Don’t Miss: Festival Ballet Providence’s All-Star Gala

Wednesday, October 05, 2011

GoLocalProv Arts Team

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Vilia Putrius and Mindaugas Bauzus in Plotnikov's "Breath in A." Photo by Thomas Nola-Rion

The drama of an artistic performance is usually solely on-stage.

But with economic hard times particularly keen in Rhode Island, arts organizations are taking dramatic steps to improve their fortunes. Festival Ballet Providence (FBP) is doing just that with a gutsy, all-out benefit this month: Together We Dance, an All-Star Benefit Gala Performance. The event will take place on October 19th at The Vets, 1 Avenue of The Arts, Providence, and will include guest artists from across the United States and Europe. Curtain time is 7pm.

Top artists waive their fees for FBP

Guest performers from top national dance companies have all waived their performance fees in support of FBP’s important fundraising efforts. They include: American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Houston Ballet, Lithuanian National Ballet, and New York City Ballet, as well as Festival Ballet Providence’s internationally recognized professional company, students from its school, and its unique adaptive dance program. Each and every guest performer has won numerous international prizes, toured internationally, and performs an extensive repertoire.

Artistic Directors lend their hands

In a show of support, Artistic Directors from the region, including Trinity Rep's Curt Columbus, WaterFire's Barnaby Evans, The Gamm's Tony Estrella, AS220's Bert Crenca, the Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra's resident conductor Fransisco Noya, and RISD Museum Director, John Smith, will provide live commentary during the evening. ABC6's news anchor Mark Curtis and co-anchor Doreen Scanlon will serve as the evening's emcees.

The evening will be produced by Misha Djuric, FBP’s Artistic Director, and will feature Balanchine’s Apollo and the most memorable Grand Pas de Deux from the classical repertory, including The Sleeping Beauty, Swan Lake, and Grand Pas Classique. Additionally, original, neoclassical and contemporary works by Stanton Welch, Boyko Dossev, and a world premiere by Viktor Plotnikov will be presented.

The all-star roster

The guest artists traveling the greatest distance for this benefit performance are the Lithuanian National Ballet's principal dancers, Miki Hamanaka and her partner, Aurimas Paulauskas. They will perform the grand pas de deux from The Sleeping Beauty.

In a rare performance outside of New York, New York City Ballet's Ana Sophia Scheller and American Ballet Theatre's Joseph Phillips will present Grand Pas Classique.

Houston Ballet soloist Nao Kusuzaki will dance two works with her partner, Houston Ballet principal Simon Ball: White Swan pas de deux from Swan Lake and Indigo, an original work by Stanton Welch, Artistic Director of Houston Ballet.

More locally, but still an amazing treat for Providence audiences, Boston Ballet's Misa Kuranaga and Boyko Dossev will perform Dossev's Crane, which premiered as part of Boston Ballet's 2008 Night of Stars and was recently performed at a sold-out fundraiser in support of relief for Japan.

Hometown team

Festival Ballet Providence will also take its turn on stage to showcase the talents and programs of the organization. Four Company members, led by Mindaugas Bauzys and Vilia Putrius, will perform George Balanchine's Apollo. When it was last performed in 2010, audience members broke into immediate applause as the curtain opened and revealed the first image of Mr. Bauzys's Apollo. In addition, select students from the FBP School will perform a world premiere by Viktor Plotnikov, and members of the Adaptive Dance Program, a unique program for children with Down’s Syndrome, will perform a work created by Mr. Djuric and School Director, Mary Ann Mayer.

Audience members will be provided several opportunities to sponsor some of the Company's various scholarship and outreach programs during a special brief auction.

Chair of the Gala Committee is former FBP Board member and Managing Director, Lisa LaDew. Sponsors to date include: Media Sponsors, ABC6 and Motif Magazine; The Vets, RISCA, Textron, the George Balanchine Trust, Trinity Rep, WaterFire Providence, The Gamm, RISD Museum, AS220, Rhode Island Philharmonic Orchestra, Whole Foods Stores, Norman Turner, and others. Row sponsors include: Swarovski, Toots Zynsky, Mary Lovejoy, Santina Siena, Jenay Evans, Don Wineberg, April Chase-Lubitz, Merle Goldstein, and Edward & Gail Fogarty.

Getting on its financial feet

This special evening will give the community the chance to experience some amazing dance artists and help get Festival Ballet Providence on its financial feet. Like many other performing arts organizations, FBP finds itself in a position to reach out to its patrons from throughout the region to give generously through purchasing tickets to this amazing performance and donating toward its important performance, education, outreach and scholarship programs.

Ticket pricing is as follows: Individual tickets are $125, $75, $50 and $25 per person. Ticket patrons purchasing $125 tickets receive premium-seating location in Center Orchestra or Mezzanine, pre-performance reception and post-performance reception with dancers.

The Vets reserved ticket information is available by contacting www.thevetsri.com or 421 ARTS. For questions about the program, please contact Festival Ballet Providence, 353-1129, by sending email inquiries to alex@festivalballetprovidence.org or visiting www.festivalballetprovidence.org.

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