). It's always been puzzling that we haven't support a world-raned company. But the survival of an elite adn expensive art form is tricky anywhere. Chicago's renowned 50-year old Joffrey Ballet, whose part-time residence in L.A. during the 1980's didn't work out either. Even superstar Ethan Stiefel couldn't bring in the big bucks when he spent a tour as artistic director of Ballet Pacifica, a small Irvine-based company he had hoped to take regional. Now two notable ballet dancers, Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary, are putting their best slippers forward as artistic directors. Their L.A. Ballet will be affiliated with the respected Westside School of Ballet and make its premanent home at th Malibu Performing Arts Center. In a canny move, its version of "The Nutcracker " will be performed at three venues around the county, hoping to draw views by chopping their commutes. None of the locations are with L.A.'s city limits, but there's time to build toward that. The main issue is whether Southern California will provide enough cash and audience to sustain this latest effort. Perhaps some of the major centers of money in town, such as Hollywood, will see the value in supporting the performing arts. It would help L.A. Ballet delivers the goods, and if ballet fans buy tickets. Then, perhaps, L.A. will be ready for a major jeté forwards in the arts. DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Balanchine Presents the Balanchine Festival February 1, 2013 ​ LAB Public Relations Balanchine GOLD (March/April 2013) and Balanchine RED (May/June 2013) A celebration of George Balanchine’s life, choreography and his time working in Hollywood with performances of seven of his greatest ballets and discussions with noted dance critics, historians and répétiteurs of The George Balanchine Trust at: Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center Royce Hall – UCLA Valley Performing Arts Center – CSU Northridge Alex Theatre – Glendale Carpenter Performing Arts Center – CSU Long Beach Los Angeles Ballet presents its Balanchine Festival , celebrating the genius of the most important and influential choreographer of the 20th century. Extending over three months, the Festival centers on seven of Balanchine’s greatest ballets performed in two programs (GOLD and RED), presented at each of LAB’s five home theaters. Special Festival events will include discussions and interviews with those who worked with Balanchine, and an examination of Balanchine’s Hollywood years with screenings of his film choreography. Los Angeles Ballet co-artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary assembled the program to represent Balanchine in his many styles and eras. Both Christensen and Neary danced with Balanchine’s New York City Ballet. Balanchine personally selected Neary to stage his ballets, and to become a répétiteur for The George Balanchine Trust. She has staged his ballets for major companies in America and internationally, including the Paris Opera Ballet, the Bolshoi Ballet, the Mariinksy (formerly Kirov Ballet) and American Ballet Theatre, to name a few, as well as for Los Angeles Ballet. “Selecting only seven ballets from the rich trove Balanchine created over the decades was not easy,” Christensen said. Neary added, “Each of these ballets has a specific mood and reflects a distinct musical and choreographic composition and style. Each ballet also has stories surrounding its creation, the music, and those who danced it, which will be part of the conversations that ticket holders can also experience as part of the performances.” Balanchine GOLD includes La Sonnambula , a one-act story ballet with love, jealousy, murder and a mysterious sleepwalker; Concerto Barocco, one of Balanchine’s signature works set to Bach’s Concerto in D-minor for Two Violins ; Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux , a bravura duet set to what was the original music for the Black Swan pas de deux; and Four Temperaments, with music Paul Hindemith composed at Balanchine’s request and wherein the choreographer fused classical and contemporary movement to explore the medieval “humors” attributed to the human body. Balanchine RED opens with another one-act story ballet, La Valse , where Maurice Ravel’s music is the backdrop for a young woman’s fascination with a sinister figure at a ball. Agon employs Igor Stravinsky’s score for a series of contests among the dancers, and Balanchine returns to Stravinsky for Rubies , the jazzy, exuberant center section of the full length ballet, Jewels . George Balanchine, (or Mr. B as he was called by those who knew and worked with him), began his career in Russia, built his reputation as a choreographer at Sergei Diaghilev’s Ballet Russe de Monte Carlo, then came to the United States where he established the School of American Ballet and built what became the New York City Ballet. But Balanchine also spent time in Hollywood, often choreographing for his then wife Vera Zorina. Balanchine’s time in Hollywood is one of the aspects of his career that will be explored by a rotating roster of guest commentators that includes arts journalists Lewis Segal, Victoria Looseleaf, and Sasha Anawalt, and Balanchine répétiteurs including Colleen Neary, her sister Patricia Neary, Kent Stowell and Francia Russell. During his life Balanchine selected répétiteurs authorized to stage his ballets. Since his death in 1983, The Balanchine Trust and its répétiteurs have continued to ensure the integrity of the staging of Balanchine’s ballets while introducing new generations to Balanchine’s legacy. (The George Balanchine Trust, established in 1987 with the mission of preserving and protecting Balanchine’s creative works, is the center from which the business operations relating to the licensing of George Balanchine’s creative output emanate. The Trust has the responsibility of disseminating and protecting the integrity and the copyrights of George Balanchine’s work in the present and for the future, and assigns répétiteurs to teach and coach Balanchine ballets around the world.) “April 30, 2013 marks the 30th anniversary of Mr. B’s death,” Christensen noted. “We had added two more theaters for a total of five home venues, and as Los Angeles Ballet was entering its seventh season in 2012-2013, it seemed the appropriate time for a festival to celebrate Balanchine’s genius and life. It was a happy coincidence when the Music Center announced its festival celebrating the 100th anniversary of Igor Stravinsky’s Rite of Spring, L.A.’s Rite: Stravinsky, Innovation, and Dance. ” “Our Balanchine Festival fit like a glove with the Stravinsky festival,” Neary said. “Balanchine and Stravinsky were great friends and loved to collaborate. With Agon and Rubies already part of Los Angeles Ballet’s Balanchine Festival, we were very pleased with the invitation to perform those ballets this summer as part of the Stravinsky festival to honor both Balanchine and Stravinsky at the same time.” DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Ballet's "Swan Lake" March 18, 2012 CultureSpotLA by Penny Orloff Kudos to the Los Angeles County Arts Commission and the LA Board of Supervisors, for supporting Los Angeles Ballet’s completely credible “Swan Lake” in five venues around LA County. The Arts Commission’s major funding of the production acknowledges our city’s worthiness of LAB’s continuing presence as LA’s own world-class ballet company. The quintessential classical ballet, “Swan Lake” first appeared in 1877. The earliest of the great Tchaikovsky ballets, the music uses Russian folk music, leitmotif, and orchestral color to tell the Romantic tale of a lovestruck prince, an enchanted maiden, and an evil sorcerer. LAB’s four-act “Swan Lake” is a towering accomplishment for the 6-year-old company. As staged by artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary, the piece retains its magical 19th-century style and flavor, while simplifying and clarifying some of the more arcane elements. In a bold departure from most modern productions, Christensen and Neary restore the original 1877 ending, in which Von Rothbart, the evil sorcerer, is vanquished by the Prince, and dies a particularly gruesome death. Principal dancer Allynne Noelle takes on the demanding central role — playing both the Swan Queen and her treacherous, look-alike rival. A Southern California native, Noelle has spent the better part of the past decade honing her considerable skills in such companies as the National Ballet of Canada and Miami City Ballet. Now at the peak of her artistry, her revelatory interpretation of Odette/Odile places her among the greatest of today’s American ballerinas. Noelle’s technique is perfection — her gorgeous extensions, precision footwork, spellbinding ports de bras, and extraordinary turns take one’s breath away. But beyond these virtuoso aspects of her dancing, it is her stillness in Act 2 that is most compelling. Here is an artist imbued with that indefinable quality we name Presence. Her virtuosity has no limits. All radiance and shimmer, Noelle’s Odette is a tortured soul, yearning for release, transformed by love. Her Act 3 Odile exudes a raw sexuality that culminates as the bravura 32 fouetté turns explode in a burst of depraved triumph. Opposite her, Kenta Shimizu’s Prince Siegfried is flawless. The steadiness of his support and ease in the lifts enhance his partner’s transcendent performance. Currently enjoying an ever-increasing international career, Shimizu’s cool elegance and regal bearing are a perfect complement to Noelle’s emotional style. Alternating with Noelle and Shimizu as the hapless lovers are Allyssa Bross and Christopher Revels. Discovered by Christensen and Neary during the month-long 2010 LAB Summer Intensive, Bross entered the company as a soloist during season five, rising within months to principal dancer. Her performances as Marie in “The Nutcracker” and as last season’s ethereal Giselle garnered national attention. In her first “Swan Lake,” Bross impresses with her stylistic purity and luminous characterization of the Swan Queen. Her Act 3 Black Swan is icy, treacherous; in her ultimate victory over Revels’ callow Prince, her seductive smile becomes a sneer of contempt. Gifted with exceptional grace and beauty, a solid technique, and formidable physical stamina, this young artist is clearly one to watch. Audience favorite Revels brings an earthy sensuality to his first performances as the Prince. Having partnered Bross for “The Nutcracker,” “Raymonda Variations,” and “Giselle” last year, the pair have an easy rapport and a convincing chemistry together. This young man is gifted with a charismatic presence and a devil-may-care fearlessness that make his every entrance electrifying. Particularly impressive are his huge floating leaps, great strength in the lifts, and phenomenal endurance. Last year a nominee for the prestigious Princess Grace Award, at 20 years of age he continues to develop his prodigious talent under the inspired mentoring of Christensen and Neary. As the evil von Rothbart, Nicholas De La Vega owns the stage. His dancing has about it a fatal glamour. LA balletomanes will remember his definitive Drosselmeyer in last December’s “The Nutcracker,” and his powerful performance in last season’s Sonia Tayeh world premiere, “My Greatest Fear.” De La Vega’s rapier-thin physique and flashing eyes are also featured in the April issue of Marie Claire magazine. The production is replete with highlights. Guest artist Akimitsu Yahata dances the Jester with great wit — and spectacular leaps and turns. Act 3’s Court Scene features a plethora of folk-inspired dances. A bravura Neapolitan Dance features Isabel Vondermuhll and Christopher McDaniel; Kate Highstrete and Alex Castillo lead a spirited Hungarian Dance; and Chelsea Paige Johnston and Julia Cinquemani offer a mesmerizing Russian Dance. Brilliant soloists aside, “Swan Lake” ultimately succeeds or fails on the strength of the women’s corps de ballet. Perhaps the greatest achievement of this production is LAB’s peerless ranks of swans. Every back has the same arch, every arm exhibits the same pure line from shoulder to fingertip, every neck is identically poised. Gliding across the stage in perfectly synchronized bourrées they are stunningly beautiful; in their moments of stillness, they are a living work of art. The second act Dance of the Cygnets is hypnotic as a petite foursome, arms interlaced, drill out perfectly coordinated pas de chats and échappés. This tour de force is all the more impressive considering that apprentice Sophie Silna, a product of the LAB School, stepped in to replace an injured colleague on a mere two days’ notice. —Penny Orloff, Culture Spot LA Performances continue at the Carpenter Performing Arts Center in Long Beach on Saturday, March 24, at 7:30 p.m. and at the Valley Performing Arts Center in Northridge on Saturday, March 31, at 7:30 p.m. For information and tickets, visit www.losangelesballet.org . DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

L.A.'s ballet: A hard nut to crack but ballet duo is determined to do it November 17, 2006 Pasadena Star-News by Vicki Smith Paluch Los Angeles has been a hard nut to crack, but ballet duo Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary are determined to do it. The husband and wife team are staking their reputation and their supporter's money on a new Los Angeles Ballet that will be unveiled in December – their Christmas present to the sprawling county's dance lovers. View PDF to read the full article. DOWNLOAD ARTICLE (PDF) Home / News / New Item

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We use the information that you provide for various purposes, such as responding to your requests, customizing future offers and purchasing procedures for you, improving our products and services, and communicating with you. Information from Miscellaneous Sources: For reasons such as improving and tailoring our products and services to you, we may use information received from other sources to supplement your account information. For example, we sometimes receive updated delivery and address information from our shippers or other sources to enable us to correct our records and deliver communications or your next order more easily. Sharing of Personal Information We respect our website visitors and customers and their personal information. You are the most important part of our business, and we are not in the business of selling your information to others. We share visitor and customer information only with the subsidiaries and affiliates of Los Angeles Ballet, as described below. Los Angeles Ballet works very closely with our subsidiaries and other affiliated businesses. In some cases, these businesses may provide information or sell products or services or provide information on this website. Relevant visitor or customer information will only be shared with our subsidiaries and affiliates if the visitor or customer, implicitly or explicitly, consents to such disclosure, or if we are compelled by law to do so. We also employ other companies and individuals to perform functions on our behalf, such as processing credit card payments, fulfilling orders, delivering packages, sending regular and electronic mail, removing repetitive information from customer lists, analyzing data, providing marketing assistance and providing customer service. Such companies and individuals have access only to the personal information necessary for performing their functions, but they are prohibited from using it for other purposes. As we continue to develop our business, we might sell or acquire certain assets. In such transactions, visitor and customer information generally is one of the transferred business assets. Also, in the unlikely event that Los Angeles Ballet or substantially all of its assets are acquired, visitor and customer information will be transferred to the acquiring entity. Personal information may be released if necessary to: comply with the applicable law; enforce or apply our Terms and Conditions of Use and other agreements; and/or protect the rights, property or safety of Los Angeles Ballet, our customers and visitors to our website, or others. Personal information may also be exchanged with other companies and organizations for purposes of fraud protection and/or credit risk reduction. Other than as set forth above, you will receive notice when information about you may be shared with third parties, and you will be afforded the opportunity to choose not to share the information. Security for Purchases We work to protect the security of our customers' information during transmission by using Secure Sockets Layer (SSL) software, which encrypts information customers input through our website. It is our customers' responsibility to protect against unauthorized access to their computer and account with Los Angeles Ballet (and, in certain instances, their login and password relating to our website). Customers must be sure to sign off of our website when they have completed their visit. Updating Personal Information You may contact us at any time to update your personal information, to delete your personal information from our systems and/or to notify us of your contact preferences. Simply send us an email at labcontact@losangelesballet.org setting forth your specific request. Conditions of Use, Revisions and Questions If you choose to visit the Los Angeles Ballet website, your visit and any dispute over privacy is subject to this Notice and our Conditions of Use, including limitations on damages, arbitration of disputes and application of the law of the state of California. Please refer to our Conditions of Use for other terms and conditions governing your visit to, and use of, our website. Please keep in mind that businesses and websites evolve over time. This Notice and our Conditions of Use will also evolve, and information that we gather is subject to the Privacy Policy and Conditions of Use that are in effect at the time such information is used by Los Angeles Ballet. Your visit to our website after changes have been made to this Policy constitutes your acceptance of each revised Privacy Policy. Be sure to check our website frequently to view changes to both the Privacy Policy and our Conditions of Use. If you have any questions or concerns about privacy at our website, please send us an email setting forth your question or concern. We will always do our best to answer your question or address your concern. For questions and support, please contact the Box Office at (310) 998-7782 to purchase by phone, Monday through Friday, 12:00pm to 5:00pm. In-person Ticket Sales Group Sales Venues Accessibility Gift Certificates Tax-Deductibe Donations Terms & Conditions of Sales In-house Policies Privacy Policy