FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
April 18th, 2023
TULSA BALLET OFFERS THREE CURATED WORKS FOR THE 2023 SIGNATURE SERIES
TULSA, OK – Tulsa Ballet will close the 22-23 Season with a triple bill featuring something for everyone: a cutting-edge hip-hop piece, the return of a hilarious audience favorite, and an exciting World Premiere. Signature Series will be held May 11-14 at the Lorton Performance Center at the University of Tulsa campus.
This year’s Signature Series will see the return of Tulsa Ballet’s first ever hip-hop ballet, While You Were Gone, by renowned choreographer Jennifer Weber. While You Were Gone premiered in 2021 as part of The Celebration, honoring the history and future of Tulsa Ballet. Signature Series will also feature the return of the unique and hilarious Cacti by Alexander Ekman. The popular production debuted in 2017, and quickly earned a reputation as a funny and scathing critique of art interpretation. This year, Signature Series also features a World Premiere from Katarzyna Kozielska, the celebrated choreographer from Poland who created the original production Ode for Tulsa Ballet in 2021.
In discussing Jennifer Weber’s return to Tulsa Ballet, Artistic Director Marcello Angelini said, “I am thrilled to have Jennifer Weber work with our company again. The entire connection with her was made almost by mistake, or by faith, during the COVID pandemic. Daniela and I were invited to a virtual birthday party for one of our dearest American friends, and his uncle and aunt kept sharing stories about their daughter, Jenn the choreographer. Just to be polite I asked for a couple of videos of her work… Well, Jenn was THE Jennifer Weber, winner of an Oliver Award for her choreography of & Juliet, which is now playing on Broadway, choreographer of Disney’s Zombies 2 and choreographer of the Hip Hop Nutcracker that has been filmed and broadcast nationwide! She created While You Were Gone to close our 2021 Season. However, given the strict capacity rules of the time, her work was performed in front of 350 audience members. I am thrilled to share this piece with our full audiences this time around!”
Regarding the return of Cacti, Angelini said, “Cacti by Alexander Ekman is one of the most innovative, groundbreaking, creative, off-the-wall funny and overall entertaining works created during the last 15 years. Alexander’s works grace the repertory of more than 50 companies worldwide, including the most prestigious ballet companies in the world. I am happy to share this work again with our audiences, six years after its original Oklahoma premiere.”
Kozielska has created an original work for Tulsa Ballet before, with 2021’s Ode. Angelini had this to say about her return: “Katarzyna Kozielska is, in my opinion, one of young choreographers of her generation with a definite voice, a vocabulary to express that voice and the sensitivity to steer emotions into an audience’s soul. I followed her career for years, hearing about this young Polish dancer who was creating works for Stuttgart Ballet, the company where she spent most of her dancing career. The more I saw the more I realized she had it all! She has the versatility to create works that span from the pure physical to the pure emotional, and the choreographic articulation to make both captivating to watch.”
Signature Series will be performed at the Lorton Performance Center May 11-14. Tickets start at $46 and are available at TulsaBallet.org.
QUICK FACTS
WHEN AND WHERE:
Lorton Performance Center | 550 S Gary Pl, Tulsa, OK 74104
Thursday, May 11 | 7:30 pm
Friday, May 12 | 7:30 pm
Saturday, May 13 | 2:30 pm
Saturday, May 13 | 7:30 pm
Sunday, May 14 | 2:30 pm
TICKETS: Starting at $46
FOR MORE INFORMATION: Tulsaballet.org or (918) 749-6006
Interview opportunities available:
Hilton Price | Marketing Manager
918.392.5949 | Hilton.Price@tulsaballet.org