November 18, 2003
WILLIAM FORSYTHE'S THE VERTIGINOUS THRILL OF EXACTITUDE, SCOTT RINK'S THE SORCERER'S APPRENTICE AND PETER QUANZ' SPRINGSCAPE TO HIGHLIGHT ABT STUDIO COMPANY PERFORMANCES AT NYU'S SKIRBALL CENTER, DECEMBER 4-6
Narrated Family Matinee to be Given, Saturday, December 6 at 2 P.M.
American Ballet Theatre’s Studio Company will present three performances at New York University’s new Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts, December 4-6 at 8 P.M. and a special narrated family matinee on December 6 at 2 P.M. The program will include the ABT Studio Company Premiere of William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude and the New York Premieres of The Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Scott Rink and SpringScape by Peter Quanz, as well as Antony Tudor’s Continuo.
William Forsythe’s The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude, set to Franz Schubert’s Symphony No. 9 (final movement), is a series of solo variations, pas de deux, pas de trois and ensemble sections for five dancers. The ABT Studio Company is only the second American company, after San Francisco Ballet, to perform The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude. The work was staged for the Studio Company by Kathryn Bennetts and features costumes by Stephen Galloway and lighting by William Forsythe.
Scott Rink’s The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, based on the poem by Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, will receive its New York premiere on Thursday, December 4. A co-production with Minnesota Dance Theatre, The Sorcerer’s Apprentice is set to a musical collage by Scott Marshall based on Paul Dukas’ L’Apprenti Sorcier. The ballet features costumes by Tracy Christensen, scenery by Andrew Saboe and lighting by Jason Lyons. The Sorcerer’s Apprentice received its World Premiere by MDT in October of this year at the Pantages Theatre in Minneapolis.
Peter Quanz’ SpringScape, set to Simple Symphony by Benjamin Britten, will be given its New York Premiere on December 4. First performed this November at Mount Holyoke College in Massachusetts, the ballet for 10 dancers features costumes by Dennis Ballard and lighting by Brian Sciarra. Quanz created SpringScape during a recent three-week residency at the White Oak Plantation in Yulee, Florida.
Antony Tudor’s Continuo, staged for the Studio Company by Donald Mahler, is set to Johann Pachelbel’s Canon in D. Tudor created the ballet for six dancers in 1971 for his students at The Juilliard School. Continuo was reconstructed by arrangement with the Dance Notation Bureau, Inc.
The ABT Studio Company will also present a family matinee on Saturday, December 6 at 2 P.M. The one-hour performance will be narrated by ABT’s artistic staff and will feature The Sorcerer’s Apprentice, Continuo and the grand pas de deux from The Nutcracker. Tickets, priced at $15, are available by calling 212-992-8484 or online at www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu.
The ABT Studio Company is among the first dance troupes to perform at The Jack H. Skirball Center for the Performing Arts at New York University, an 879-seat proscenium theater which opened in October 2003. The Skirball Center is located at 566 LaGuardia Place at Washington Square South in New York City.
Tickets for the ABT Studio Company at the Skirball Center are $32 and are available by calling 212-992-8484 or at www.skirballcenter.nyu.edu.
The ABT Studio Company is funded, in part, by The Chisholm Foundation and Sandler O’Neill & Partners. This performance is made possible with public funds from the New York State Council on the Arts, a State Agency.
The ABT Studio Company’s Skirball Center performances are dedicated to the legacy of Howard Gilman.