ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET
PHOTO: ROSALIE O'CONNOR
2016 / 2017 Touring Season
crucial revenue diversification. Under this hybrid business model, a roster of arts activities takes wing, year-round, in both cities. Performance, education, presentation and community outreach all join in the mix. Within this innovative structure, ASFB approaches its 20th anniversary season in 2015-16.
New commissions ASFB’s mission places highest priority on developing new choreography and nurturing relationships with emerging choreographers. The company fostered the early careers of now in-demand global dance makers like Nicolo Fonte (nine commissioned Fonte works in the ASFB repertoire), Jorma Elo (three commissioned Elo works), Edwaard Liang, Jacopo Godani, Helen Pickett, Cayetano Soto, Alejandro Cerrudo and others. Works by late 20th century masters – William Forsythe, Jiří Kylián, Twyla Tharp – round out the repertoire. “We value building relationships with choreographers who become integral to the company. The natural beauty of our surroundings has a profound impact on creativity and our choreographers find it inspiring to create here,” says Mossbrucker, ASFB’s artistic director.
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet History Ballet’s dynamic story in the American West In 1996 Aspen Santa Fe Ballet Founder Bebe Schweppe invited Tom Mossbrucker and Jean-Philippe Malaty to create a ballet company in Aspen. A unique multidimensional arts organization developed rapidly from the ballet school Schweppe had established in the Rocky Mountains. “Bebe’s vision for Aspen to have its own ballet company was the project of a lifetime,” says Malaty, ASFB’s executive director. “We embarked together on a serendipitous adventure. Twenty years later, the connection between the dancers and our two communities is deep and inextricable.”
Forging a new frontier The company began modestly with six dancers. Growth was organic. Friends in the field – Gerald Arpino, Trey McIntyre, Septime Webre, Dwight Rhoden – offered start-up repertoire. Moses Pendleton’s highly popular Noir Blanc was a seminal event for the young ASFB. It launched a tradition of commissioning new works. An open, exploratory style emerged as Mossbrucker and Malaty tapped the creative scene in Europe where classical ballet was breaking from its boundaries. The athletic and adventurous American dancers found themselves at a crossroads of dance history. The divide between ballet and modern dance was dissolving.
Innovative business model In 2000 the Aspen, Colorado-based ballet company forged a dual-city relationship with Santa Fe, New Mexico, broadening its scope and lending
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PHOTO: SHAREN BRADFORD
National reputation Based for twenty years in the American West, ASFB now sits at the vanguard of its field, brandishing a strong national reputation. Repeat engagements at the American Dance Festival, Harris Theater for Music and Dance, Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival, Joyce Theater, The Kennedy Center, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, and Wolf Trap testify to the company’s popularity and ability to please audiences. Overseas invitations arrived and ASFB embarked on international tours to Brazil, Canada, France, Greece, Guatemala, Israel, Italy and Russia. Premier funders – National Endowment for the Arts, New England Foundation for the Arts / National Dance Project, Joyce Foundation, Shubert Foundation, Wolf Trap Foundation, Jerome Robbins Foundation and Princess Grace Foundation – have supported ASFB’s growth.
Flamenco joins the fold In January 2014, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet announced with pride the addition of Juan Siddi Flamenco Santa Fe under its arts management umbrella. The collaboration with the seven-year old flamenco company provides the benefits of economies of scale and other business synergies, as well as a simpatico artistic alliance. The addition of Juan Siddi Flamenco Santa Fe is a further expression of ASFB’s core mission. It represents an opportunity to celebrate cultural heritage, expand diversity, serve as a catalyst for new ventures, and play a role in fortifying a heritage art form.
Accolades into the future On the cusp of its 20th anniversary, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet enters a third decade with an undiminished creative drive. New dancers, new dance voices, and a solid infrastructure characterize the company. The everevolving Aspen Santa Fe Ballet looks to a bright future with energy and optimism.
Dear Presenters, Greetings from the American West! This year marks a milestone in our company’s history as Aspen Santa Fe Ballet celebrates its 20th anniversary season. We would like to take a moment to share some of the exciting plans we have in store in commemoration of this achievement. Firstly, we are honoring our forward-looking culture of innovation by commissioning two new works in 2016-17. We are proud to announce that we received National Dance Project support from the New England Foundation for the Arts for the creation and touring of Alejandro Cerrudo’s Silent Ghost, his second ASFB commission. Spanish choreographer Cayetano Soto is also returning to the fold to create a third commission for ASFB. In addition to new commissions, the acquisition of two thrilling new ballets will round out ASFB’s active repertoire: Jiří Kylián’s 2004 work Sleepless— making us the only company to perform this masterwork in the US—and Alejandro Cerrudo’s highly-regarded Little mortal jump, created for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago. Our anniversary season will largely be spent in our home communities of Aspen and Santa Fe, with many anniversary celebrations planned throughout the year. However, we have a few notable engagements on our calendar including the launch of an unprecedented multi-year residency at the Valley Performing Arts Center at California State University in Northridge. ASFB will also return to the California Center for the Arts in Escondido, the Hopkins Center for the Arts at Dartmouth, and the Eccles Center for the Performing Arts in Park City, among others.
PHOTO: JANA CRUDER
We look forward to returning to your venue or perhaps introducing your audiences to ASFB’s unique and captivating repertoire danced by magnificent artists. In this special anniversary season, we thank all of you for your support of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet over the years. Cheers!
Tom Mossbrucker Artistic Director
Jean-Philippe Malaty Executive Director
FOR BOOKINGS PLEASE CONTACT:
Cathy Pruzan
Artist Representative 4709 Paradise Drive Tiburon, CA 94920 phone 415-789-5051 | fax 415-789-5055
[email protected] 3
PHOTO: ROSALIE O'CONNOR
Imagination Untitled: Alejandro Cerrudo and the Art of the Dance Company by Johnny Nevin Aspen Santa Fe Ballet's commission of Silent Ghost is supported by a 2015 New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project production grant.
There is an art to being a dance company. In a way, it's a larger choreography, one that must design, balance, and foster all of the other creativity that can make concert dance so beautiful and exciting. This art, like the choreography it presents, is intrinsically collaborative, relying upon the performance of others to realize its vision. Watching choreographer Alejandro Cerrudo begin a brand new work with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet affords a unique opportunity to see how these two arts— the art of the choreographer and the art of the dance company—inspire and enrich the other. Cerrudo's return to ASFB for the premiere of a new work (already replete with Cerrudo's trademark imagination, but as yet untitled) is as intriguing as it is promising. It's an opportunity to see Cerrudo at work on a workin-progress, and, in doing so, to see something more. It's also a chance to observe how a dance company's careful understanding of how a choreographer makes great dance can influence every moment of what an audience ultimately sees. Cerrudo's approach to choreography goes deeper than the design of movement to music, in part because he approaches both with such intuitive depth. Despite the precision of his imagination, he never seems to forget that what an audience sees in concert, whoever may have designed it, is movement made by dancers, not choreographers. That means that an artistic awareness of the individuality of the artists he works with is always an integral part of his creative process, and it’s one of the aspects of working with ASFB that he mentions first. "They're a company that is very versatile," he says of the ASFB dancers. "Their willingness to speak your language—your movement language—is something you really appreciate as a choreographer. That ability and willingness to learn your movement vocabulary, that's priceless." Such a capacity for sharing the vision and vocabulary of a choreographer fundamentally changes how a dance can be imagined, and it has profound implications for what an audience will see when the work is complete. Cerrudo's approach is uniquely adapted to the opportunity to work with such open-minded performers, in part because he is so intensely musical. He has a symphonic understanding of mix and motion in music, and he can seamlessly vary his musical selections across a broad spectrum of styles. His process almost always begins with music, and his intense attention to the details of musical construction often defines the structure of his works.
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Exploring music with the dancers who will ultimately move to it was a large part of Cerrudo's process as he began creating the piece last November. "I went into the studio with many different pieces of music that I wanted to try out," he explains, "and it's from that, working with them in the studio, that I develop the concept of the piece." Alejandro Cerrudo certainly knows how to make dance; besides his widely admired work with Hubbard Street Dance Chicago as their Resident Choreographer, his works are regularly performed by companies around the world. Because he has so much choreographic experience, his perspective on how dance is made, especially regarding what is most conducive to crafting great concert dance, is particularly insightful. Perhaps more than anything else, Cerrudo describes how valuable it is to know that he'll be free to explore whatever it takes to make a great work. "What's great is that Tom and Jean-Philippe have never said that you have to make a piece about this, or with this music, or with this many dancers," Cerrudo explains. "That freedom is fantastic for a contemporary choreographer." It's an artistic freedom that is very much by design, and it is characteristic of the ASFB approach to working with great choreographers. "We really try to give the choreographer a blank slate," Malaty says. "We believe that's our best chance for a great piece."
“[ASFB's] ability and willingness to learn your movement
Even so, the ability to synthesize so many possible inspirations, so many possible creative directions into a single cohesive experience requires even more. Besides the artistic freedom to create the best work a choreographer can imagine, the process also requires the resources and the time to do so effectively. "I think that's another aspect that choreographers enjoy about coming to work here with Aspen Santa Fe Ballet," Malaty says. "We're one of the few companies that will dedicate a four to five week time period for creation, and it seems like choreographers appreciate the luxury of having that length of time." Perhaps just as important, the company believes that the process, for both choreographer and dancers, benefits tremendously from an ability to work continuously, without interruption. "We like to focus on one creation at a time," Malaty continues, "so Alejandro will have all day long with the dancers, and we will not be rehearsing any other works in that period; he will have the full attention and commitment and focus from the dancers."
PHOTOS: ROSALIE O'CONNOR
vocabulary, that's priceless.”
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet's operational philosophy represents an impressive awareness of the details of how great dance is made. Yet, despite its very real impact on what an audience sees in concert, none of the nuts and bolts are directly visible on stage. The success of the dance company lies in its ability to create a seamless environment that honors the collaborative process and allows the art of the choreographer to shine. That, however, may actually be the very heart of the art. Such a complete understanding of what will make the best creativity possible naturally requires knowing how not to crowd its process, how not to compromise its potential. Visible or not, it's not without its metrics. One of them is the ability of a dance company to continually attract the work of the best choreographers, artists like Alejandro Cerrudo, and Cerrudo's own observation on the subject is especially enlightening. "They work with choreographers I really admire," he says of Aspen Santa Fe Ballet. High praise, from a respected voice, for an important but nearly invisible artistry, the often unnoticed art of being a dance company. ASFB ON TOUR 2015
ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET U P C O M I N G P E R F O R M A N C E S September 25-26
March 18
April 16
Hopkins Center, Dartmouth College
Fine Arts Center Main Theater, Viterbo University
Valley Performing Arts Center
December 11-13 - Nutcracker Aspen District Theatre
Aspen, CO
December 19-20 - Nutcracker The Lensic Performing Arts Center
Santa Fe, NM
February 13 & 20 Aspen District Theatre
Aspen, CO
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LaCrosse, WI
April 1 The Lensic Performing Arts Center
Santa Fe, NM
April 9 Eccles Center for the Performing Arts
Park City, UT
April 14
Northridge, CA
April 21 Livermore Valley Performing Arts Center
Livermore, CA
April 23 CenterArts, Humboldt State University
Arcata, CA Summer Season TBA
California Center for the Arts
Escondido, CA
PHOTO: ROSALIE O'CONNOR
Hanover, NH
ASPEN SANTA FE BALLET 2016/2017 TOURING REPERTOIRE
Aspen Santa Fe Ballet’s repertoire, ranging from accessible
to sophisticated, resonates with energy and eclecticism. A house-style emerges across this diverse dance menu, layering American athleticism on a base of European refinement. The company’s identity is tethered to its repertoire, which speaks a complex language, challenges audiences, and advances the art form.
leading choreographers whose important first assignments came from ASFB. Numerous ballets have gone on to grace the repertories of renowned dance companies. Nurturing lasting relationships with dance makers is a company hallmark. Among the choreographer-collaborators creating multiple works on ASFB are Alejandro Cerrudo, Jorma Elo, Nicolo Fonte, Trey McIntyre, Moses Pendleton, and Cayetano Soto.
Since its inception, ASFB has been deeply committed to commissioning new works. Of the 28 ballets created since 1996, many are by world-
1st Flash Choreography: Jorma Elo Music: Jean Sibelius Premiere: September 18, 2003, Nederlands Dans Theater “Magnificent use of light and dark, 1st Flash was a seamless cross of classical dance and sharp linear movements...precision-driven choreography.” – Examiner.com Specialized technical requirements: Grey marley, haze, flat blackout Run Time: 19 mins
PHOTO: ROSALIE O'CONNOR
Silent Ghost ASFB Commissioned Work Choreography: Alejandro Cerrudo Music: Dustin Hamman, King Creosote & Jon Hopkins, Ólafur Arnalds, Nils Frahm Premiere: July 10, 2015 Underwritten by: New England Foundation for the Arts' National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts. Specialized technical requirements: 4 moving lights with CMY color mixing, shutter capability, and zoom of at least 40deg (Martin Viper Performance or similar), heavy haze, blackout with openings at quarters and center Run Time: 20 mins
PHOTO: ROSALIE O'CONNOR
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The Heart(s)pace ASFB Commissioned Work Choreography: Nicolo Fonte Music: Ezio Bosso Premiere: February 14, 2014 Underwritten by: Kelli and Allen Questrom Specialized technical requirements: Grey marley, top and bottom pipe (1" and 1 1/2" interior diameter) at an overall length of 23'-6" each for a cyc sidewall (provided by ASFB). 6 of the 8 side booms (wings 2-4) to be at least 16' tall. Up to three flymen may be required depending on house labor rules. Run Time: 24 mins
PHOTO: SHAREN BRADFORD
Little mortal jump Choreography: Alejandro Cerrudo Music: Various Artists Premiere: March 15, 2012, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago ASFB Premiere: July 2016 “...Cerrudo has succeeded in taking elements from his previous works and fusing them together into a fully-formed vision that connects strongly with the audience. “Little mortal jump” has a definite cinematic quality to it which serves the piece well, and it is abundantly clear that Cerrudo understands both his audience and how to draw the best work from the dancers...” – Huffington Post Specialized technical requirements: Grey marley, open pit with high-jump type padding, electrified scenery elements, 2 spotlights, haze Run Time: 20 mins
PHOTO: TODD ROSENBERG
Sleepless Choreography: Jiří Kylián Music: Dirk Haubrich, composition based on Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart, Glass Harmonica + Quartet, Adagio K 617 Premiere: November 11, 2004, Nederlands Dans Theater II ASFB Premiere: August 2016 “Moving, and being moved. Motion, and emotion. I have a fundamental interest in movement in space, between objects, and in the movement of the soul. The nature of moving is such that, if you move towards something, you automatically move away from something else. Are we really sure that we want to move towards, or away from...?” – Jiří Kylián Specialized technical requirements: Ability to rig specialized scenery pipe (at least 3 line sets). Additional technical requirements may be required, see our website for updates. Run Time: 26 mins
PHOTO: JORIS-JAN BOS
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New Commission by Fernando Melo Premiere: February 2016 This is the first commissioned work by Melo for ASFB
PHOTO: ROSALIE O'CONNOR
New Commission by Cayetano Soto Premiere: February 2016 This is the third commissioned work by Soto for ASFB
PHOTO: ROSALIE O'CONNOR
For further information regarding technical requirements for these pieces, as well as other general company information, please see our tech rider at www.aspensantafeballet.com
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