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Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, Program II

by Helene Davis
October 1, 2008
New York City Center
130 West 56th Street
(Audience Entrance is on West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues)
(Entrance for Studios and Offices is on West 56th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues)
New York, NY 10019
212.247.0430
NEW YORK CITY CENTER PRESENTS
Second Annual Season of MORPHOSES/THE WHEELDON COMPANY
Includes U.S. Premieres by Christopher Wheeldon and Emily Molnar
Works by Lightfoot León and Sir Frederick Ashton
Accompanied by Orchestra of St. Luke's
Tyler Angle, Gonzalo Garcia, Craig Hall, Maria Kowroski, Edwaard Liang and Wendy Whelan to Perform
October 1 – 5, 2008
New York, New York, October 1, 2008 - New York City Center will present the second
annual season of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, October 1 – 5, 2008, featuring
works by Artistic Director Christopher Wheeldon, including the U.S. premiere of
Commedia, co-commissioned by New York City Center and Sadler's Wells Theatre,
London. Also featured will be a U.S. premiere of Six Fold Illuminate, a new work by
Canadian choreographer Emily Molnar as well as works by Lightfoot León and Sir
Frederick Ashton. As of October 2, the Company will also present the New York
Premiere of Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's One, which will replace Frederick Ashton's
The Dream Pas De Deux.

The company will perform to live music each evening, including performances with full
orchestra comprised of members of the Orchestra of St. Luke's, led by Alan Pierson.
Leading dancers from major U.S. and European ballet companies will once again join
the company, including Tyler Angle, Leanne Benjamin, Gonzalo Garcia, Craig Hall,
Maria Kowroski, Edwaard Liang, Tiler Peck, Teresa Reichlen, Edward Watson, Wendy
Whelan and others.

U.S. PREMIERES
The U.S. premiere of Commedia, Christopher Wheeldon's newest work for eight
dancers, with music by Igor Stravinsky, will have its world premiere in September at
Sadler's Wells Theatre, London. About his new piece, Mr. Wheeldon said, "In
anticipation of next year's Ballets Russes centenary, I will create a new ballet to
Pulcinella Suite by Igor Stravinsky, with designs by the vibrant and creative Isabel
Toledo."

Emily Molnar's new piece, Six Fold Illuminate, has costumes by designer Narciso
Rodriguez, set to the music of Steve Reich's Variations for Winds, Strings and
Keyboards (1979) and will also debut in September at Sadler's Wells. Molnar was
named as one of Canada's "new generation of ballet sensations" (Maclean's Magazine)
and works as both a choreographer and solo artist. She is a former member of The
National Ballet of Canada and Frankfurt Ballet, under director William Forsythe,
and was a principal dancer with Ballet British Columbia.

ANNABELLE LOPEZ OCHOA
Annabelle Lopez Ochoa's One has been added to the schedule. The piece had its
premiere at the Dance Salad Festival in Houston, Texas in March, 2008, with music by
Jacob Ter Vedhuis, will be performed by Morphoses dancers Drew Jacoby and Rubinald
Pronk.

SIR FREDERICK ASHTON
Sir Frederick Ashton's classic work from the 1960's, Monotones II (1965), staged by
Lynn Wallis, will be performed by Morphoses dancers Wendy Whelan, Adrian Danchig-
Waring and Tyler Angle.

LIGHTFOOT LEÓN
Lightfoot León's Shutters Shut (2003) features two dancers in a four-minute ballet set
to a poem by Gertrude Stein. Paul Lightfoot and Sol León met as dancers with Nederlands
Dans Theatre in 1987. Since the beginning of their collaboration in 1991, they have
created over thirty ballets for NDT. Paul Lightfoot and Sol León were named resident
choreographers of the Nederlands Dans Theater in its 2002 season.

WHEELDON REPERTOIRE
Christopher Wheeldon describes Polyphonia, choreographed in 2001 to ten eclectic
piano pieces by Ligeti, as "romantic with comic twists." Created for four couples,
its brief sections run the choreographic spectrum from the neoclassic to playful duets,
anchored by dynamic opening and closing ensembles filled with twisting turns, jabs and
quirky hard movements. Fools' Paradise, which premiered during Morphoses' inaugural
season in 2007 to great acclaim, is a work for nine dancers set to The Dying Swan score
by contemporary composer Joby Talbot.

Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company was formed by Christopher Wheeldon in 2007 to
broaden the scope of contemporary classical ballet by marrying dance, music, visual art
and design. The company is Guest Resident Company at both New York City Center
and at Sadler's Wells Theatre, London. Christopher Wheeldon is Associate Artist of
Sadler's Wells Theatre.

American Express is the lead sponsor of Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company at New
York City Center and a proud sponsor of the Company's transatlantic season at Sadler's
Wells Theatre, London. New York City Center also gratefully acknowledges the generous
support of The Rockefeller Foundation for the presentation of Morphoses/The Wheeldon
Company at New York City Center.

New York City Center has long been known and beloved by New York audiences not
only as one of the City's preeminent performing art institutions but also as an
accessible and welcoming venue for dance and theater. New York City Center produces
the Tonyhonored Encores! musical theater series and its new Encores! Summer Stars series,
and is home to some of the country's leading dance companies including Alvin Ailey
American Dance Theater, American Ballet Theatre, Paul Taylor Dance Company and
Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company, as well as Manhattan Theatre Club, one of New
York's leading theater companies. Continuing to fulfill its mission to make the arts
accessible to the broadest possible audience, in 2004 New York City Center launched
the acclaimed Fall for Dance Festival. In 2006, New York City Center and Sadler's
Wells Theatre, London created a partnership to facilitate the exchange of innovative
dance works, and new commissions by up-and-coming and acclaimed choreographers
and dance companies, both in London and New York City.

Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company will play for six performances, October 1 - 5, at
New York City Center, West 55th Street, between 6th and 7th Avenues, according to the
following schedule: Wednesday, October 1 at 7pm (Gala), Thursday, October 2 at 8pm,
Friday October 3 at 8pm, Saturday, October 4 at 2pm and 8pm, and Sunday, October 5
at 3pm. Tickets are $30, $60, $85 and $110 and can be purchased by calling
CityTix® at 212-581-1212, online at www.NYCityCenter.org or at the City Center
Box Office (West 55th Street between 6th and 7th Avenues).

Morphoses/The Wheeldon Company dancers appear courtesy of New York City Ballet,
The Royal Ballet and Norwegian National Ballet.
Morphoses 2008, Gonzalo Garcia & Craig Hall, FOOLS

Morphoses 2008, Gonzalo Garcia & Craig Hall, FOOLS

Photo © & courtesy of Erin Baiano


MORPHOSES, ONE, Rubinald Pronk, Drew Jacoby, 2008

MORPHOSES, ONE, Rubinald Pronk, Drew Jacoby, 2008

Photo © & courtesy of Erin Baiano

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