JUILLIARD DANCE ANNOUNCES 2015-16 SEASON
OF WORKS BY JIŘÍ KYLIÁN, JEROME ROBBINS, AND PAUL TAYLOR;
WORLD PREMIERE DANCES BY KYLE ABRAHAM, ASZURE BARTON,
ZVI GOTHEINER, AND HELEN SIMONEAU
The Season Opens with New Dances: Edition 2015 in December
Featuring World Premiere Dances by Choreographers
Kyle Abraham, Aszure Barton, Zvi Gotheiner, and Helen Simoneau
5 Performances: Friday, December 11 – Tuesday, December 15, 2015
Juilliard Dances Repertory in the Spring Semester Features Masterworks:
Jiří Kylián’s Symphony of Psalms;
Jerome Robbins’s Moves;
and Paul Taylor’s Roses
5 Performances: Wednesday, March 23 – Saturday, March 26, 2016
Both Series Take Place in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater
NEW YORK –– Juilliard Dance, under the direction of Lawrence Rhodes, opens its 2015-16 season in December 2015 with New Dances: Edition 2015 featuring four world premiere dances by innovative choreographers Helen Simoneau (First-Year Dancers); Aszure Barton (Second-Year Dancers); Zvi Gotheiner (Third-Year Dancers); and Kyle Abraham (Fourth-Year Dancers).
New Dances: Edition 2015 performances take place on Friday, December 11; Saturday, December 12; Monday, December 14; and Tuesday, December 15, all at 7:30 p.m.; and Sunday, December 13 at 3 p.m., in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater.
Tickets for $30 will be available at events.juilliard.edu. Tickets are free for Juilliard students; non-Juilliard students may purchase tickets for $15, only at the Juilliard Box Office.
In the spring semester, Juilliard Dances Repertory presents repertory works by acclaimed choreographers Jiří Kylian, Jerome Robbins, and Paul Taylor. Juilliard dancers perform Jiří Kylián’s Symphony of Psalms, Jerome Robbins’s Moves, and Paul Taylor’s Roses, which will be performed with live music by Juilliard musicians.
Jiří Kylián’s Symphony of Psalms is a transcendent piece choreographed in 1978 for Nederlands Dans Theater. The work is set Igor Stravinsky’s choral masterpiece. The stager for Symphony of Psalms will be Patrick Delcroix.
Jerome Robbins’s Moves was created for Robbins’s Ballets: U.S.A. and had its world premiere at the Festival of Two Worlds in Spoleto, Italy in 1959. The work is performed in silence and features 12 dancers: six women and six men. The Jerome Robbins Trust provided a note about the work: “Whether a ballet tells a story or concerns itself with pure dance, its form is determined by the web of music on which it is composed according to the interpretations of the choreographer. The score conditions, supports, predicts, and establishes the dynamics, tempos, and mood not only for the dance, but for the audience. The music acts as a base for the spectators’ responses to the happenings on stage and creates a pervasive atmosphere for reaction. Moves severs that guidance and permits the audience to respond solely to the action of the dance, to become aware of the potential to gesture and to respond directly to the curiosity of movement, and to be released from the associations evoked by scenery, costumes, and music.”
Paul Taylor’s Roses is set to music by Richard Wagner and Heinrich Baermann and is a paean to love and relationships in various stages. Some couples’ duets illustrate youthful ardor and love’s first blush. A central duet suggests a more mature relationship characterized by support, security, and the anticipation of one’s needs. Whether these are all distinct relationships or different stages of the same one is for the viewer to decide. The stager for Roses will be Juilliard faculty member Linda Kent.
Juilliard Dances Repertory performances take place on Wednesday, March 23 through Saturday, March 26 at 7:30 p.m., and Saturday, March 26 at 2 p.m., all in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater.
Tickets for $30 will be available at events.juilliard.edu. Tickets for Juilliard students are free; non-Juilliard students may purchase tickets for $15, only at the Juilliard Box Office.
Additional events on the Juilliard Dance season include Choreographers and Composers 2015 featuring Juilliard dancers performing new works sets to original music by Juilliard composers on Friday, November 20 and Saturday, November 21 in the Willson Theater (times to be announced); Senior Dance Production, which is produced by the senior class, on Friday, April 22 at 8 p.m., Saturday, April 23 at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m., and Sunday, April 24 at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m. in the Willson Theater; Choreographic Honors, a sampling of works by Juilliard dancers curated from workshops and performances, on Friday, May 13 at 7:30 p.m. and Saturday, May 14 at 7:30 p.m. in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater; and the popular Senior Dance Showcase, featuring the “Class of 2016” on Monday, May 16 at 7:30 p.m. in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater.
2015-16 Juilliard Dance Season
New Dances: Edition 2015
Four world premiere commissions choreographed by:
Helen Simoneau (First-Year Class)
Aszure Barton (Second-Year Class)
Zvi Gotheiner (Third-Year Class)
Kyle Abraham (Fourth-Year Class)
Friday, December 11, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, December 12, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Sunday, December 13, 2015 at 3:00 p.m.
Monday, December 14, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
Tuesday, December 15, 2015 at 7:30 p.m.
All performances take place in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater (155 West 65th Street, NYC).
Tickets for $30 will be available at events.juilliard.edu. Tickets are free for Juilliard students; non-Juilliard students may purchase tickets for $15, only at the Juilliard Box Office.
Juilliard Dances Repertory
The program features works from the repertory:
Roses by Paul Taylor
Moves by Jerome Robbins
Symphony of Psalms by Jiří Kylián
Wednesday, March 23, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Thursday, March 24, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Friday, March 25, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, March 26, 2016 at 2 p.m. and 7:30 p.m.
All performances take place in Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater (155 West 65th Street, NYC).
Tickets for $30 will be available at events.juilliard.edu. Tickets are free for Juilliard students; non-Juilliard students may purchase tickets for $15, only at the Juilliard Box Office.
Additional Events on the Juilliard 2015-16 Dance Season
Choreographers and Composers 2015
Friday, November 20, 2015
Saturday, November 21, 2015
Times to be announced.
Juilliard’s Rosemary and Meredith Willson Theater (155 West 65th Street, 3rd Floor, NYC)
The performances are the culmination of the long-running Juilliard classroom/studio course of the same name, which gives Juilliard dance and composition students techniques to explore collaborative art.
Ticketing information to follow.
Senior Dance Production 2016
Friday, April 22, 2016 at 8 p.m.
Saturday, April 23, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Sunday, April 24, 2016 at 2:30 p.m. and 8 p.m.
Juilliard’s Rosemary and Meredith Willson Theater
Senior Dance Production is the culmination of a year-long creative and educational process focused on launching seniors into the professional world. Juilliard dancers work in close collaboration with lighting design teams, costume designers, and composers as they create their original works.
Ticketing information to follow.
Choreographic Honors
Friday, May 13, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Saturday, May 14, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater
A sampling of works curated from workshops and performances by Juilliard Dance Division students throughout the year.
Free; no tickets required.
Senior Dance Showcase
Monday, May 16, 2016 at 7:30 p.m.
Juilliard’s Peter Jay Sharp Theater
Featuring Juilliard Dance’s “Class of 2016” in a diverse program of solos and duets from the repertory and created by alumni and commissioned choreographers.
Ticketing information to follow.
About the Choreographers for New Dances: Edition 2015
Helen Simoneau is a native of Québec, Canada. She has received commissions from the American Dance Festival, the Bessie Schönberg Residency at The Yard, Springboard Danse Montréal, and the Swiss International Coaching Project (SiWiC) in Zurich. She was a resident artist at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in NYC and Bates Dance Festival in Maine, and has received fellowships from the Bogliasco Foundation and from the North Carolina Arts Council. Notable venues that have presented her work include Joyce SoHo in NYC, Tangente in Montréal, The Aoyama Round Theatre in Tokyo, the L.I.G. Art Hall Busan in South Korea, Jacob’s Pillow (Inside/Out), Movement Research at Judson Church, Athens International Dance Festival in Greece, and Danza Urbana in Bologna. Her work has also been presented at PACT Zollverein in Essen as one of three finalists for the Kurt Jooss Prize and at the 13th Internationales Solo Tanz Theater Festival in Stuttgart, Germany, where she was awarded first place for choreography. Ms. Simoneau received a B.F.A. from the North Carolina School of the Arts and an M.F.A. from Hollins University.
Aszure Barton, an award-winning New York City-based choreographer, was born and raised in Canada. She received her formal training at the National Ballet School in Toronto, where, as a student, helped originate the ongoing Stephen Godfrey Choreographic Showcase. She has created works for Mikhail Baryshnikov, Ekaterina Shipulina/Bolshoi Ballet, Alvin Ailey, American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, National Ballet of Canada, Nederlands Dans Theater, Benjamin Millepied and Company, Bayerisches Staatsballet, Houston Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, Sydney Dance Company, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Les Ballets Jazz de Montréal (Resident Choreographer 2005-08), among others. Ms. Barton has also led master classes, mentored and created for renowned training institutions, including Juilliard, Harvard University, NYU, Canada’s National Ballet School, the Laban Institute, and many others. Other work includes choreography for the Broadway revival production of The Threepenny Opera, film and installation projects, and international outreach activities. She was the first artist-in-residence at the Baryshnikov Arts Center in 2005 and has been a resident artist at The Banff Centre since 2009. She was proclaimed an official Ambassador of Contemporary Choreography in Canada and has received many prestigious awards, including the Koerner Foundation Award for Choreography and Canada’s prestigious Arts and Letters Award. Ms. Barton is the founder and director of Aszure Barton & Artists, a collective of visual, sound, and performing artists, and her work continues to tour to Europe, Asia, and Africa, as well as Argentina, Brazil, Canada, and the United States.
Zvi Gotheiner was born and raised in Israel. He began his artistic career as a gifted violinist and began dancing at 17, soon after forming his first performance group. Mr. Gotheiner came to New York in 1978 on a dance scholarship from the American-Israeli Cultural Foundation, and went on to dance with the Joyce Trisler Dance Company, Feld Ballet/NY, and the Batsheva Dance Company. He founded ZviDance in 1989. The company’s performances have received critical acclaim at venues such as The Joyce Theater, The Duke on 42nd Street, Lincoln Center Out-of-Doors, Central Park’s SummerStage, Jacob’s Pillow, and American Dance Festival, to name a few, as well as internationally to Germany, Poland, Russia, Columbia, and Japan. Mr. Gotheiner is a recipient of two New York Foundation for the Arts choreography fellowships, the National Arts Club Weiselberg Award, and American Dance Festival’s Teaching Tribute Award.
Kyle Abraham, a 2013 MacArthur Fellow, began his dance training at the Civic Light Opera Academy and the Creative and Performing Arts High School in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He continued his dance studies in New York, receiving a B.F.A. from SUNY Purchase and an M.F.A. from NYU’s Tisch School of the Arts. In November 2012, Mr. Abraham was named the newly-appointed New York Live Arts Resident Commissioned Artist for 2012-14. Just one month later, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater premiered his work, Another Night, at New York City Center to critical acclaim. He was named the 2012 Jacob’s Pillow Dance Award recipient and 2012 U.S.A. Ford Fellow. Mr. Abraham received a prestigious Bessie Award for Outstanding Performance in Dance for his work in The Radio Show, and a Princess Grace Award for Choreography in 2010. The previous year, he was selected as one of Dance magazine’s 25 to Watch for 2009. His choreography has been presented throughout the United States and abroad. In addition to performing and developing new works for his company, Abraham.In.Motion, he recently premiered The Serpent and The Smoke, a new pas de deux that he performed with Wendy Whelan as part of Restless Creature. He is currently creating a new work for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago.
About the Choreographers for Juilliard Dances Repertory
Born in Prague in 1947, Jiří Kylián started his dance training when he was nine years old at the ballet school of the Prague National Theatre. From the age of 15, he studied at the Prague Conservatory. In 1967, he went to the Royal Ballet School in London with a scholarship from the British Council. There he came into contact with the most important developments of choreography in ballet as well as contemporary dance. Choreographer John Cranko, director of the Stuttgart Ballet, offered him a dancer’s contract. In 1973, following a first choreography for Nederlands Dans Theater, an artistic relationship between Mr. Kylián and the well-known Dutch company began, which brought about the creation of almost 50 dance productions for this group. From 1975 on, Mr. Kylián was responsible for artistic decisions for the company. In 1999, he passed the artistic direction to a new director, but still stays connected to the company as a choreographer. He has created 72 ballets for NDT. He has also created original work for the Stuttgart Ballet, Paris Opera, Swedish Television, and the Tokyo Ballet. His creations are danced by more than 80 companies and schools worldwide.
Jerome Robbins is world-renowned for his work as a choreographer of ballets, as well as his work as a director and choreographer in theater, movies, and television. His Broadway shows include On the Town, Billion Dollar Baby, High Button Shoes, West Side Story, The King and I, Gypsy, Miss Liberty, Call Me Madam, and Fiddler on the Roof. His last Broadway production in 1989, Jerome Robbins = Broadway, won six Tony Awards, including the best musical and best director. Among the more than 60 ballets he created are Fancy Free, Afternoon of a Faun, The Concert, Dances at a Gathering, In the Night, In G Major, Other Dances, Glass Pieces, and Ives, Songs, which are in the repertories of New York City Ballet and other major dance companies throughout the world. His last ballets include A Suite of Dances created for Mikhail Baryshnikov (1994), 2 & 3 Part Inventions (1994), West Side Story Suite (1995), and Brandenburg (1996). In addition to two Academy Awards for the film West Side Story, Mr. Robbins has received four Tony Awards, five Donaldson Awards, an Emmy Award, the Screen Directors’ Guild Award, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award. Mr. Robbins was a 1981 Kennedy Center Honors recipient and was awarded the French Chevalier dans l‘Ordre national de Légion d’honneur. Mr. Robbins died in 1998.
Choreographer Paul Taylor, an alumnus of Juilliard, is the greatest living pioneer of American modern dance, with 142 dances made since 1964 when he established the Paul Taylor Dance Company. He continues to offer cogent observations on life’s complexities and society’s thorniest issues through his works. A virtuoso dancer for 20 years, Mr. Taylor turned exclusively to choreography in 1974; the dance that followed, Esplanade, was hailed an instant classic. His works are performed by PTDC, Taylor 2, and companies the world over. In 2015, he established a new initiative, Paul Taylor’s American Modern Dance, to present great dances of the past and present by other modern choreographers, and commission the next generation of dance makers to create works on his company. A Kennedy Center honoree, he is the subject of the Oscar-nominated documentary, Dancemaker, and author of the acclaimed autobiography, Private Domain.
About Juilliard’s Dance Division and Lawrence Rhodes, Artistic Director of Juilliard Dance
The Juilliard Dance Division, entering its 64th season in 2015-16, is a groundbreaking conservatory dance program whose faculty and alumni have changed the face of dance around the world. The program was established in 1951 by William Schuman during his tenure as president of Juilliard with the guidance of founding director Martha Hill. It became the first major teaching institution to combine equal dance instruction in both contemporary and ballet techniques. Among the early dance faculty members at Juilliard were Alfred Corvino, Martha Graham, Doris Humphrey, José Limón, Anna Sokolow, Antony Tudor, and Hector Zaraspe.
Ballet master and master teacher, Lawrence Rhodes, was appointed the artistic director of the Juilliard Dance Division in July 2002. Going into his 14th year in the fall as director, he has reordered the curriculum and elevated requirements for the diploma and degree programs at Juilliard. He has increased the number of performances and brought in many prominent choreographers to work with the students. Graduates of the program have gone on to perform with virtually every established contemporary and ballet dance company in the United States and abroad, and they also are among the directors and administrators of respected companies worldwide.
Alumni of Juilliard’s Dance Division include Robert Battle, Pina Bausch, Martha Clarke, Mercedes Ellington, Robert Garland, Charlotte Griffin, Kazuko Hirabayashi, Adam Hougland, Saeko Ichinohe, Loni Landon, Jessica Lang, Lar Lubovitch, Bruce Marks, Susan Marshall, Austin McCormick, Andrea Miller, Ohad Naharin, and Paul Taylor.
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