CLEVELAND, Feb. 6, 2006 (PRIMEZONE) -- Verb Ballets, Cleveland's National Repertory Dance Company, returns to Playhouse Square, Ohio Theatre, 1519 Euclid Avenue, Cleveland, on Friday, March 24 and Saturday, March 25, at 8 pm. Tickets for this two-day tribute are on sale now and may be purchased by calling Playhouse Square at 216.241.6000, or by visiting www.playhousesquare.com or www.verbballets.org.
The two-day program, named "Honoring Poll," by Artistic Director Hernando Cortez, is a tribute to the master choreographer, Heinz Poll, who has been an important figure in the dance scene for over four decades. "We are very fortunate that Heinz has allowed us to perform these two masterpieces. We would like our audience, and the nation as a whole, to recognize the greatness of his dances," Cortez explained.
"Cleveland audiences should attend both performances to appreciate the depth and breadth of Heinz Poll and Verb Ballets," Executive Director Margaret Carlson added. "These two performances will bring national attention to Cleveland."
TWO ENTIRELY DIFFERENT PROGRAMS: Friday, March 24 -- Program A Esplanade (Paul Taylor / J.S. Bach) New Cortez Ballet (new composition by Jonathan Sheffer) Wings and Aires (Heinz Poll / J.S. Bach) Saturday, March 25 -- Program B Chichester Psalms (Cortez / Leonard Bernstein) Elegiac Songs (Heinz Poll / D. Shostakovich) Forever Fling (Cortez / Celtic Contemporary and Traditional)
THE BALLETS
WORLD PREMIERE: SIX EASY PIECES FOR PIANO Artistic Director Hernando Cortez collaborates with Jonathan Sheffer, Artistic Director of Red (an orchestra) in a world premiere dance set to solo piano compositions by Sheffer. The music composition, entitled "Six Easy Pieces for Piano," is a neo-romantic dance poem evoking states of emotion. Design and costume are by Cleveland designer Joan Yellen Horvitz.
REPERTORY AND REVIVALS
ELEGIAC SONG consists of seven women dressed in dark full-length dresses and shawls. Set to Shostakovich's String Quartet No. 8 in C minor and composed and first performed in 1960, it was dedicated to the memory of victims of fascism and war.
ESPLANADE (1975), Paul Taylor's signature classic, returns to Verb Ballets repertory. Esplanade is set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach - Violin Concertos in D, E minor, and Double Violin Concerto.
WINGS AND AIRES was choreographed by Heinz Poll in 1981. Bold and brave like the fiery red costumes, the neo-classic abstract ballet set to J.S. Bach's Brandenburg Concerto No. 4 sets swift musical notes to even swifter steps.
CHICHESTER PSALMS, choreographed by Artistic Director Hernando Cortez, is a full-company work with sweeping passages of impassioned dancing. Lighting is by two-time Emmy-Award winning designer, Chenault Spence, and saturated color-dappled costumes are by Janet Bolick. Chistester Psalms (music) was Leonard Bernstein's first composition after the Third Symphony, Kaddish (composed for the Boston Symphony Orchestra's seventy-fifth anniversary, though not completed until 1963, eight years after that event). Chichester Psalms is generously underwritten by Norma and Jeffrey Glazer.
FOREVER FLING (2005), Verb Ballets' recent new dance, celebrates Celtic folksong in an effervescent romantic romp. Tuneful and dance-able traditional Gaelic melodies such as "An Paistin Fionn," "McDermott's Reel," "The Plough & The Stars," "Miss McLeod's Reel," "Genevieve's Waltz," "Mooney's Mazurka," "Kinloch," and "Humours of Toomagh" make up this full-company ballet. Clevelander Francine Pilloff commissioned the new ballet to commemorate the 40th anniversary of her wedding to husband Benson.
About Verb Ballets: Verb Ballets will now begin its fourth season under the leadership of Artistic Director Hernando Cortez, Executive Director Dr. Margaret Carlson, and an energetic staff and board of trustees, who have established it as Cleveland's premier contemporary dance repertory company. Verb has been named as one of "25 to Watch in 2004" by Dance Magazine, the country's leading news magazine covering dance. Verb Ballets discovers, collects, interprets and stages choreography that matters to the region and to the world of dance. As a curator of expressive movement that is globally connected and nationally respected, Verb Ballets has a mandate to support and foster emerging talent, present excellence in contemporary choreographers, and revive and honor modern dance classics. Additional information may be found at www.verbballets.org
The Company: Marcela Alvarez, Kallie Marie Bokal, Danielle Brickman, Erin Conway, Elizabeth Flynn, Glynn Owens, Catherine Meredith, Anna Roberts, Mark Tomasic, Tracy Vogt, Robert Wesner. By invitation: Katie Gnagy, Jessica Higgins.
Verb Ballets, Cleveland's National Repertory Dance Company
Hernando Cortez, Artistic Director; Dr. Margaret Carlson, Executive Director
DANSKIN(tm) IS THE OFFICIAL 2004-2005 SPONSOR OF VERB BALLETS.
Verb Ballets' Ohio Theatre 2005 Sponsors are: DANSKIN(tm), The Plain Dealer, Cleveland.com, WCLV, Silver Screen Media, Cleveland Public Theatre, Twist Creative, Inc., Clear Channel, Weiss Furs
Major Support: The National Endowment for the Arts, The George Gund Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation, The Cleveland Foundation's BASICs Program, The Kulas Foundation, Ohio Arts Council, The Laub Foundation, Eva L. and Joseph M. Bruening Foundation, The Giant Eagle Foundation, Change for Charity -- Legacy Village, Cleveland Women's City Club Foundation, Charles and Sandy Abookire, Millie L. Carlson, Chuck and Ann Ennis, Norma and Jeffrey Glazer.