March 26, 2012

Premieres, live music at Peabody Dance Showcase

Conservatory cello, guitar, early music students to accompany dancers

Eight Peabody Conservatory cellists will perform Arvo Part’s Fratres at Peabody’s 2012 Choreography Showcase as the accompaniment for one of three premieres by Peabody Dance Artistic Director Carol Bartlett. This year’s inventive showcase, danced by upper-level Peabody Dance students and young guest professionals, will be presented at 7:30 p.m. on Saturday, March 31, and 3 p.m. on Sunday, April 1. Four of the six works on the program will be danced to live music.

“Bringing musicians into the dance studio puts sound and space in a new context for both players and movers, and the opportunity to connect live in performance brings into play a vital interpretation and heightened empathy for the work being realized,” said Bartlett, who makes use of her extensive experience in collaborative choreography in producing the annual showcase. “Aside from enhancing the quality of the program and the audience’s enjoyment, these opportunities for collaboration are fruitful outgrowths of Peabody’s training classes and have immense value for both musicians and dancers.”

Two of the eight cello students, Antoinette Gan and Jason Kim, also will perform preludes for solo cello by Bach, newly choreographed by Peabody Dance faculty member Meredith Rainey and danced by guests Christine Buttorff, formerly of the Nashville Ballet, and Andrea Lasner, who apprenticed with the New Jersey Ballet. The other premiere by Rainey, a former Pennsylvania Ballet soloist, is a work for five dancers set to a Vivaldi sonata, performed by Conservatory students on baroque violin, baroque cello and harpsichord. Bartlett has also choreographed tangos by Astor Piazzolla, to be played by a Conservatory guitar quartet.

The two other works on the program are a new dance by Bartlett, set to a recording of “Eclosion,” the middle movement of Olivier Bensa’s La Grande Terre, by the Atlantic Guitar Quartet, an ensemble of Peabody alumni; and Raymonda Suite, a classical ballet adaptation and restaging of variations and group dances to the music of Glazunov by Peabody Dance faculty member Laura Dolid. The work set to “Eclosion” is a short tale using props and constructed from improvisation segments related to the themes of emerging and shedding. Raymonda Suite will be performed by eight Peabody dancers and Pennsylvania Ballet’s Amy Holihan and Eric Trope.

Believed to be the oldest continuously operating dance-training program in the country, Peabody Dance will celebrate its centennial in 2014. Research under way in Peabody’s extensive archives has already led to the rediscovery of groundbreaking collaborations and other important contributions to American dance history. A video highlighting Peabody Dance’s past, present and future will have its first public screening at this year’s Choreography Showcase.

The two performances will take place in Peabody’s Miriam A. Friedberg Concert Hall. General admission seating is $15 for adults, $10 for seniors and $5 for children under 18 and students with ID. A $50 Showcase Patron ticket includes reserved VIP section seating; a champagne, cheese and dessert reception after the Saturday performance; a 1914–2014 Peabody Dance Centennial tote bag; and invitations to upcoming pre-centennial events.

For general admission tickets, call the Peabody Box Office at 410-234-4800 or email boxoffice@peabody.jhu.edu.

For patron tickets, and more information about the showcase and centennial, contact the Peabody Dance office at 410-234-4626, email dance@peabody.jhu.edu or go to www.peabody.jhu.edu/dance.