We are still working on the program for our Spring Repertory 2009 which will begin Sunday March 15th, 2009 at SUNY Purchase. Authentic choreography, striking costumes and scenery adds to the magic making this performance perfect for children as well as adults. Please contact us if you would like us to notify you of performance and ticket details when they are available
Spring Repertory 2008
Our program featured Westchester Ballet Company dancers representing many Westchester communities as well as Putnam and Dutchess Counties performing excerpts from La Bayadere, with music by Leon Minkus, choreography by Marius Petipa and staging by Beth Fritz-Logrea. The tale of a hapless love affair between an Indian temple dancer and a heroic warrior, La Bayadere was first presented at the Maryinsky Theatre in St. Petersburg in 1877, indulging the public’s obsession with the exotic and a certain “sensuality entwined with chasteness.” The ballet now stands as an important connection between the Romantic and Classical eras of ballet, employing many of the motifs of the earlier Romantic ballets, while featuring more of the “pure dance” and shorter tutus that characterized works of the Classical period.
Also performed was The Glenn Miller Swing Nutcracker, with choreography by Mary Jane Houdina. Set to Glenn Miller’s fabulous score inspired by Tchaikovsky’s Nutcracker Suite, The Glenn Miller Swing Nutcracker, was performed by six Westchester Ballet Company dancers. Ms. Houdina, choreographer of Into the Light, was associate choreographer for the movie The Great Gatsby and the original Annie, and has choreographed scores of musicals in regional theaters throughout the country. She appeared in eleven Broadway shows and received the 1998 Barrymore Award for her choreography in Crazy for You. Here she employs a ‘forties idiom, importing steps from jitterbug, bebop, “Shorty George” and tap dance to invoke a more contemporary – and much more succinct – teen holiday party.
Spring Repertory 2007
Our program featured Les Sylphides, a one-act romantic reverie with music by Frederic Chopin. First staged at the Maryinsky Theatre, St. Petersburg in 1908, and given its United States premiere by Diaghilev’s Ballet Russes in 1916, the ballet is a gem. Graduation Ball, a celebratory romp and variations from Swan Lake, Sleeping Beauty, Esmeralda and more rounded out the program.
