July 21, 2004
AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE'S NEW YORK SUMMER INTENSIVE FINAL PERFORMANCES SCHEDULED
AMERICAN BALLET THEATRE’S NEW YORK SUMMER INTENSIVE FINAL
PERFORMANCES SCHEDULED FOR FRIDAY, JULY 30 AT 12:00 P.M.
AND 4:00 P.M. AT LaGUARDIA HIGH SCHOOL
Final performances for American Ballet Theatre’s New York Summer Intensive Program are scheduled for Friday, July 30, 2004 at 12:00 P.M. and 4:00 P.M. at Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts in New York City. The performances mark the conclusion of ABT’s ninth annual Summer Intensive, a six-week training program for 225 dancers, ages 12 to 22, at the Company’s 890 Broadway headquarters.
Summer Intensive final performances will include excerpts from classic ballets including La Bayadère, Coppélia, Don Quixote, Raymonda and The Sleeping Beauty, as well as an excerpt from Twyla Tharp’s Push Comes to Shove. Performances of original choreography by Leslie Browne, Hilary Cartwright, Roberta Mathes, John Meehan, Brian Reeder, Johan Renvall and Karla Wolfangle will complete the program.
The 2004 Summer Intensive will include 27 students who were chosen for the ABT National Training Program, which awards scholarships to outstanding Summer Intensive students. The National Training Program scholarships enable gifted young dancers to train intensively with local instructors in their hometowns during the school year and attend ABT’s program on full scholarship during the summer. ABT’s National Training Program encourages its scholarship recipients to maintain the highest standard of achievement in their academic studies while continuing their dance training.
Five students from the 2004 New York Summer Intensive will be joining ABT’s Studio Company, a small classical company that prepares dancers for professional careers with ABT and other leading companies worldwide. Summer Intensive students joining the ABT Studio Company for the 2004-05 season are Jessamyn Lawrence, Allison Miller, Nicola Curry (1999-2004 National Training Scholar) and Eric Tamm and Nicole Granierio, both students at the Jacqueline Kennedy Onassis School at American Ballet Theatre.
Under the guidance of ABT Artistic Director of Education and Training, John Meehan, American Ballet Theatre’s Summer Intensive program is directed by former ABT Soloist Rebecca Wright. Wright, recently appointed Director of the Washington School of Ballet, will depart ABT’s Summer Intensive this year after eight years as director. During her tenure, Wright expanded ABT’s New York Summer Intensive to other satellite locations across the country in Detroit, Michigan, Tuscaloosa, Alabama, Orange County, California and Austin, Texas.
Participants in American Ballet Theatre’s New York Summer Intensive are chosen through a cross-country audition tour sponsored by Freed of London, Ltd. The annual six-week program at ABT’s New York City studios is a comprehensive course that begins with daily ballet technique class and includes specialized classes in pointe work, partnering, choreography, jazz, character and modern dance. To complement the dancers’ training, seminars are offered on nutrition, music theory, dance history and composition.
Instructors for ABT’s 2004 NY Summer Intensive included Leslie Browne, Diana Cartier, Hilary Cartwright, Olga Dvorovenko, Suzanne Goldman, Cynthia Harvey-Murphy, Jill Johnson, Susan Jones, Clinton Luckett, Roberta Mathes, Bonnie Mathis, Brian Reeder, Johan Renvall, Lupe Serrano, Marianna Tcherkassky and Rebecca Wright.
ABT’s 2004 Summer Intensives will reach over 800 participants in New York City and across the country through satellite programs.
Fiorello H. LaGuardia High School of Music & Art and Performing Arts is located at 100 Amsterdam Avenue (65th Street and Amsterdam Avenue). Tickets, priced at $12.00, can be purchased at the door. For more information, please call 212-477-3030, ext. 3416 or visit ABT’s website at www.abt.org.