May 20-28, 2022
Davidson Theatre
Run Time: Approx. 1 hr
Choreography: George Balanchine, Christopher Wheeldon, Edwaard Liang
This is a mixed-rep ballet. Mixed-rep ballets are several unrelated short ballets with intermissions, similar to a collection of short stories.
BalletMet thanks Director's Choice Presenting Sponsor, Nancy Strause, for her longstanding and generous support. Nancy has been with BalletMet since it became a professional company in 1978. In fact, it was Nancy who wrote the grant to Battelle to ask for the support to launch BalletMet into its professional status. From that first experience working for BalletMet, Nancy became a dedicated member of the BalletMet family. We are grateful that she is still willing to serve on our Board of Directors.
Nancy continues to work to ensure that BalletMet has the backing to continue its mission “to entertain, engage and educate through dance” as we weather the effects of the pandemic. She is deeply committed to ensuring that our community continues to experience world class ballet and she is especially passionate about the creation of new work.
Nancy has made this event and so many others possible for the entire BalletMet family and the Columbus community.
Thank you, Nancy for all you have done and still do for all of us.
This project is supported in part by the National Endowment for the Arts. To find out more about how National Endowment for the Arts grants impact individuals and communities, visit www.arts.gov.
Special thanks to Susan and Grant Douglass for their donation of the trees that are featured in the World Premiere of Edwaard Liang's Seasons.
BalletMet also thanks the Dawes Arboretum for consultation on the trees that helped create the special scenery for Seasons.
Kristie Latham retires after 9 years with BalletMet. Her last performance will be Sat, May 28 at 8:00 PM.
Congratulations Kristie!
Jim Nowakowski retires after a 15-year professional career and 5 years with BalletMet. His last performance will be Friday, May 27 at 8:00 PM.
Congratulations Jim!
We wish much continued success to both Kristie and Jim as they move onto a new chapter in their lives.
Christopher Wheeldon's After the Rain Pas de Deux
Love affectionate and pure, Christopher Wheeldon’s excerpt from After the Rain Pas de Deux will move you as emotionally as the dancers move passionately. Wheeldon’s choreography, with its sustained successive movement, reveals a melancholic expression keeping you enwrapped in this contemporary ballet from the first stroke of the piano keys.
George Balanchine's Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux
In an energetic display of brilliant technique and artistry, George Balanchine’s Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux will have you riveted to your seat. One of the most difficult passages of classical ballet, Balanchine’s duet is chock full of fast-paced dancing, sparkling pirouettes, and a stunning fly-through-the-air fish dive. A must-see ballet for even the novice ballet enthusiast!
Edwaard Liang's Seasons
Artistic Director Edwaard Liang’s ballets have been featured around the world. He introduces an entirely New Work as part of Director’s Choice with a ballet inspired by Max Richter’s recomposition of Vivaldi’s Four Seasons.
Christpoher Wheeldon, OBE
Choreographer, After the Rain Pas de Deux
Christopher Wheeldon trained at The Royal Ballet School and joined The Royal Ballet in 1991. In 1993, he joined New York City Ballet and was promoted to Soloist in 1998. He was named NYCB’s first Resident Choreographer in July 2001. Since then, Mr. Wheeldon has created and staged productions for many of the world’s major ballet companies.
In 2007, Mr. Wheeldon founded Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company and was appointed an Associate Artist for Sadler’s Wells Theatre in London. Mr. Wheeldon now serves as Artistic Associate of The Royal Ballet. As Artistic Associate, Mr. Wheeldon has created many works for the company, including the full-length Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland and The Winter’s Tale, both of which were co-productions with The National Ballet of Canada. In 2012, his ballet Cinderella premiered at Het Nationale Ballet and is making its way to worldwide audiences.
For the Metropolitan Opera, he choreographed Dance of the Hours for Ponchielli’s La Gioconda (2006) and Richard Eyre’s production of Carmen (2012) as well as ballet sequences for the feature film Center Stage (2000) and Sweet Smell of Success on Broadway (2002).
Mr. Wheeldon created a special excerpt for the Closing Ceremony of the London 2012 Olympics. In April 2016, he was the Artistic Director for the Fashion Forward exhibition in Paris at La Musee Arts et Decoratif.
In 2014, Mr. Wheeldon directed and choreographed the musical version of An American in Paris, which had productions in Paris, on Broadway, and in London. 2016 was The Joffrey Ballet’s world premiere of The Nutcracker reimagined by Mr. Wheeldon and he directed and choreographed the gala presentation of Lerner & Loewe’s Brigadoon starring Kelli O’Hara and Patrick Wilson at New York City Center in 2017. In 2018, Mr. Wheeldon staged two pieces in Tokyo: An American in Paris and Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland while in 2019, Wheeldon’s The Winter’s Tale was performed by The Bolshoi Ballet. 2019 was also the premiere for Corybantic Games at The Royal Ballet and a re-staged version of Cinderella for the English National Ballet at Royal Albert Hall. In 2022, MJ The Musical opened on Broadway and a new full length ballet version of Like Water for Chocolate will have its world premiere at The Royal Ballet in June.
Among Mr. Wheeldon’s awards are a Tony Award for Best Choreography for An American in Paris, an Outer Critics Award for Best Choreography and Direction for An American in Paris, the Martin E. Segal Award from Lincoln Center, the American Choreography Award, the Dance Magazine Award, multiple London Critics’ Circle Awards, and the Léonide Massine Prize for new choreography. Mr. Wheeldon’s productions of Cinderella and The Winter’s Tale received the Benois de la Danse, and he is an Olivier Award winner for his ballets Aeternum for The Royal Ballet and Polyphonia for Morphoses.
In 2016, Mr. Wheeldon was named an O.B.E. and was made an Honorary Fellow of American Academy of Arts and Sciences. Christopher is a dual citizen of the United States and the United Kingdom and resides in New York City with his husband, Ross Rayburn, and their dog, Hattie.
George Balanchine
Choreographer, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux
George Balanchine is widely regarded as the most influential choreographer of the 20th century. Born in St. Petersburg, Russia, in 1904, he studied at the Imperial Ballet School and danced with the Mariinsky Theatre Ballet Company. In the summer of 1924, Balanchine left for Europe, where he joined the Ballets Russes and choreographed his first important ballets: Apollo (1928) and Prodigal Son (1929). Balanchine spent his next few years on a variety of projects in Europe and the formed his own company, Les Ballets 1933, in Paris. There he met American arts connoisseur Lincoln Kierstein, who persuaded him to come to the United States. In 1934, the pair founded the School of American Ballet. Balanchine’s first ballet in the U.S., Serenade, set to music by Tchaikovsky, was created for SAB students and premiered on June 9, 1934. Balanchine and Kirstein founded the Ballet Society in 1946, which was renamed New York City Ballet in 1948. Balanchine served as the Company’s ballet master from that year until his death in 1983, building it into one of the most important performing arts institutions in the world. He choreographed 425 works over the course of 60-plus years, and his musical choices ranged from Tchaikovsky to Stravinsky to Gershwin. Many of Balanchine’s works are considered masterpieces and are performed by ballet companies all over the world.
Edwaard Liang
Choreographer, Seasons
A former dancer with New York City Ballet and Nederlands Dans Theater, Edwaard Liang has built an international reputation as a choreographer. Over the last decade, he has created work for the Bolshoi Ballet, Houston Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Kirov Ballet, New York City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Shanghai Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre and Washington Ballet.
Born in Taipei, Taiwan and raised in Marin County, California, Mr. Liang began his dance training at age five with Marin Ballet. After studying at the School of American Ballet, he joined New York City Ballet in 1993. That same year, he was a medal winner at the Prix de Lausanne International Ballet Competition and won the Mae L. Wien Award. By 1998, he was promoted to Soloist. In 2001, Mr. Liang joined the Tony Award® winning Broadway cast of Fosse. His performance in Fosse was later televised nationally on PBS’ Great Performances series – “Dance in America: From Broadway: Fosse,” and subsequently released on DVD. By 2002, Mr. Liang was invited by Jiri Kylian to become a member of the acclaimed Nederlands Dans Theater 1.
While dancing with NDT 1, Mr. Liang discovered his passion and love for choreography. Since establishing himself as a choreographer, his works have been performed by dance companies around the world and he has won numerous awards for his choreography including the 2006 National Choreographic Competition.
In 2013, Mr. Liang was named Artistic Director at BalletMet where he continues to choreograph new works for companies both domestically and abroad. In 2017, he received an Emmy® Award for his short dance film, “Vaulted.” In 2018, he created a new ballet with Roberto Bolle for the opening of the World Economic Forum Annual Meeting in Davos, Switzerland.
Margaret Tracey
Repetiteur, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux
Born in Pueblo, Colorado, Tracey began ballet studies with her mother, Nancy Tracey, at age six. In 1982, she was accepted as a student at the School of American Ballet (SAB), the official school of New York City Ballet (NYCB). At SAB, she was the recipient of an Atlantic Richfield Foundation scholarship (1982-85) as well as a Princess Grace Foundation award (1985-86) that cited her “exceptional promise and dedication to excellence.”
In 1986, Tracey joined the NYCB corps de ballet, launching a celebrated 16-year stage career. A principal dancer from 1991 until her retirement in 2002, she excelled in the Balanchine repertoire, appearing frequently in such core works as Apollo, Allegro Brilliante, Ballo della Regina, Concerto Barocco, Serenade, Square Dance, Symphony in C, Vienna Waltzes, Western Symphony, and Who Cares?, among others. She was also featured in a range of Robbins’ ballets, including Andantino, Afternoon of a Faun, The Four Seasons, and The Goldberg Variations, and created a role in the choreographer’s Ives, Songs (1988). She originated roles in works by William Forsythe, Richard Tanner, Ib Andersen, Trey McIntyre and Peter Martins, including his Les Petit Riens, Fearful Symmetries, Zakouski and his production of The Sleeping Beauty, in which she appeared both as Princess Aurora and Princess Florine.
With NYCB, Tracey toured Europe and Asia, appeared in the PBS “Live from Lincoln Center” series, and danced the Marzipan Shepherdess in the 1993 film of Balanchine’s The Nutcracker.
As a Balanchine Repetiteur, Tracey has staged several of his works including, Concerto Barocco, Theme and Variations, Scotch Symphony, Raymonda Variations, and Divertimento #15, among others on both professional companies and schools. And in 2011 she was recognized with a Jerome Robbins Foundation award for her distinguished interpretation as a Robbins’ dancer.
Since retiring from New York City Ballet in 2002, Tracey has become an admired and dedicated teacher and arts advocate. She served as the Director of Boston Ballet School (BBS) from 2007-2021 and was profiled in a 2009 issue of Dance Teacher Magazine. During her tenure at BBS, Tracey drew upon her teaching experiences, studies in psychology, and ties to community clinicians to initiate a comprehensive Wellness Program at BBS. She also created the Next Generation, a year-end performance showcasing pre-professional students, which has become an annual highlight that spotlights BBS as a leader in local and regional arts education. Her stature in the dance world brought BBS extraordinary access to the Balanchine and Robbins repertoire, enhancing the training and performance experience for students. In addition, Tracey committed to commissioning underrepresented voices in choreography by amplifying the work of women and BIPOC choreographers such as Jill Johnson, Lia Cirio and Ja’ Malik, among others. Tracey further distinguished BBS internationally by establishing exchange programs with Canada’s National Ballet School, Paris Opera Ballet School, the Royal Danish Ballet and Dresden’s Semperoper Ballet. And under her leadership, BBS also became a partner school with the prestigious Prix de Lausanne international ballet competition.
Tracey continues to dedicate her efforts as a dance educator with a strong commitment to Diversity, Equity, Inclusion and Access to champion change. In her final year at BBS, she implemented a mentorship program, Color Our Future (COF) for students to connect with professional dancers seeking racial equitiy in the field. She has served on panels for MoBBallet’s annual educational symposiums (2019 and 2020) and has worked with colleagues at Dance USA School Directors Affinity Group to share learning around culturally responsive teaching practices to better support faculty. Tracey’s work as an international arts educator continues as she serves on the organizing committee for World Ballet School Day (2020 and 2021), an event that brings together students from across the globe to highlight their voices and support the next generation of inspiring dance artists.
Jack Mehler
Scenic Designer
Jack is very pleased to be returning to BalletMet, having previously designed Airavata, Alice, by Liang, Cinderella, Giselle, Sleeping Beauty, and Twisted II. Other projects with Edwaard Liang include Constant Light for Ballet West, Symphonic Dances for San Francisco Ballet, and Woven Dreams for the Joffrey Ballet. He received the 2012 Korean Musical Theatre Award (Korean Tony) for Elisabeth and the 2013 award for Rebecca. Other dance work includes Atlanta Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theatre, Donald Byrd/Spectrum Dance (Gypsy award), Buglisi Dance Theatre, Ballet Memphis, Hubbard Street, Joffrey Ballet, Lar Lubovitch, San Francisco Ballet and many others. Theatre work includes Cleveland Play House, Manhattan Theatre Club, North Shore Music Theatre (four IRNE nominations), Ogunquit Playhouse, Paper Mill Playhouse, Riverside Theatre, Seattle Rep, Syracuse Stage, Walnut Street Theatre, Weston Playhouse, the Working Theatre, and the WPA Theatre, among many others. He also provides design coordination/owner’s representation for arts organizations building or renovating performance and rehearsal facilities and is a founding board member of ACT of Connecticut (2 Broadway World awards).
After the Rain Pas de Deux Costume Design:
Holly Hynes
Holly Hynes is an award-winning costume designer with over 250 ballets to her credit, including more than 70 at New York City Ballet where she was Director of Costumes for 21 years. Hynes’ designs are also on view in companies around the world, including American Ballet Theatre; The Bolshoi Ballet: National Ballet of Canada; La Scala Ballet; The Kirov Ballet; The Royal Ballet in London; Ballet de l’Opéra National de Paris; The Royal Danish Ballet; Bulgarian State Ballet; Miami City Ballet; Koninklijk Ballet van Vlaanderen; San Francisco Ballet; Houston Ballet; Den Norske Ballet; Finnish National; BalletMet; Pennsylvania Ballet; Ballet Vancouver; Les Grands Ballets Canadiens; American Repertory Ballet; Pacific Northwest Ballet; Atlanta Ballet; Nashville Ballet; Colorado Ballet Joffrey Ballet; Leipzig Ballet. She was also the resident designer for The Suzanne Farrell Ballet at The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts in Washington, DC for 15 years. Recognized for the reproduction of important historical ballet works, she is a leading authority in the accurate recreation of the original designs for George Balanchine and Jerome Robbin's ballet costumes. She is the recipient of the 2018 TDF/Irene Sharaff Award for LifeTime Achievement for Design in Dance. Past Designs for BalletMet besides Christopher Wheeldon’s After the Rain include Wheeldon's Carousel (A Dance), Ulysses Dove's Red Angel, and Stanton Welch’s Don Quixote, The Firebird, Blue and Orange.
Mark Stanley
Lighting Designer, After the Rain Pas de Deux, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux
Mark Stanley, Resident Lighting Designer for New York City Ballet, has designed over 200 premieres for their repertoire including Paul McCartney’s Ocean’s Kingdom. He has worked with choreographers around the world including Peter Martins, Alexei Ratmansky, Susan Stroman, Christopher Wheeldon, Justin Peck, William Forsythe, Kevin O’Day, Susan Marshall, Christopher d’Amboise, and many others. His designs are in the repertoire of nearly every major ballet company in the North America and Europe including: The Royal Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Danish Ballet, Het Nationale Ballet, The Bolshoi Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Kevin O’Day-Ballett National theatre Mannheim, La Scala Ballet, Mariinsky Ballet, Norwegian National Opera & Ballet, Boston Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Miami City Ballet, Pilobolus Dance Theatre, Alvin Ailey Dance Theater, and The Joffrey Ballet. Mr. Stanley heads the Lighting Design Program at Boston University and is on the Board of Directors of the Hemsley Lighting Programs.
Jim French
Lighting Designer, After the Rain Pas de Deux, Tschaikovsky Pas de Deux, Seasons
Jim French designs lighting for the performing arts and live events, with work seen in twenty five countries around the globe. Highlights of Jim's work in dance include over fifteen world premieres for San Francisco Ballet, nine seasons as resident designer for Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, and long running collaborations with the choreographers Val Caniparoli, Pascal Rioult, and Amy Seiwert, with vertical dance company Bandaloop, and with Ballet West. At home in the San Francisco Bay Area, he has collaborated with Alonzo King Lines Ballet, RAW Dance, Shotgun Players, Kronos Quartet, Joe Goode Performance Group, ODC Dance, Post:Ballet, SF Danceworks, Imagery, Sacramento Ballet, Marin Theater Company, West Edge Opera, and has been house LD at SF Jazz. Favorite credits from further afield include Finnish National Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Ballett Basel, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Playwright's Horizons, Carte Blanche, Royal Ballet of Flanders, and LA Dance Project. Jim designed lighting for the 2018 Global Climate Action Summit, and volunteers for Dancers Responding to AIDS and Bike East Bay.
BalletMet’s company dancers are members of the American Guild of Musical Artists, the union of professional singers and dancers who create America’s operatic, choral and dance heritage.
