meadows school of the arts southern methodist university

MEADOWS
SOUTHERN
SCHOOL
OF
METHODIST
THE
ARTS
UNIVERSITY
Preston Center Dance, Inc.
@;)ettiWJ the ci}tit;Jhe.st @;)tan'iJar;().s in ~ance @fJucation
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Preston Center Dance, Inc.
Salutes the Meadows School of the Arts
Division of Dance for their Continuing
Excellence in the Arts.
DAN CE
L!
Preston Center Dance
Densil Adams, Janis Rosenthal, Directors
6162 Sherry Lane, Dallas, Texas
Meadows School of the Arts
Division of Dance
Southern Methodist University
present
l~f ~~~~ ~~~Lf L~~Lf~l
Spring Loaded
March 29-April2, 2000
Bob Hope Theatre
CHOREOGRAPHERS
Agnes de Mille, Asaf Messerer, Joe Orlando, Larry White
ARTISTIC OJ RECTOR
Jeremy Blanton
LIGHTING DESIGN
Susan A. White
COSTUME DESIGN
Leila Heise
STAGE MANAGER
Kelsey Altom Kling
SEASON SPONSORS
WRRlOUf.m
The SMU Dance Division's production of Gold R11Jh is funded by a
Heritage and Preservation grant from the National Endowment for the Arts.
ACT I
Suite Johann
Music by Johann Sebastian Bach
(Suite No.1 for Unaccompan ied Cello)
Choreograph y by Larry White
Cellist: Kaname Nezu
Rehearsal Director: Sabrina Madison-Ca nnon
CAST
Julius Brewster Jr., Sara Howland, Dana Ingraham, Britt Keel,
Traci Klein, Orlando Martinez, Tanee McCall, Sharon
Milanese, Cheryl Polvorosa, Jeana Rebers, Shayne Staley, Lori
Velazquez, Jennifer Weddel
Understudies : Kelli Ahearn and Kandra Oldham
The cello suites of J.S. Bach beg to be choreograph ed and
danced: each of the six movements takes its form and meter
from a different pre-classic dance, such as gigue, courante and
minuet. This contemporar y dance work is an ode to the
sweetness and light of Bach's musical invention.
PAUSE
3
Spring Water.!
Music by Sergei Rachmaninoff
Choreography by Asaf Messerer
Staged by Jeremy Blanton
CAST
March 29, 31, and April 2
Jacquelyn Dowsett
and Royce Zachary
March 30 and April 1
Allyson Ashley
and Tommy Rapley
This dance had to be encored at every performance of the
Bolshoi Ballet in London. Arnold Haskell, noted British ballet
authority, recalled that the dance "does something that I cannot
remember ever having seen before. It uses an acrobatic
technique of amazing difficulty to convey with wonderful
musicianship a deeply lyrical emotion." The dance creates the
illusion of ice turning to water after a cold Russian winter.
IS MIN UTE INTERMISSION
4
ACT II
GolJRLUh
Music by Frederick Loewe
Arranged by Trude Rittmann
Choreography by Agnes de Mille
Re-Staged by Gemze de Lappe and Diana Gonzalez
Rehearsal Directors: Shelley C. Berg and Jeremy Blanton
Pianists: Elaine Davidson, Jeff Lankov
CAST
March 29, 31, April 2
March 30, April 1
Jli,onne
Jli,onne
Traci Klein
Parisa Khobdeh
Pete
Tommy Rapley
Pete
Chaz Glunk
Suz anne
Suzanne
Daria Nedre
Daria Nedre
FandangoJ
F andan.9o.1
Allyson Ashley, Whitney
Birk, Jacquelyn Dowsett,
Lindsay Hawkins, Tara
Lizak, Tanee McCall,
Sharon Milanese, Melissa
Peck, Annie Polack,
Stephanie Reed, Jennifer
Weddel, Alison Whitworth,
Janie Ye
Allyson Ashley, Whitney
Birk, Jacquelyn Dowsett,
Lindsay Hawkins, Tara
Lizak, Tanee McCall,
Sharon Milanese, Melissa
Peck, Annie Polack,
Stephanie Reed, Jennifer
Weddel, Alison Whitworth,
Janie Ye
MinerJ
Minerd
Hector Berlanga, Scottrain
Corbin, Chaz Glunk,
Christian Richards, Antonio
Sisk, Carey Villeneuve,
Royce Zachary
Hector Berlanga, Scottrain
Corbin, Tommy Rapley,
Christian Richards, Antonio
Sisk, Carey Villeneuve,
Royce Zachary
IS MINUTE INTERMISSION
5
ACT III
Y2MUCH
(the millennium begins next year)
Music by Harold Arlen & Johnny Mercer (One for My Baby)
and Lee Morgan (Sidewinder)
Choreography by Joe Orlando
CAST
Elizabeth Aillet, Antoine Ashley, Megan Auer, Derrick Gordon,
Lindsay Hawkins, Tara Lizak, Daria N eidre, Annie Polack,
Kenneth Porter, Elizabeth Prather, Stephanie Reed
=
=
~
,
y
6
The Artists
JEREMY BLANTON
Jeremy Blanton trained in his native Tennessee, and continued
his ballet studies at the School of American Ballet and with
Antony Tudor at the Metropolitan Opera Ballet where he danced
featured roles. He was Premiere Danseur with the National
Ballet of Canada, performing principal roles in ballets by
Balanchine, Tudor, Bruhn, and Ninette de Valois. He created the
role of Prince Charming in the Emmy award winning production
of CindereLLa. His musical theatre credits include My Fair Lady,
and Bob Fosse's Chica,9o, where he was personal assistant to Mr.
Fosse and coach for Gwen Verdon and Chita Rivera. Mr.
Blanton was affiliated with American Ballet Theatre for over a
decade as teacher, coach, and associate director of ABT II. He
directed the Jeffrey II Dancers before becoming the founding
Director of ABT Studio Company. Mr. Blanton was appointed
Associate Chair of the Dance Division in the Spring of 1999.
JOE ORLANDO
Joe Orlando's extensive dance background includes work with
Luigi, the M.iami Ballet and others, including teaching for the
Alvin Ailey American Dance Center in New York City and The
American Dance Festival. He was a recipient of the Award for
"Excellence in Teaching" presented by the White House
Commission on Presidential Scholars. Mr. Orlando has also
taught and choreographed for Bat-Dor Dance Company and
summer workshop in Tel Aviv, Israel from 1992 to 1995. Former
chair of the Interlochen Arts Academy and currently Assistant
Professor at Southern Methodist University, Meadows School of
the Arts, in Dallas, Texas, Joe tours the U.S. and abroad,
teaching and choreographing.
LARRY WHITE
Larry White has choreographed more than sixty contemporary
dance works which have been seen in Russia, Hong Kong, and in
numerous cities in the U.S. A former principal dancer in the
Martha Graham Dance Company, he has performed in twenty
countries and been featured in PBS specials in M.iss Graham's
works. He has served on the faculties of the Martha Graham
Center of Contemporary Dance and the Alvin Ailey Center in
New York, the Hong Kong School of the Performing Arts, and
Butler University. He has given master classes and workshops in
France, Italy, Sweden, and the Philippines. He is currently an
Assistant Professor in the Division of Dance at SMU.
7
l
AGNES DE MILLE
Noted dance critic Clive Barnes observed that Agnes George de
Mille was "one of the architects of American ballet, and one of
our greatest native-born choreographers ." De Mille, dancer,
choreographer, director, lecturer and writer, was in every way a
trailblazer. Her choreography for the Rogers and Hammerstei n
musical, OkLahoma/, was a landmark in American musical
theater, and she was the first woman to direct a Broadway
musical, Allegro, in 1947. She choreographed many notable and
popular musical theater classics, including Br~9aJoon, CarotMe~
and Paint Your Wagon. De Mille's ballets frequently dealt with
American themes, including the delightful Rodeo, and the
powerful FaLL River Legend, a dramatic re-telling of the story of
Lizzie Borden. The extraordinary breadth of de Mille's
choreographic repertory, the innovation of her musical theatre
dances and the scope of her artistic collaborations make her a
seminal figure in American dance.
GEMZE DE LAPPE
I
1
Gemze de Lappe, noted d a ncer, actress, director and
choreographer, has been associated with the works of Agnes de
Mille for more than fifty years. She was a protegee of the
choreographer in the 1940's and 50's, dancing in productions of
OkLahoma!, CarotMeL and Paint Your Wagon. De Lappe later joined
American Ballet Theatre, and was acclaimed for her
performances in de Mille's FaLL River Legend, Jerome Robbins'
Fancy Free and Antony Tudor's Judgment of Pari.:!. As an artist in
residence at Smith College for thirteen years, de Lappe taught
ballet, musical theatre dance as well as Isadora Duncan dance.
She has re-staged de Mille repertory across the country, and
stage the "Dream Ballet" from OkLahoma! For the SMU Dance
Division in 1998.
DANCE FACULTY
Jeremy Blanton, Associate Chair
Shelley C. Berg, Patricia Harrington Delaney, Karen Kriete, Nathan
Montoya, Joe Orlando, Larry White
STAFF
Richard Abrahamson", Lona R. Holt, Jay Majernik", Jamal
Mohamed", Mina Polevoy, &lward Lee Smith, Janeen Vestal,
Susan A. White
" Member lntemational GuilJ ofMuJicianJ of Dance
8
Histori cal Notes for GoLJ RuL1h
Agnes de Mille created the choreography for several of
Broadway's classic musicals of the 1940's and SO's, including
Oklahoma!, One Touch of VenuJ, Carou.Jef and Brigadoon, the last
with the renowned musical theatre team of Alan Jay Lerner
and Frederick Loewe. In 1951, when Lerner and Loewe were
preparing Paint Your Wagon, a new musical recounting the life
and death of a gold strike town in 1850's California, they asked
de Mille to devise the dances and musical ensembles. The
musical's creative team knew that de Mille was able to portray
scenes of America's pioneer past vividly and convincingly; her
"cowboy" ballet Rodeo, and Oklahoma! were ample evidence of
her success. Paint Your Wagond theatrical producer, Cheryl
Crawford, stated that she wanted " a robust, earthy piece of
Americana," and de Mille promised to make the audiences' eyes
"pop." With her innate sense of drama, de Mille contrasted the
lusty, vivacious dances of the travelling "fandangos," or dance
hall girls, with the moody, self-absorbed meditations of the
lonely miners. For the lovers, Yvonne and Pete, originally
danced by Gemze de Lappe and James Mitchell, she created
two of her most inventive and dramatic duets. The New York
TimeJ drama critic Walter Kerr, neatly summed up de Mille's
contribution to the musical. "Miss de Mille is the real heroine of
Paint Your Wagon" he wrote. "She knows what the form should
be, and when she is in command, she gives the show that honest
and moving quality which the authors have everywhere aimed
at and rarely achieved."
The American West was a favorite theme of de Mille's and, in
1958, she returned to her dances for Paint Your Wagon and
revised and re-envisioned them for a work entitled Goff) Ru.Jh.
Working with music arranger Trude Rittmann, de Mille created
a small-scale "danced folk opera" with elements from the earlier
musical. Go[() Rwh was broadcast as part of the CBS Seven
Lively Arts productions, and it featured, along with de Lappe
and Mitchell, singer John Reardon, Beatrice Arthur and former
Ballet Russe principal dancer Sono Osato as the exotic Suzanne
Duval. In 1973, de Mille briefly revived Goff) Ru.Jh for her own
American Heritage Dance Theatre based at North Carolina
School for the Arts.
9
The SMU Dance Division's production of GoLd Iuuh is made
possible by a Heritage and Preservation grant from the
National Endowment for the Arts. The ballet was re-staged for
our dancers by Gemze de Lappe and Diana Gonzalez, who
was de Mille's last rehearsal assistant. During the reconstruction process, Billie Mahoney, a notator designated by the
Dance Notation Bureau in New York, documented the ballet in
Labanotation. In addition, we videotaped the teaching and
coaching process of the work, and collected critical reviews and
articles on de Mille and her choreographic process. The GoLd
Rwh!NEA project is part of the Dance Division's continuing
initiative to develop and implement the presentation and
documentation of twentieth century choreographic masterworks. Through this project, we have executed an initiative that
preserves a significant ballet by a major American woman
choreographer, created educational and resource materials of
perpetual value to dance students, educators, scholars, professional artists and the general public and developed a prototype
for future projects in dance documentation and preservation.
The SMU Division of Dance wishes to thank the following
individuals and organizations for their invaluable help in the
revival of Agnes de Mille's GoLJ Rtuh:
Or. Barbara Barker Warner, Or. Barbara Cohen-Stratyner, the
CBS Corporation and Marilee Martel, the Dance Notation
Bureau, Ed Delaney, Marie Jeanne Godwin, Paul Hotaling, the
New York Public Library Dance Collection and the New
York Public Library Music Collection and Trude Rittmann.
10
Dance Theatre Shop
The Pavilion on Lovers Lane
5600 West Lovers Lane
Dallas,TX 75209
Phone:(214) 351-2555
Fax: (214) 351-2577
Hours:
Mon., Tue., Wed., Fri. &Sat. 10-6
Thursdays 10-7:30
Sundays 1-4
II
Production Staff
PRODUCTION MANAGER
COSTUME CREW
Michele McCoy
Derrick Gordon, Sion New,
Alexandra Rasmussen, Christa.!
Walls
TECHNICAL DIRECTOR
Shane K. Smith
SCENE SHOP ASSISTANTS
COSTUME SHOP MANAGER
Giva Taylor
Neil Fleming, Nick Keel, Noah
Houghland, Ryan McCallum,
Shawn Pfautsch, Jon Snow
MASTER ELECTRICIAN
David Geel
LIGHTING ASSISTANTS
SOUND DESIGNER/ ENGINEER
Curtis Craig
Charles A. Bothwell, Kath erine
Campbell, Erin Damron, Kevin
Kingston, Brian Weed
HEAD CARPENTER
SOUND ASSISTANTS
Steve Leary
Connor Chauveaux, Dewitt
Dawkins, Liz Fausek, Korey Kent,
Erin Neal
SCENE SHOP FOREMAN
Eliseo Gutierrez
COSTUME SHOP ASSISTANTS
CUTTER/DRAPER
Melinda Robinson
STITCHER
Mercedes Rangel
OPERATIONS COORDINATOR
Ronda Leigh Craig
Chad Brinkman, Kat Campbell.
Kel.ly Hutchins, Erin Kel.ler, Marika
Mashburn, Valerie Moore, Jennifer
Spillane, Lynn Suhaskumar
SPECIAL THANKS
Amanda Taylor, The De Mil.le
Foundation and Jonathan Prude
ASSISTANT STAGE MANAGERS
Nicole Craft, Brian Weed
SCENERY CREW
Kristen Bramble, Blake Walker
ELECTRICS CREW
Kelcy Brendsel, Megan Crider,
Sarah Marchetti, Matthew Nitc hie,
Andres Salaiz
DANCE PHOTOS BY Paul Talley
12
SMU I
•
MEADOWS SCHOOL
OF THE ARTS
Southern Methodist University
CHAIRMAN, BOARD OF TRUSTEES
W.R. Howell
PRESIDENT
R. Gerald Turner
PROVOST
Ross C Murfin
Meadows School of the Arts
MEADOWS TICKET OFFICE
(214) 768-2787
12:00 p.m. to 5:00p.m.
Monday - Friday
Open one hour before
performances
Tickets for upcoming
productions in the Meadows
School of the Arts may be
purchased by phone with an
approved charge card and at
the Meadows Ticket Office.
DEAN
HOUSE POLICIES
Carole Brandt
To ensure a pleasurable
theatre-going experience,
cellular telephones are not
allowed within performance
halls. Please note that
photography and recording
equipment are expressly
forbidden at all Meadows
performances. Please silence
all beepers, watch alarms,
and cellular phones. Access
is available for the physically
challenged.
ASSOCIATE DEAN
Alan AI barran
ASSOCIATE DEAN
Robert Stroker
ASSOCIATE DEAN
Greg Warden
DIRECTOR OF EXTERNAL AFFAIRS
Tencha Higgins
FINANCIAL OFFICER
Carleen Naugle
DIRECTOR OF OPERATIONS
AND EVENTS
Greg Brown
TICKET OFFICE MANAGER
Andy Pate
Division of Dance
INTERIM CHAIR
Robert Stroker
ASSOCIATE CHAIR
Jeremy Blanton
ADMINISTRATIVE COORDINATOR
Lona R. Holt
13
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SouTHERN
METHODIST
UNIVERSITY
Meadows School of the Arts
Dear Dance Patron:
The Division of Dance of the Meadows School of the Arts is dedicated to the development
of the dance artists of the future. We seek students with intelligence, imagination, talent,
and dedication who will flourish under the guidance of our exceptional faculty. The performance you are attending is an example of our collective passion for excellence.
Master choreographer Paul Taylor stated that the SMU Dance Division is "Something Dallas can be proud of." Therefore, we ask each of you, as part of our arts community, to join us
in our commitment to the finest education and dance training we can provide by making a
gift to support scholarships for our students. Your gift will help make it possible for our
students to pursue their studies at SMU and expand their horizons through participation in
outstanding summer programs such as Jacob's Pillow and the American Dance Festival.
Please take a moment to complete the form below, check the box marked "Dance," and mail
the form along with your gift to:
Development Office
Meadows School of the Arts
Southern Methodist University
P.O. Box 750356
Dallas, TX 75275-0356
Thank you for supporting the dance artists of the future.
Sincerely,
Jeremy Blanton
Associate Chair
Division of Dance
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