Kimmel Center for the Performing Arts

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Makes Kimmel Center Debut with Two Philadelphia Premieres, May 14-15

APRIL 29, 2010

Program Includes Philadelphia Premieres of Nicolo Fonte’s “In Hidden Seconds” and Jorma Elo’s “Red Sweet”


Nationally acclaimed Aspen Santa Fe Ballet makes its Philadelphia debut at the Kimmel Center’s Perelman Theater with three performances from Friday, May 14, 2010 to Saturday, May 15, 2010.  Founded in 1996, the contemporary dance company holds dual citizenship in Aspen, Colorado and Santa Fe, New Mexico, infusing western landscapes into interpretive art forms that introduce adventurous repertoire with classical good sense and western ingenuity.


The company's Kimmel Center program will include two Philadelphia premieres of Nicolo Fonte’s “In Hidden Seconds” and Jorma Elo’s “Red Sweet,” as well as reconstructions of Twyla Tharp’s “Sue’s Leg” and William Forsythe’s “Slingerland.”  Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s extensive 2010 U.S. tour has included performances from Tucson, Arizona to Buffalo, New York and Providence, Rhode Island, ending with an engagement at the Kennedy Center in Washington D.C.  in June.

 

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet was made possible by the National Endowment for the Arts' American Masterpieces: Dance initiative, administered by the New England Foundation for the Arts.

Tickets for Aspen Santa Fe Ballet are available for $34 and $44 and can be purchased by calling 215-893-1999, online at www.kimmelcenter.org, or at the Kimmel Center box office, open daily from 10am to 6pm and later on performance evenings. (Additional fees may apply.) For group sales call 215-790-5883.

A limited number of $10 community rush tickets will be available for this performance. Tickets go on sale the day of the event and can be purchased at the Kimmel Center box office beginning at 5:30pm prior to evening curtain time and 11:30am for matinees. Limit one ticket per person.

The Aspen Santa Fe Ballet (ASFB) company is founded on the idea of acquiring repertoire and inviting top choreographers in the field to create works for the company.  With its sophisticated repertoire and broad appeal, combined with a successful blend of entertaining and engrossing contemporary dance, ASFB has been embraced nationally and internationally on stellar stages from The Joyce Theater in New York to the famed Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival; from The Kennedy Center in Washington D.C. to New York City Center’s Fall for Dance Festival; and in foreign venues including Canada, France and Italy. 

 

Founder of ASFB, Bebe Schweppe grew up in Augusta, Georgia, and started dancing at the Georgia Dance Theatre, under Frankie Levy at the age of seven.  She was invited by Robert Joffrey to study at his school in New York on a full scholarship at age eleven.  She moved to Aspen, Colorado in 1975 and fifteen years later founded the Aspen Ballet School. The Aspen Ballet Company was born shortly after; renamed Aspen Santa Fe Ballet with performing arts opportunities opening in the Santa Fe, New Mexico area. In 1996, she recruited Jean-Philippe Malaty as executive director and Tom Mossbrucker as artistic director who have helped build the company’s strengths for presenting innovative ingenuities onstage that aptly interpret contemporary dance with western and classical influences.

 

Artistic Director of ASFB Tom Mossbrucker is dedicated to presenting an eclectic repertoire, and committed to acquiring new works that persistently challenge, enliven, and educate audiences and company dancers.  After he studied ballet in New York City at the School of American Ballet and the Joffrey Ballet School, he began is career dancing with Joffrey II before joining the main company, The Joffrey Ballet, where he performed as principal dancer to great acclaim in over 70 ballets.  He has danced ballets by some of the world’s greatest choreographers including Twyla Tharp, William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, and George Balanchine, and was lauded for his work in Moor’s Pavane, in which he played Iago, and Billboards, a full-length rock ballet set to music by Prince.  He also danced with the Atlanta Ballet and Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.  Mossbrucker serves on the board of Dance USA.

 

Executive Director of ASFB Jean-Philippe Malaty was born in the Basque region of France, attending via scholarship Europe’s prestigious Mudra (Maurice Béjart’s school in Brussels) and John Cranko’s ballet school in Stuttgart. He then studied at the David Howard Dance Center in New York City, and has since performed soloist roles as guest artist with various companies throughout the United States including: Joffrey II, Los Angeles Classical Ballet, Ballet Hispanico of New York, and the Lyric Opera of Chicago.  Malaty is dedicated to asserting the prominence of the arts in the West, spearheading initiatives to bring dance into the community, and fostering programs that introduce children to the arts.


Kimmel Center Presents 2009/10 Season is sponsored by Citi. American Airlines is the Official Airline of Kimmel Center Presents.

Free at the Kimmel programming and subsidized tickets offered to the community and social service groups for $10 are made possible through the Wachovia Gateway to the Arts Community Access Program, supported by a generous grant from the Wachovia Foundation.

The Kimmel Center is a recipient of partnership funding through the nationally recognized PNC "Grow Up Great" initiative, a ten-year, $100 million investment preparing children for success in school and life. Funding gives support to the Kimmel Center's early childhood program "Bop and Swing," an arts program for children 1-5 years old, designed to promote an appreciation for American culture.

KIMMEL CENTER PRESENTS SPONSORED BY CITI

Friday, May 14, 2010 | 7:30pm
Saturday, May 15, 2010 | 2:30pm and 7:30pm
Perelman Theater

Aspen Santa Fe Ballet

Program:

 

“In Hidden Seconds,” Philadelphia Premiere

(Premiere: 1999, Compañia Nacional de Danza)

Choreography: Nicolo Fonte

Music: John Tavener

Stage Design: Nicolo Fonte and Nicolas Fischtel

 

“Sue’s Leg”

(Premiere: February 21, 1975, Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation)

Choreography:  Twyla Tharp

Music: Songs by Thomas “Fats” Waller

Staged by: Ron de Jesus

 

“Slingerland”

(Premiere: April 15, 2000, Ballet Frankfurt, Frankfurt)

Choreography: William Forsythe

Music: Gavin Bryars

Staged By: Jodie Gates

 

“Red Sweet,” Philadelphia Premiere

(Premiere: July 12, 2008, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet, Santa Fe, NM and ASFB commissioned work)

Choreography: Jorma Elo

Music: Vivaldi, Biber

 

 



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