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Vanessa Zahorian
Vanessa Andrea Zahorian (born 1978/1979) is an American retired ballet dancer. She was a principal dancer at the San Francisco Ballet. She is currently one of the artistic directors of Pennsylvania Ballet Academy. Early life Zahorian was born in Allentown, Pennsylvania and is of Czech heritage. She started training at the Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet at age 5. When she was 11, she was offered a scholarship to Vaganova Academy of Russian Ballet, but did not actually train there due to her young age and the political climate. At age 13, Zahorian started training at Kirov Academy of Ballet in Washington D.C.. She was then sponsored by the Prince of Monaco to be an apprentice in Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg. Career Zahorian joined the San Francisco Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 1997, was named soloist two years later and promoted to principal dancer in 2002. Her first principal role is Odette-Odile in ''Swan Lake''. She has since danced classical roles such as ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Allentown, Pennsylvania
Allentown (Pennsylvania Dutch language, Pennsylvania Dutch: ''Allenschteddel'', ''Allenschtadt'', or ''Ellsdaun'') is a city in Lehigh County, Pennsylvania, Lehigh County, Pennsylvania. The city has a population of 125,845 as of the 2020 United States census, 2020 census. It is the fastest-growing major city in Pennsylvania and the state's third largest city, behind Philadelphia and Pittsburgh. It is the largest city in both Lehigh County and the Lehigh Valley, which had a population of 861,899 and was the 68th most populous Metropolitan statistical area, metropolitan area in the U.S. as of 2020. Allentown was founded in 1762 and is the county seat of Lehigh County. Located on the Lehigh River, a tributary of the Delaware River, Allentown is the largest of three adjacent cities, along with Bethlehem, Pennsylvania, Bethlehem and Easton, Pennsylvania, Easton, in Lehigh and Northampton County, Pennsylvania, Northampton counties that form the Lehigh Valley region of eastern Pennsylv ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Cinderella (Prokofiev)
''Cinderella'' (russian: Золушка, Romanization of Russian, tr. ''Zolushka''; french: Cendrillon) Op. 87, is a ballet composed by Sergei Prokofiev to a scenario by Nikolai Volkov. It is one of his most popular and melodious compositions, and has inspired a great many choreographers since its inception. The piece was composed between 1940 and 1944. Part way through writing it Prokofiev broke off to write his opera ''War and Peace (opera), War and Peace''. The premiere of ''Cinderella'' was conducted by Yuri Fayer on 21 November, List of 1945 ballet premieres, 1945, at the Bolshoi Theatre, with choreography by Rostislav Zakharov and Galina Ulanova in the title role. ''Cinderella'' is notable for its jubilant music, lush scenery, and for the comic double-roles of the stepmother and the two stepsisters (which can be performed in Travesti (theatre), travesti), more mad than bad in this treatment. Story Act I Cinderella, a young woman whose domineering stepmother forces he ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Chroma (ballet)
''Chroma'' is a one-act contemporary ballet created by Wayne McGregor for the Royal Ballet. The work received its premiere at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, on 17 November 2006. The ballet is performed to a combination of original music by Joby Talbot and arrangements of music by Jack White of the White Stripes, with orchestrations by Christopher Austin. The ballet was a great success, winning a number of awards, including the Laurence Olivier Award for Best New Dance Production, and led to The Royal Ballet appointing McGregor as resident choreographer. Production ''Chroma'' marks the second time Wayne McGregor choreographed for the Royal Opera House main stage, having previously created works for the Royal Opera House's Linbury Studio Theatre. According to McGregor, it was created within three weeks, with four to five hours of rehearsals each day. The ballet is performed by ten dancers; some of the original cast members went on to be McGregor's frequent collaborators, ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
La Bayadère
''La Bayadère'' ("the temple dancer") ( ru. «Баядерка», ''Bayaderka'') is a ballet, originally staged in four acts and seven tableaux by French choreographer Marius Petipa to the music of Ludwig Minkus. The ballet was staged especially for the benefit performance of the Russian ''Prima ballerina'' Ekaterina Vazem, who created the principal role of Nikiya. ''La Bayadère'' was first presented by the Imperial Ballet at the Imperial Bolshoi Kamenny Theatre in St. Petersburg, Russia, on . From the first performance the ballet was universally hailed by contemporary critics as one of the choreographer Petipa's supreme masterpieces, particularly the scene from the ballet known as ''The Kingdom of the Shades'', which became one of the most celebrated pieces in all of classical ballet. By the turn of the 20th century, ''The Kingdom of the Shades'' scene was regularly extracted from the full-length work as an independent showpiece, and it has remained so to the present day. Nea ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Winter Dreams (ballet)
''Winter Dreams'' is a one-act ballet choreographed by Kenneth MacMillan to piano pieces by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky selected and arranged by Philip Gammon and traditional Russian music selected and arranged for guitar and mandolin ensemble by Thomas Hartman. With scenery and costumes designed by Peer Farmer and lighting designed by Clive Thomas, it was first presented by The Royal Ballet at the Royal Opera House, London, on 7 February 1991. Background Macmillan's ballet was inspired by Anton Chekhov's play '' Three Sisters'' (1900), sometimes named as one of his four best plays, along with ''The Cherry Orchard, The Seagull,'' and ''Uncle Vanya''. First performed in 1901 at the Moscow Art Theater, it concerns the intricate relationships of three sisters marooned in the stultifying atmosphere of a provincial Russian garrison town at the turn of the twentieth century. They all have "winter dreams" of returning to Moscow, where they imagine that their lives would be more interesting a ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Western Symphony
''Western Symphony'' is a ballet made by New York City Ballet co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine to American folk tunes arranged by Hershy Kay. It premiered on September 7, 1954 at the City Center of Music and Drama in New York. The ballet was originally presented in practice clothes without scenery. Scenery by John Boyt and costumes by Karinska were added in 1955. Lighting was originally by Jean Rosenthal and subsequently Mark Stanley. Set in the Western United States, the ballet features cowboys and dance hall girls (or saloon girls). Setting The ballet follows no plot but presents several short stories throughout the ballet (similar to ''Serenade'') outside a saloon. It is almost a satire on classical ballet with imitations of ''Giselle'' and ''Swan Lake'' (second movement). The ballet originally had four movements: Allegro The Allegro is for four cowboys, eight girls (divided into two groups of four) and a lead couple. The lengthy Allegro goes for about ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Theme And Variations (ballet)
''Theme and Variations'' is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to the final movement of Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite No. 3. The ballet was made for Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre), and premiered on November 26, 1947, at the City Center 55 Street Theater, with the two leads danced by Alicia Alonso and Igor Youskevitch. The ballet was well-received and was revived by other ballet companies. In 1970, Balanchine incorporated the choreography of ''Theme and Variations'' to ''Suite No. 3'' (now titled '' Tschaikovsky Suite No. 3''), performed by the New York City Ballet. Production Balanchine's ''Theme and Variations'' is set to the final movement of Tchaikovsky's Orchestral Suite No. 3. It was commissioned by Lucia Chase for Ballet Theatre (now American Ballet Theatre). The sets and costumes of the original production were designed by Woodman Thompson. The ballet is plotless and abstract. Like ''Ballet Imperial'' (now titled '' Tschaikovsky Piano Concerto ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Tchaikovsky Pas De Deux
''Tchaikovsky Pas de Deux'' is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine to a composition by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky originally intended for act 3 of ''Swan Lake'' (Op. 20, 1875–76). With costumes by Barbara Karinska and lighting by Jack Owen Brown, it was first presented by New York City Ballet at the City Center of Music and Drama, New York, on 29 March 1960. Robert Irving conducted the New York City Ballet Orchestra. The dancers were Violette Verdy and Conrad Ludlow. Background In 1877, Anna Sobeshchanskaya, ''prima ballerina'' of the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow, made her debut in the dual role of Odette/Odile in ''Swan Lake''. After three performances, she was so dissatisfied with the choreography of Julius Reisinger that she asked for new material for the role of Odile in act 3. With permission from the producers, she traveled from Moscow to Saint Petersburg to ask Marius Petipa, ballet master of the Imperial Theaters, to set a ''pas de deux'' for Odile and Siegfried to re ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Symphony In C (ballet)
''Symphony in C'', originally titled ''Le Palais de Cristal'', is a ballet choreographed by George Balanchine, to Georges Bizet's Symphony in C. The ballet was originally created for the Paris Opera Ballet, and premiered on July 28, 1947 at Théâtre National de l'Opéra. Production Georges Bizet (1838 – 1875) wrote Symphony in C when he was 17-year-old student, and the score was not found until 1933. Composer Igor Stravinsky informed choreographer George Balanchine about this discovery. In 1947, as a guest ballet master at the Paris Opera Ballet, Balanchine choreographed the ballet, then titled ''Le Palais de Cristal'', to "showcase for the talent of the whole company." Balanchine paid homage to Léo Staats, a French choreographer he admired. According to NYCB, Balanchine created the ballet within two weeks. The following year, he restaged the ballet for Ballet Society, under the title ''Symphony in C'', and this version was featured in New York City Ballet's first program. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Serenade (ballet)
''Serenade'' is a ballet by George Balanchine to Tchaikovsky's 1880 '' Serenade for Strings in C'', Op. 48. Serenade is credited as being George Balanchine's first full-length ballet in America. Using the students of his newly formed School of American Ballet, Balanchine choreographed this ballet for an American audience that had not been widely exposed to ballet before.Bird, "Principles of Choreography as Exemplified in the Works of George Balanchine" (1980). Master's Theses. 1851 Students of the School of American Ballet gave the first performance on Sunday, 10 June 1934 on the Felix M. Warburg estate in White Plains, N.Y., where '' Mozartiana'' had been danced the previous day. It was then presented by the Producing Company of the School of American Ballet on 6 December at the Avery Memorial Theatre of the Wadsworth Atheneum with sets by the painter William Littlefield. Balanchine presented the ballet as his response to the generous sponsorships he received during his immig ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Jewels (ballet)
''Jewels'' is a three-act ballet created for the New York City Ballet by co-founder and founding choreographer George Balanchine. It premièred on Thursday, 13 April 1967 at the New York State Theater, with sets designed by Peter Harvey and lighting by Ronald Bates. ''Jewels'' has been called the first full-length abstract ballet. It has three related movements: ''Emeralds'', ''Rubies'', and ''Diamonds'' (usually separated by intermissions). It can also be seen as three separate ballets, linked by their jewel-colored costumes. Balanchine commented: "The ballet had nothing to do with jewels. The dancers are just dressed like jewels." Each of the three acts features the music of a different composer: ''Emeralds'' is set to the music of Gabriel Fauré, ''Rubies'' to the music of Igor Stravinsky and ''Diamonds'' to music by Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky. Costumes The costumes were created by Balanchine's long-time collaborator Barbara Karinska, who created a distinct look for each differen ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
