STUDIO THREE:
New Works Festival
April 4-14, 2013
Nurturing new works, taking ballet in new directions, enabling audiences to discover new talents: these are vital to Richmond Ballet's mission. The New Works Festival focuses on up–and–coming innovative choreographers.
It is also a chance for the Richmond Ballet audience to see beginning stages of future works and to witness the dancers in a wide array of movement styles, all in one evening. The festival may also lead to future collaborations between the Ballet and participating choreographers.
Studio Three is performed in Richmond Ballet's Studio Theatre.
This performance will run approximately one and a half hours.
Purchase tickets here.
The four choreographers for the 2013 New Works Festival are Starrene Foster, Sasha Janes, Darrell Moultrie and Amy Seiwert.
A Richmond native, Starrene Foster, is a performer, dance educator, and the Artistic Director of Starr Foster Dance Project. Starrene is the recipient of the Theresa Pollack Award for Artistic Excellence and was recently featured on the PBS broadcast Virginia Currents. Foster was also awarded Richmond's Most Prestigious 25 Arts Innovators, The Top 40 under 40, and was nominated for an ARTSIE by the Richmond Theatre Critics Circle for her choreography in the musical Spring Awakening at Virginia Repertory Theatre. Starrene is the beneficiary of the 2003 VCU Star Alumni Award, where she is presently in her fourteenth year as an adjunct faculty member. She has received grants from the Virginia Council for the Arts and many commissions for new dance works from universities and various dance companies. Starrene teaches throughout the country and her choreography has been presented nationally which at locations including: The Philadelphia Fringe Festival (PA), The Jack Guidone Theatre (DC), SUNY Buffalo (NY), The New World School (FL), Old Dominion University (VA), Cornell University (NY), James Madison University (VA), Dance Charlotte (NC), The Goose Route Dance Festival (WV), the Demetrius Klein Dance Festival (FL), University of Richmond, Scranton Cultural Arts Center (PA), and the Festival of Choreography (NC).
Sasha Janes was born in Perth, Australia, and received his formal dance training from the Australian Ballet School. He has danced professionally with The West Australian Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Hong Kong Ballet, Dayton Ballet, and North Carolina Dance Theatre. In 2006, Sasha was commissioned to choreograph his first ballet, Lascia la Spina, Cogli la Rosa, and since then he has choreographed several ballets for Chautauqua Festival Ballet and North Carolina Dance Theatre, including: You're So Fine, Breathe, Glass Houses, Le Temps, Battle Mind, Tree Hugger, Hungarian Rhapsody #6, Kinetic Energy, 3 Hearts, Rumors, Resolution, Last Lost Chance, and Rhapsodic Dances. Sasha was invited to be a participant in the New York Choreographic Institute's Spring session, where he created Murmuration on the students of the School of American Ballet. In the spring of 2012, Sasha premiered his work Dangerous Liaisons for North Carolina Dance Theatre, a collaboration with internationally–renowned cellist Ben Sollee. Sasha will be presenting three world premieres for North Carolina Dance Theatre during the 2012-13 season. In the summer of 2013, North Carolina Dance Theatre will be presenting his recently premiered work, Rhapsodic Dances, at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C. Sasha currently serves as Associate Artistic Director and choreographer for North Carolina Dance Theatre, under the direction of Jean Pierre Bonnefoux.
Darrell Grand Moultrie is one of America's very diverse and much sought-after choreographers and master teachers. The New York Times wrote, "Moultrie moves his dancers around the stage with remarkable authority... (and) is obviously someone to watch." A recipient of a Princess Grace Choreography Fellowship Award, Darrell has created and staged his work for The Juilliard School, Colorado Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet , Ailey2, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Cleo Parker Dance Ensemble, Rasta Thomas's Bad Boys of Dance, Milwaukee Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, The August Wilson Center Dance Ensemble, Tulsa Ballet, Point Park University, and CalArts. This Spring, Smuin Ballet will add Darrell's work "Jazzin" to their repertoire, and Richmond Ballet will Premiere a new work. As a performer, Mr. Moultrie was seen in West Side Story in Milan, Italy, at the world famous La Scala Opera House. He was seen on Broadway in the smash hits Hairspray The Musical with Harvey Fierstein, and Aida, where he understudied the role of Mereb, performing opposite Toni Braxton. Most recently Darrell was an original Broadway cast member of the Tony Award-winning musical Billy Elliot. Darrell is a proud New Yorker, born and raised in Harlem. Darrellgrandmoultrie.com
Amy Seiwert serves as the Artistic Director and primary choreographer of Imagery. Her collaborations with artists of other disciplines and commitment to experimental work from a classical base make her a unique voice in the Bay Area dance community. She was named one of "25 to Watch" by Dance Magazine, one of the "Hot 20 under 40" by 7x7, was honored with a "Goldie" award from the San Francisco Bay Guardian. Twice her choreography has been listed in the "Top 10" dance events of the year by the San Francisco Chronicle, and twice she has worked with dancers from the New York City Ballet, participating in the New York Choreography Institute at the invitation of Peter Martins. Her work is in the repertory of Washington, Colorado, Cincinnati, Louisville, and Oakland Ballets, as well as Ballet Nouveau Colorado and Robert Moses KIN. Future projects include upcoming commissions for AXIS Dance, Milwaukee Ballet, and Alaska Dance Theater. She is honored to be the Choreographer in Residence for Smuin Ballet, as well as an Artist in Residence at the ODC Theater.
