State Street Ballet November 14, 2012

Manhattan Youth Ballet presents State Street Ballet in association with Manhattan Youth Ballet on Wednesday, November 14 at 7:30pm, at the Manhattan Movement & Arts Center, 248 West 60th Street, NYC (between Amsterdam and West End Avenues) in the Lincoln Center area. Tickets are $25 for adults and $20 for students. Tickets are available by visiting manhattanmovement.com/calendar or by calling 212-787-1178.

In celebration of the New York premiere of State Street Ballet, a private pre-performance reception will precede the performance at 6:30pm. Rose Eichenbaum, award-winning photographer and author of classic dance books, Masters of Movement and The Dancer Within, will present a photomontage comprised of more than a decade of documentation commissioned by State Street Ballet. Following the presentation, Ms. Eichenbaum will hold a book signing of The Dancer Within.

The Exclusive Corporate Sponsor of State Street Ballet’s New York premiere is provided by Van Cleef & Arpels. Additional sponsorship is provided by Margo Cohen-Feinberg and Tim Mikel.

State Street Ballet’s New York premiere is made possible by the efforts of Gary McKenzie, Ballet Master; Barbara Burger, Publicist; Mark Somerfield, Technical; Director/Lighting Design; Christina Giannini, Costume Design; Anaya Cullen, Wardrobe & Costume Design; Graphic Design, Faith Keating; Digital Animation, David Bazemore
Highlights from 2012 World Premieres
Dream on by
Choreography by Peter Pucci
Music by Paul Simon Loves me like a rock
Courtesy of Paul Simon Music
Full Company
Manhattan Youth Ballet
Of Beauty and Light
Choreography by Jason Ambrose
An American Tango
Conceived and Written by Guy Veloz
Directed and Choreographed by William Soleau
Produced by Rodney Gustafson & Michael Roush
Full Company
This is a true rags-to-riches story about Frank and Yolanda Veloz who many people feel were the greatest Ballroom Dance couple whoever lived. It is a love story, lost in history, which begins in New York’s Hell’s Kitchen with its speakeasies, mobsters and dance halls, and moves on to Broadway with its cast of colorful characters including Dutch Schultz, Walter Winchell, the Shubert Brothers and Florenz Ziegfeld. "While their mighty competition focused on technique, ‘Veloz and Yolanda’ trafficked in dreams."
Secret Garden
(Finale with Full Company)
Directed & Choreographed by Josie Walsh
Original Music by Paul Rivera, Jr
A balletic masterpiece of surrealism and enchantment, a riveting fusion of dynamic visuals, cutting-edge choreography set to an original cinematic score. Choreographed by Josie Walsh and composed by Paul Rivera Jr, The Secret Garden is one of many productions that the Los Angeles based artistic dream teams have worked on together.
About State Street Ballet
State Street Ballet is a vibrant, innovative professional dance company based in Santa Barbara, California. The company combines the rigors and timeless beauty of classical technique with updated looks, special effects and digital technology, producing original works that satisfy today’s diverse audiences. By melding familiar storylines with exciting movement and special effects, State Street Ballet gives each tale a modern, passionate and unique twist. This heady mix of movement, music, lighting, scenery and acting is successfully reaching new audiences, introducing dance as mainstream entertainment while honoring classical training, style and tradition. As a fully professional dance company with well-known credentials, State Street Ballet attracts dancers from around the world and teams with top-notch choreographers to produce new works that showcase the company’s signature elegant-but-edgy tone.
RODNEY GUSTAFSON, Director/Founder, brings vision, energy and mastery of the classics to State Street Ballet, propelling the company to explore new and untapped areas of entertainment. As a dancer with American Ballet Theatre, Gustafson worked with many of the greatest dancers of our time including Mikhail Baryshnikov and famous choreographers like Alvin Ailey, George Balanchine, Rudolf Nureyev, Jerome Robbins and Antony Tudor. During his tenure as Director for State Street Ballet, he has created several full-length ballets for the company, including Romeo and Juliet, NutCracker, A Midsummer Night’s Dream, Cinderella, and Jungle Book. Academically, Mr. Gustafson holds a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration (1994), and a Master of Arts in Organizational Management (2001).
Peter Pucci-Choreographer, A Lucille Lortel Award winner and Drama Desk Nominee for Outstanding choreography for Queens Boulevard (the musical). Peter also received a Drama Desk Award for his work on The Orphans' Home Cycle. Peter was a principle dancer with Pilobolus Dance Theatre for nine years before forming his own company, Peter Pucci Plus Dancers. He has choreographed for Joffrey Ballet, Ballet Arizona, Ballet Hispanico, Colorado Ballet, and Pittsburgh Ballet. Recent credits include: Big Apple Circus – DANCE ON, the musical Death Takes A Holiday, directed by Doug Hughes at the Roundabout Theatre, New Mexico Ballet, and Dance Theater of Harlem. Peter is a Artist in Residence in Dance at Manhattanville College and guest artist at the Juilliard School of Drama.
William Soleau, Choreographer has created over 80 ballets on companies around the world. As resident choreographer and principal dancer for both Finis Jhung's Chamber Ballet U.S.A. and Dennis Wayne's DANCERS in New York City in the 80's he established himself as an emerging choreographer. As a dancer he worked with notable choreographers such as Alvin Ailey, John Butler, Antony Tudor, Joyce Trisler and Norman Walker. His works are in the repertories of Ballet British Columbia, Ballet de Montreal, The Shanghai Ballet of China, Ballet Austin, The Icelandic Ballet, American Ballroom Dance Theater, Ballet Met, Sarasota Ballet, Richmond Ballet, Ballet Florida and the Louisville Ballet among many others. Mr. Soleau was the recipient of the Choo San-Goh Award for Choreography in 2006 and presently he serves as the Executive Director for the John Butler Foundation, Inc.
Josie Walsh, Choreographer, Director/Choreographer of MYOKYO in Los Angeles. Her credits include: Underground Comedy, a feature film; Torchwood on Starz TV; The Cleaner, an A and E drama; Tinker Bell for Walt Disney; Bullet Proof Monk, an MGM movie premiere; That’s Life on CBS; Pilgrim, a Rock Opera; and the LA Music Awards. Her contemporary ballet commissions include: Transmutation, Los Angeles Ballet; Luminate, Luminario Ballet; Taming of the Shrew, Aeolian Ballet Theatre; Deconstructed, Harvard Ballet; Golden Doorway, Santa Monica College; Found, Celebrate Dance; Forbidden, Detroit Fringe Festival; Risque, Laguna Arts Festival; and Dolphina, LA County Museum. MYOKYO full length Renegade Rock Ballet Productions include: Garden of Reason, Gone with the Whim, Avalon, Image-Nation and Carnivinyl.
Joseph Fuqua, Actor, is a Yale School of Drama graduate. Broadway credits: Brighton Beach Memoirs, 110 in the Shade (Lincoln Center). Ventura California's Rubicon Theatre: Hamlet (title role-Indy Award),The Boys Next Door (Indy Award), The Rainmaker (Robby Award and Rep Award), All My Sons (Ovation Award). Other regional credits include Octavius Caesar in Antony and Cleopatra at Actors Theatre of Louisville, Alexei in A Month in the Country at Arena Stage, Iago in Othello for Shakespeare Festival of Dallas, Louis in Angels in America at Dallas Theatre Center. Film and television:, X Files,” “The Profiler,” “Brooklyn South,” “The Pretender,” “Chicago Hope,” “Star Trek: Deep Space Nine,” “Becker", “Ed’s Next Move,” “David Searching,” and J.E.B. Stuart in “Gettysburg,” and“Gods and Generals”.

About Manhattan Youth Ballet
Modeled with an emphasis on European classical ballet, Manhattan Youth Ballet (MYB) offers world-class training in a nurturing environment focused on discipline, precision and artistry. MYB is the culmination of Ms. Rose Caiola’s effort for the past fifteen years to create a viable and curriculum-based ballet academy in Manhattan in order to serve the needs of the multifaceted community. Principal members of the faculty have received their training in schools such as the School of American Ballet, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the Kirov Ballet. The faculty strives to bring out the individual potential of each student with an emphasis on artistry as well as technique to create truly versatile dancers for the current dance world. Education is a top priority at Manhattan Youth Ballet and the school has numerous community outreach programs to promote dance education. Since moving to its new home at Manhattan Movement & Arts Center in September 2008, over 2,500 New York City school children have participated in lecture demonstrations and/or been MYB’s invited guests at full-length performances. For more information, visit www.manhattanyouthballet.org.

About Manhattan Movement & Arts Center
Manhattan Movement & Arts Center was developed by Rose Caiola as the home of the Manhattan Youth Ballet, a graded, pre-professional ballet academy and performance company. Ms. Caiola, a former dancer and actress, founded the academy in the fall of 1994 as Studio Maestro at 48 W. 68th Street, and today serves as the youth ballet’s executive artistic director.

The school is modeled after the European academies. The Manhattan Youth Ballet has acquired a reputation for excellent teaching in an intimate and individually supportive environment. The school’s graduates have danced professionally with American Ballet Theatre, New York City Ballet, Nederlands Dans Theater, Ballet de España, San Francisco Ballet and Complexions.

As the ballet academy grew, the search for a larger space inspired in Ms. Caiola a highly personal vision of a studio and theater complex that would encompass all aspects of dance education and performance.

mmac opened its doors in June 2008, occupying a dramatic bi-level space within The Element, a luxury high-rise condominium. In addition to the Manhattan Youth Ballet, mmac’s studios and theater host daily adult dance and fitness classes, the mmac Kids program, summer intensive programs, as well as an array of performances and special events.

For more information about mmac, visit www.manhattanmovement.com.

Official Website: http://www.manhattanmovement.com/calendar