The Emerging Choreographers Showcase will feature three exciting World Premiere works inspired by the TBII dancers and created by up and coming choreographers
TULSA, Okla. – March 2017 – Tulsa Ballet II, the official second company of Tulsa Ballet, will premiere Emerging Choreographers Showcase in April. This year’s program will be composed of three works including OMENS by Arch Dance Company’s Jennifer Archibald, mollitiam by Tulsa Ballet Soloist, Rodrigo Hermesmeyer and Scandal by Tulsa Ballet Principal Arman Zazyan. The performances will be held April 21 – 23, with the Friday and Sunday shows being held in Tulsa Ballet’s intimate Studio K Theater, and the Saturday show in the brand new Zarrow Performance Studio at the Hardesty Center for Dance Education in Broken Arrow.
This is the third year the company has presented their Emerging Choreographers Showcase which provides wonderful opportunities for both young choreographers and dancers to be part of a unique creative process. This collaboration has resulted in three brand new contemporary works.
Artistic Director Marcello Angelini says, “Emerging Choreographers is one of my favorite programs here at Tulsa Ballet. The future of our art form, as well as the relevance of dance for generations to come, depends from the quality of choreography that future dance makers are able to produce. Choreography starts with talent, develops into skill and matures into accomplishment. In order to guarantee the future of our art forms, us artistic directors must make an effort to identify talent, give them the tools to develop the skills to make dances and allow them to mature as dance makers. Therefore, I venture to say that the future of dance starts with Emerging Choreographers.”
This year will mark Rodrigo Hermesmeyer’s third creation and the first year for Principal Dancer Arman Zazyan’s choreography. Angelini says, “Arman and Rodrigo, besides being fabulous dancers and fine artists, are definitely gifted with ions of talent as dance makers. Their works are very different in style, just as their dancing is different in approach and “color”. And yet both pieces share depth and sensitivity, a testament of their ability as artists to communicate with an audience, whether as dancers or choreographers.”
He describes renowned dance maker Jennifer Archibald as a “powerhouse of a choreographer. She is a well-known dance maker, having created works for Atlanta Ballet, Ailey II and Cincinnati Ballet among others. She is an accomplished choreographer, bringing artistry, craft and experience to the stage. Her works are a shot of pure adrenaline, you will find yourself dancing in your chair half way through her work.”
About the Choreographers
Jennifer Archibald – Founder and Artistic Director of the Arch Dance Company and Program Director of ArchCore40 dance intensives. Jennifer is at the forefront of today’s dance generation of choreographers and dance educators. Having graduated from the Alvin Ailey School and the Maggie Flanigan Acting Conservatory where she specialized in the Meisner technique, she draws on a variety of techniques, experience and styles. She has presented Arch Dance Company nationally having been awarded two National Performance Network grants; and by special invitation to notable dance festivals country wide. Jennifer has staged off-Broadway shows and has choreographed professional theater company musicals. She has worked with chart-listed musicians and actors as a movement specialist and choreographer. She is currently on faculty at STEPS on Broadway, Broadway Dance Centre, Ailey Extension, Gibney Dance and CAP 21 America’s Musical Theatre Conservatory in New York City. She has been on faculty at the Bates Dance Festival, Broadway Theater Project and Florida Dance Festival, Complexions, Dallas Black Dance Theatre and Howard University Intensives.
Rodrigo Hermesmeyer, Tulsa Ballet Soloist – From Joinville, Brazil, Rodrigo began his studies in classical dance at age 11 under the care of Marcos Sage. In 2006, he joined the Brazilian Conservatory of Dance in Rio de Janeiro. In the same year he joined the Cia Brasileira de Ballet, Jorge Texeira, where he danced leading roles in important ballets and contemporary repertoire. Rodrigo has been featured in multiple productions and worked with major choreographers. His highlights include Jorma Elo’s Slice to Sharpe, Wayne McGregor’s Infra, Yuri Possokov’s Classical Symphony, Luciano Cannito’s Romeo, the role of Lensky in John Cranko’s Onegin, and Mercutio in Edwaard Liang’s Romeo and Juliet. He is proud to have been dancing with the company for seven seasons. This is Rodrigo’s seventh season with Tulsa Ballet and his third year in a row Rodrigo has choreographed for TBII.
Arman Zazyan – Tulsa Ballet Principal – Arman began his ballet training in his birthplace of Erivan, Armenia. In 2003, he moved to Stuttgart, Germany to continue his ballet education at the John Cranko Schule. Arman joined Stuttgart Ballet in 2004 and was promoted to Demi-soloist in 2007 and Soloist in 2012. While in Stuttgart, he performed soloist roles in works such as Bolero (Béjart), Romeo and Juliet (Cranko), Slice to Sharp (Elo), The Vertiginous Thrill of Exactitude (Forsythe), The Four Temperaments (Balanchine), La Fille mal gardée (Ashton), and Dances at a Gathering (Robbins), among many others. In 2012, Arman was invited to perform the role of Valerio in Christian Spuck’s Leonce and Lena as a guest artist with the Aalto Ballet in Essen, Germany. He joined Tulsa Ballet as a Senior Soloist in 2014 and was promoted to Principal in 2016. Since coming to Tulsa, Arman has danced the male lead role in The Taming of the Shrew (Cranko), The Nutcracker (Angelini), and Onegin (Cranko). He also performed in works by noted choreographers Nacho Duato, Jiří Kylián, and Wayne McGregor, to name a few. Arman won the Vaganova Prize in 2002.
About TBII
The 2016/17 Season will mark the third year Tulsa Ballet II performs a stand-alone mini-season, separate from the main company. Tulsa Ballet II was founded in 2005 as a paid program designed to provide a bridge between the student phase of an aspiring classical ballet dancer and the professional career. TBII dancers receive a monthly stipend to help offset living expenses. Through an international audition search, the most talented and committed young men and women are invited to Tulsa to refine their artistic and technical skills by working on their own and alongside the professional company. This is accomplished through performances of repertoire ranging from pure classical ballets to the cutting edge of contemporary works. Tulsa Ballet II provides new dancers for the main company each year, and has promoted more than a dozen dancers since 2010. Tulsa Ballet II offers its members multiple additional performance opportunities throughout the year, including their own mini-season with two triple-bill shows, education outreach performances (Backstage at the Ballet) which includes a partnership with Any Given Child-Tulsa, as well as providing support to Tulsa Ballet’s Main Company performances at the discretion of the Artistic Director Marcello Angelini. Of the TBII program he says, “Our goal from the very beginning was to create a program that would afford young, talented dancers the tools to bridge the gap between the academic studies of ballet and the expectations of a professional career. As it usually happens here at Tulsa Ballet, a small experiment has become a large, exciting and largely promising project. What was then a small experiment, TBII is now one of the most stimulating undertakings of our organization.”
TULSA BALLET II Emerging Choreographers Showcase
QUICK FACTS
Tickets for Emerging Choreographers Showcase start at just $25. For tickets call (918) 749-6006 or visit www.tulsaballet.org.
WHAT:
Emerging Choreographers Showcase, a triple bill ballet featuring new works:
OMENS by Jennifer Archibald
mollitiam by Rodrigo Hermesmeyer
Scandal by Arman Zazyan
WHEN & WHERE:
7:00 p.m. Friday, April 21, 2017 at Tulsa Ballet’s Studio K Theater, 1212 E. 45th in Brookside Tulsa.
7:00 p.m. Saturday, April 22, 2017 at the Zarrow Performance Studio, 1901 W. New Orleans St in Broken Arrow
3:00 p.m. Sunday, April 23, 2017 at Tulsa Ballet’s Studio K Theater, 1212 E. 45th in Brookside Tulsa.
Visit www.tulsaballet.org for more information about upcoming performances. Tickets start at $25 for select performance dates.
Hi-Res images and interview opportunities available:
Ryan Allen, PR & Communications Manager
918.392.5949, ryan.allen@tulsaballet.org
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