BalletX Opens Dance Season with World Premieres by Neenan and Booker

BalletX Opens Dance Season with World Premieres by Neenan and Booker

BalletX Celebrates Fall 2008 Series with New Works, November 6-9

PHILADELPHIA, Oct. 7 /PRNewswire/ -- Contemporary ballet company BalletX opens its second season at The Wilma Theater with new works by co-artistic director Matthew Neenan and guest choreographer Zane Booker, November 6-9, 2008. Tickets: $30 General, $25 Student/Senior. Tickets at the Wilma Theater Box Office, 265 S. Broad Street, call 215-546-7824, or at http://www.wilmatheater.org/. For more information, visit http://www.balletx.org/.

   November 6-8, Thu-Sat, at 8:00 PM   November 8-9, Sat-Sun, at 2:00 PM   

Following its first successful season at The Wilma Theater, BalletX debuts highly anticipated new works by Matthew Neenan and Zane Booker.

Neenan premieres STEELWORKS, a ballet in two movements. The full company piece is set to the music by Anna Clyne, a young British composer now based in New York. Neenan found his inspiration in Clyne's "outside-the box" music score (Steelworks and Paintbox), layered with voices, cello, street noises, flute and percussion.

STEELWORKS follows the score with its own experimental movements. "I would like to take away from the abstract and bring out the individuality in the dancers by separating them in smaller groups and letting them explore themselves," Neenan says. "Clyne's music is so original and unpredictable, it encouraged me to experiment with the intimate space of the theater. We will get out of the stage box and see what else is happening in this place."

BalletX is delighted by its first collaboration with Zane Booker. A Philadelphia native, Booker founded The Smoke, Lilies and Jade Arts Initiative. He is a resident artist of Philadanco and has danced with Netherlands Dance Theater and Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak.

Booker premieres GISELLE'S ROOM, a contemporary dance work for six dancers, exploring our attraction to the unattainable. For his piece Booker chose New York Requiem, a composition by Meredith Monk, which, he felt, is a wonderful match for storytelling and character creation.

Booker comments: "I am excited about working with a homegrown ballet company because I feel connected to their mission. The icing on the cake is that I love dancers with classical technique who can move like modern dancers. And the level of the BalletX dancers is world class."

Also on the bill, DUET FROM CALI, a short new piece created by Neenan specifically for BalletX's appearance at The Second International Festival de Ballet (presented by Incol Ballet) in Cali, Colombia just last spring. The Duet is danced by Rosalia Chann and Matthew Neenan to Mozart's Adagio for String Quintet.

BalletX welcomes dancers Colby Damon and Avichai Scher (both from New York), who join company members Rosalia Chann, Tara Keating, Ja' Malik, Anitra Nurnberger, Meredith Rainey and Emily Wagner for the Fall Series.

This presentation was made possible by support from The William Penn Foundation and The Philadelphia Cultural Fund.

BalletX is a contemporary dance company seeking to expand the vocabulary of classical ballet for all audiences.

BalletX | P.O. Box 22713, Philadelphia, PA 19110-2713 | http://www.balletx.org/

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

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Source: BalletX

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

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

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