August 31, 2004
Contact: Susan Gwynne
(805) 893-2098
e-mail: gwynne-s@sa.ucsb.edu
The dazzling Lyon Opera Ballet, one of France’s
national treasures, makes its Santa Barbara debut
Summary Facts:
- Lyon Opera Ballet
- One of the most spectacular contemporary dance companies
- Performing works choreographed by Jirí Kylián, William Forsythe, Nacho Duato and Russell Maliphant
- The company makes its Santa Barbara debut
- Monday & Tuesday, October 4 & 5 / 8 pm
- UCSB Campbell Hall
- General public: $40 / UCSB students: $19
- Tickets/information: UCSB Arts & Lectures at 893-3535
Lyon Opera Ballet, one of the most spectacular contemporary dance companies in the world, will make its Santa Barbara debut with performances on Monday & Tuesday, October 4 & 5 at 8 pm at UCSB Campbell Hall. Noted for its dazzling repertoire of works by premier choreographers, Lyon Opera Ballet features graceful and dynamic dancers in imaginative productions. The troupe has toured worldwide, playing to ecstatic audiences at the Brooklyn Academy of Music, UCLA’s Royce Hall and other distinguished venues. The Village Voice praises “the superbly adaptable Lyon dancers’ cutting-edge chops.” Anna Kisselgoff of The New York Times calls Lyon Opera Ballet “one of my favorite French companies. Its repertory is unpredictable, intriguing and even strange.... I find its very resistance to pat definitions to be its prime appeal.”
With a worldwide reputation for the high quality of its dancers, the Lyon Opera Ballet is also famous for its artistic policy. Yorgos Loukos, director of the company since 1991, has established a balance between major pieces from the contemporary repertoire and the creation of new works. The Lyon Opera Ballet has built up a large contemporary dance repertoire in a wide variety of styles, commissioning works from young choreographers, and performing pieces by major modern choreographers. Some of the new productions of the great classics have toured the world, such as Cendrillon (Cinderella) and Coppelia by Maguy Marin, and Romeo and Juliet from Angelin Preljocaj. The company’s repertoire features work by many American choreographers including Trisha Brown, Bill T. Jones, Lucinda Childs and Stephen Petronio. It also includes French and European choreographers such as Jean-Claude Gallotta, Dominique Bagouet, Mats Ek, Hervé Robbe, Joachim Schlömer and Tero Saarinen.
The program for these Santa Barbara performances features major work by contemporary master choreographers. Lyon Opera Ballet will dance Un Ballo, set to music by Ravel and created by Jirí Kylián, the long-time artistic director of Nederlands Dans Theatre; Critical Mass, set to music by Richard English-Andy Cowton and choreographed by Russell Maliphant, a top British dancer best known for his work with DV8; Duo, set to music by Thom Willems and created by William Forsythe, the long-time artistic director of Ballett Frankfurt; and Jardi Tancat, Nacho Duato’s first choreography, originally made during a workshop at Nederlands Dans Theater in 1983, and set to music by Maria Del Mar Bonet.
Born in Athens, artistic director Yorgos Loukos studied ballet with Igor Foska, Boris Kniasef and Raymond Franchetti as well as philosophy at the University of Aix en Provence. As a dancer he has performed with Théâtre du Silence, Zurich Opera, Ballet National de Marseille and the Metropolitan Opera of New York. He joined Lyon Opera Ballet as an assistant to Robert Wilson for the creation of Gavin Bryars’ Medea. He worked as Lyon’s ballet master and co-director and assumed full directorship upon Françoise Adret’s retirement in 1991. Loukos, an Officer of the Arts and Letters of the French Republic, has been artistic director of the Festival International de Danse in Cannes since 1992.
The audience is invited to remain after the October 5 performance to take part in a Meet-the-Artists discussion.
Members of the company will teach a Dance Class on Sunday, October 3 at 1:30 pm at the Santa Barbara Ballet Center, 1019B Chapala Street. It costs $15 for participants and $5 for observers. This event is sponsored the Santa Barbara Dance Alliance; for information and to make a reservation, please phone (805) 966-6950.
Prior to the performance on Monday, October 4 concertgoers may enhance their experience by attending a tasty French buffet served by the UCSB Faculty Club at 6 pm. The dinner is $18 per person; reservations must be made by September 27 by calling 805.893.3096.
Lyon Opera Ballet is presented by UCSB Arts & Lectures and sponsored by the Santa Barbara News-Press and KEYT-TV. The presentation of Lyon Opera Ballet is funded in part by the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with lead funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funding is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation and The Ford Foundation.
Tickets for the concerts are $40 for the general public and $19 for UCSB students. They are on sale now can also be purchased at the door, if still available.
For tickets or more information,
call UCSB Arts & Lectures at (805) 893-3535.
Editor: For photos, please call
Susan Gwynne at (805) 893-2098.