FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

 

Media Contact:     Angela Evans

                               (925) 708-0752

                              angela@companycballet.org            

 

                                                                                                 

COMPANY C CONTEMPORARY BALLET

RETURNS TO THE SPRECKELS PERFORMING ARTS CENTER

 

Company C Contemporary Ballet presents Program B of its 2008 repertoire with works by Michael Smuin, David Grenke, Alexandre Proia, and Charles Anderson

 

“HIGH-VOLTAGE ATHLETICISM” – Pointe Magazine

“COMPANY C SHINES” – Contra Costa Times

WALNUT CREEK, CA (February, 2008) - Company C Contemporary Ballet returns to the Spreckels Performing Arts Center for its fifth season. The Company will present Program B of its 2008 repertoire including the Company Premiere of David Grenke’s Vespers and Michael Smuin’s Starshadows along with Alexandre Proia’s Rhapsody in Blue and Charles Anderson’s Boléro and Echoes of Innocence.

 

Michael Smuin: Starsahdows

Company C Contemporary Ballet is pleased to honor the memory of Michael Smuin with performances of Smuin’s Starshadows.  This lovely adagio for three couples, set to music by Ravel, brings romance and emotional depth the Company’s repertoire.

 

David Grenke: Vespers

Vespers, described by the New York Times as “a tour de force of choreographic ingenuity,” is a sensational, physically demanding duet by David Grenke, a former principal dancer for the Paul Taylor Dance Company.  The duet, lit by a single, intimate down spot and accompanied by Tom Waits’ smoky "Tom Traubert's Blues (Waltzing Matilda)," evokes sadness, futility, loss and dependence. Choreographed by Grenke at the time of his mother’s death, the piece addresses the weight of grief and memories that are slipping just out of reach.

 

Charles Anderson, who once performed the male lead and set the piece on the Company, commented on the strength and subtlety required to perform Vespers successfully.  “This is a very difficult pas,” said Anderson, “but it doesn’t look half as demanding as it is.  It takes a great deal of strength, for both the woman and the man, to make the movements look smooth and natural.”  In contrast to classical ballet, in which the dancers project pictures and gestures to the audience, the success of this dance lies in creating movement that is very subtle and intimate.  The dancers must move into the positions required by the choreography, but in such as way that they don’t create pictures.  “To convey that feeling of intimacy to the audience,” said Anderson, “the dancers have to strike a very fine line - the challenge is to make the movement subtle without making it disappear.”  The dancers must also approach learning the work in a very personal way.  “Unlike learning a ballet, in which the dancer matches the steps to the counts of the music, in Vespers the dancers must find within themselves the emotion and images that will bring personal meaning to the steps.  Only then will the movement begin to make sense musically.”

 

Alexandre Proia: Rhapsody in Blue

Rhapsody in Blue returns to the repertoire for a second season after earning standing ovations from audiences in 2007. Commissioned by the Mendocino Music Festival in 2007, Proia’s Rhapsody in Blue, set to Gershwin’s famous classical-jazz compositions is a playful, flirtatious ballet for four dancers. 

 

Charles Anderson: Echoes of Innocence and Boléro

Returning to the Company’s 2008 repertoire will be Charles Anderson’s Echoes of Innocence.  Ingram Marshall’s haunting score is the inspiration for this intriguing and provocative look at the lost innocence of childhood. The video installation that illustrates Echoes of Innocence was created by Oakland-based artist Dan Nelson.

 

The final work will be Boléro, Anderson’s fresh, contemporary interpretation of Ravel’s famous composition. Also commissioned by the 2007 Mendocino Music Festival, this ballet for ten dancers radiates the strength and physicality that are the hallmarks of Anderson’s choreography.

 

Company C Contemporary Ballet

Company C Contemporary Ballet, founded in 2002, is a fourteen-member repertory ballet company based in the San Francisco Bay Area.  The ensemble is comprised of professional dancers of diverse backgrounds and exemplary technical accomplishment.  The Company has experienced ongoing growth and success as it brings to the stage works by nationally recognized choreographers whose works are shaping current trends in contemporary ballet.  For more information, please visit www.companycballet.org.