BalletX Brings Female Choreographers to Philadelphia

BalletX Brings Female Choreographers to Philadelphia

BalletX Inaugural Season Finale at The Wilma Theater with All-Female Choreographers Project July 23-27, 2008

PHILADELPHIA, June 2 /PRNewswire/ -- Contemporary ballet company BalletX presents its 2007-2008 season finale, All-Female Choreographers Project, with three world premieres by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Helen Pickett and Christine Cox, Wednesday-Saturday, July 23-26 at 8 pm, and Sunday, July 27 at 2 pm, at The Wilma Theater. Tickets: $25 General and $20 Student/Senior, at The Wilma Theater Box Office, 265 S. Broad Street, by phone 215-546-7824 and at http://www.wilmatheater.org/.

In her first ever collaboration with an American dance company, Netherlands-based choreographer Annabelle Lopez Ochoa (Scapino Ballet) will present Still@Life, a group piece set to music by J. S. Bach and von Wassenaer recreating still-life paintings and portraits from the Baroque era in a tableau vivant (living picture). "When I look at the great Baroque paintings showing people in religious scenes, I often wonder what happens to these people right before and after that moment in time."

Helen Pickett (Ballet Frankfurt) premieres Union, her first collaborative work with BalletX. This is an experimental ballet inspired by innovative techniques used by Brazilian artist Vic Muniz. "My questions while making the piece dealt with the multifaceted expression of union through deconstruction and rebuilding," Pickett explains. "How does one create different versions of union? How does the energy of union work?" The music for Union is written by a German-based composer Bernd Sippel, who creates music for film, video and dance.

BalletX Co-Artistic Director Christine Cox, a recipient of the PA Council on the Arts 2008 Award for choreography, is revising one of her earlier creations, Numb Roads. "I will create a sequel about staying single in a society that pushes us to be in a relationship. This work is about feeling complete as a solo individual. It is inspired by a poem If you forget me written by Pablo Neruda." Cox's piece is set to music of Portishead, a trip-hop group based in Bristol, England.

Costumes are designed and produced by Martha Chamberlain, principal dancer of the PA Ballet, who returns to BalletX as a designer after working on Matthew Neenan's most recent piece, "Right To Spring."

BalletX welcomes guest dancers Erik Wagner (San Francisco Ballet, Bern Ballet), Vincent McCloskey (Mark Morris and freelance NY dancer) and Ja' Malik (Alvin Ailey II, Oakland Ballet). They join company members Rosalia Chann, Tara Keating, Matthew Neenan, Anitra Nurnberger, Meredith Rainey and Emily Wagner. Costumes are designed by Martha Chamberlain, principal dancer of the PA Ballet.

BalletX will sponsor two opportunities for the audience to get involved in open discussions of dance issues: a Question-and-Answer session after the opening night performance; and a panel discussion "Women in Dance -- Where are the Choreographers?" on July 24, at 4:00 PM.

BalletX is a Philadelphia-based contemporary dance company that seeks to expand the vocabulary of classical ballet for all audiences.

MEDIA CONTACT:
Inna Lobanova-Heasley
Public Relations Manager
215.280.4824
publicity@balletX.org

BalletX
P.O. Box 22713
Philadelphia, PA 19110-2713

http://www.balletx.org/

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Source: BalletX

CONTACT: Inna Lobanova-Heasley, Public Relations Manager of BalletX,
+1-215-280-4824, publicity@balletX.org

Web site:

http://www.balletx.org/
http://www.wilmatheater.org/

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