Aspen Santa Fe Ballet announces summer season
Courtesy photo
This summer, Aspen Santa Fe Ballet will present five evenings of ballet and contemporary dance at the Aspen District Theater.
The series opens with a curated “Gala Performance” featuring dancers from Joffrey Ballet, Royal Ballet, Houston Ballet, Boston Ballet, and Ballet West and will run for two evenings. Time-honored classical works interlace with neo-classical works by Christopher Wheeldon, Ulysses Dove, Yuri Possokhov, Gerald Arpino, and William Forsythe. The Joffrey’s celestial “Round of Angels” danced to Mahler’s “Adagietto” crowns this truly exquisite evening of dance.
Next, a champion of the modern dance world, “Martha Graham Dance Company,” celebrates its 100 year anniversary with a program highlighting Graham’s century-long legacy. This groundbreaking company and its uniquely American style of dance has influenced generations of artists and continue to captivate audiences worldwide. The Americana-themed program includes Graham’s epochal masterwork, “Appalachian Spring,” danced to Aaron Copland’s Pulitzer Prize-winning score.
In August, Parsons Dance will enthrall audiences with their high-energy program. Led by artistic director and prolific dance-maker, David Parsons, the company brings a specialized program that includes signature works like “Swing Shift,” heralded for the fervor of its dancing and jazzy propulsion, and “Nascimento,” with its commissioned score by Brazilian composer, Milton Nascimento. Parsons’ powerhouse, “CAUGHT,” with its strobe-driven special effects, completes this lively program.
“Ballet West” returns to conclude the summer season, this time with a full evening of classical and contemporary dance. Salt Lake City-based Ballet West ignited Aspen’s love affair with dance with their summer residencies in the ’70s. With a cast of 20 dancers, performing works both classical and contemporary, the program features ballets such as Light Rain by Joffrey Ballet co-founder, Gerald Arpino, and Red Angels, a passionately charged work by Ulysses Dove that highlights dancers’ athleticism, urged on by an electric violin soloist.
Tickets go on sale Wednesday, May 1, at noon. Prices start at $36 on the main floor.
Tickets available online only: aspensantafeballet.co
