Jacob’s Pillow to Kick Off With State Ballet of Georgia
Nina Ananiashvili & the State Ballet of Georgia - June 23-June 27, 2010 |
BECKET, Mass. — This year's Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival is kicking off with prima ballerina Nina Ananiashvili and the State Ballet of Georgia, performing in the Ted Shawn Theatre June 23 through 27.
Ananiashvili, former principal of the Bolshoi Ballet and American Ballet Theatre, directs and dances with her homeland’s national company, which showcases classical and contemporary technique in this engagement. The program features "Falling Angels" by Czech choreographer Jiří Kylián, and Alexei Ratmansky’s "Bizet Variations" and George Balanchine’s "Duo Concertant," both performed to live music by The Norfolk Chamber Music Festival/Yale School of Music.
The evening begins with four rarely seen pas de deux by Sir Frederick Ashton. Ananiashvili will also perform at the Jacob’s Pillow Season Opening Gala on June 19 in "The Dying Swan," by Mikhail Fokine, with live accompaniment by cello master Yehuda Hanani.
While at Jacob’s Pillow, Ananiashvili will be a guest artist faculty member for The School at Jacob’s Pillow’s 2010 Ballet Program. These pre-professional dancers hail from around the world and will also take part in a Master Class led by Dance Theatre of Harlem Artistic Director Virginia Johnson. As part of their first week of training in the Ballet Program (Program Director, Anna-Marie Homes), they perform a world premiere choreographed by Karole Armitage at the Season Opening Gala on June 19.
Ananiashvili has added more than 20 new ballets to the State Ballet of Georgia's repertoire, restaged classics such as "Swan Lake" and "Don Quixote," works by fellow Georgia native Balanchine, and contemporary ballets by Trey McIntyre and Kylián.
After being met with praise at home and abroad, Ananiashvili and the State Ballet of Georgia were first seen at the Pillow in 2007, when they presented Balanchine’s ethereal Mozartiana, McIntyre’s Second Before the Ground, and excerpts from Don Quixote. This year’s program exhibits similar diversity with work ranging from neoclassical to contemporary.
For more information, visit www.jacobspillow.org.
