Colorado Ballet is a classical ballet company based in Denver, Colorado. Comprising two academies as well as a company, Colorado Ballet serves more than 110,000 patrons each year. The main performance venue is Ellie Caukins Opera House in downtown Denver.
The Colorado Ballet was the recipient of 2009 Colorado Masterpieces Award. As part of the award, Colorado Ballet will tour Colorado in the 2009–2010 season as a part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius initiative, funded by the Colorado Council on the Arts.[1]
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In 1961, Lillian Covillo and Freidann Parker established Colorado Concert Ballet to showcase talented students they had been teaching at their ballet school. Their first production, The Nutcracker, played to sold-out houses in Denver's Bonfils Theatre. By 1978, Colorado Concert Ballet employed 16 men and women, and had achieved full professional status. The board increased the annual budget to $100,000 and refined the company’s name. In doing so, Colorado Ballet was born. In 1987 Parker and Covillo conducted a nationwide search, at their own expense, for a new artistic director. With their choice of Martin Fredmann, they changed the course of Colorado Ballet.
In the late 1980s, a lagging economy in Denver forced Colorado Ballet to look at an emerging national trend among dance companies and as a result entered into an alliance with Tampa Ballet. Through shared expenses, the alliance enabled the companies to develop an excellent artistic product with reduced financial risk. By 1990, Colorado Ballet achieved greater financial stability and community recognition, so the alliance was discontinued to better enable future growth of the Denver company. The decision reestablished Colorado Ballet as a resident company.
For eighteen years, the company grew to a well-respected regional ballet company recognized for its broad ranging repertoire. In March 2006, Gil Boggs, former principal dancer with American Ballet Theater, was hired as the new artistic director.
With an annual operating budget exceeding $6.5 million the company is the single largest presenter of dance in the Rocky Mountain region, employing more than 150 people on either a full-time or part-time basis during the year.
The artistic leadership of the Colorado Ballet includes (as of May 2010):[2]
Artistic Director: Gil Boggs, former principal dancer of American Ballet Theater
Ballet Mistresses: Lorita Travaglia, Sandra Brown
Music Director/Principal Conductor: Adam Flatt
Associate Conductor: Catherine Sailer
Company Pianist: Natalia Arefieva
Colorado Ballet consists of 31 professional dancers from around the world (as of May 2010):[3]
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The Studio Company is a pre-professional training program; members are selected by audition. The program is designed to offer young dancers training and experience working with the professional company
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Great Galloping Gottschalk (choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk)
Rodeo (choreographed by Agnes DeMille, music by A. Copland)
Don Quixote (choreographed by Marius Petipa, music by Ludwig Minkus)
The Nutcracker (music by P.I. Tchaikovsky)
Beauty and the Beast (choreographed by Domy Reiter-Soffer, music by Seen-yee Lam)
Echoing of Trumpets (choreographed by Antony Tudor)
Celts (choreographed by Lila York)
Since 1961 The Nutcracker has been in the Colorado Ballet's repertoire every holiday season. Although primarily a classical ballet company, the Ballet's repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary ballets.
| Ballet | Choreographer | Composer |
|---|---|---|
| Afternoon of a Faun | V. Nijinsky, staged by I. Youskevitch | C. Debussy |
| Among Silken Cords | L. Wymmer | W.A. Mozart |
| Apollo | G. Balanchine, staged by P.Neary | I. Stravinsky |
| Appalachian Spring | M. Graham, staged by T. Capuccilli, J. Herring, J. Eibler | A. Copland |
| A Little Love | M. Fredmann | Songs sung by Nina Simone |
| Beauty and the Beast | M. Fredmann | M. Ravel |
| Billy the Kid | E. Loring, staged by H. Sayette | A. Copland |
| Bruch Violin Concerto No. 1 | C. Tippet | M. Bruch |
| Buffalo Bill's Saloon | A. Erb | R. Jarboe, performed by Tim and Molly O'Brien |
| Carmina Burana | G. Gonzales, P. Renzetti, J. Wallace | C. Orff |
| Celts | L. York | Traditional Irish music |
| Centennial Suite | M. Fredmann | R. Thompson |
| Cinderella (3 Acts) | M. Fredmann | S. Prokofiev |
| Company B | P. Taylor, staged by R. Andrien | Songs recorded by The Andrews Sisters |
| Concerto Barocco | G. Balanchine, staged by P. Neary | J.S. Bach |
| Configurations | C. Goh, staged by J. Schergen | S. Barber |
| Coppélia | M. Fredmann | L. Delibes |
| Cry and Silence | M. Murdmaa | K. Sink |
| Diana and Actaeon (pas de deux) | A. Vaganova | C. Pugni |
| De Profundis | J. Lang | Arvo Pärt |
| Don Quixote (3 Acts) | M. Petipa/ A. Gorsky | L. Minkus |
| Dracula | M. Pink | P. Feeney |
| Dreamspace | M. Fredmann | G. Mahler, W. Piston, H. Hanson, C. Ives, S. Coleridge-Taylor, A. Hovhaness |
| The Dying Swan | M. Fokine, staged by N. Krassovska | C. Saint-Saens |
| Earth Tribe | R. Harris | D. Ross; Romanthony |
| Elysium | T. Korobeynikova | Meredith Monk and Kronos Quartet |
| Façade | F. Ashton, staged by A. Grant | W. Walton |
| Feast of the Gods | E. Liang | O. Respighi |
| Flames of Paris (solo) | J. Lang | R. Schumann |
| Giselle (2 Acts) | J. Perrot/J. Coralli, staged by Gil Boggs | A. Adam |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame | T. Ishida | C. Pugni |
| The Hunchback of Notre Dame | M. Pink | P. Feeney |
| In the Upper Room | T. Tharp, staged by S. Washington | P. Glass |
| Inversion | J. Wallace | S. Barber |
| JamNation | D. McKayle | C. Dobrian, K. Akagi, L. Armstrong, C. Parker, D. Ellington, A.C. Jobin, D. Reinhart, S. Grapelli, J. Johnson |
| La Bayadere (Act II) | M. Petipa, staged by M. Stavitskaya | L. Minkus |
| Land Beyond Horizons | H. Garza | T. Bell |
| La Sylphide | A. Bournonville, staged by Z. Dubrovskaya, S. Kozadeyev | H. Lovenskjold |
| La Vivandiere | A. Saint-Leon, staged by P. Renzetti | C. Pugni |
| Le Beau Danube | L. Massine, staged by G. Verdak | J. Strauss II |
| Le Spectre de la Rose | M. Fokine, staged by T. Armour | C. Von Weber |
| Masquerade Suite | M. Fredmann | A. Khatchaturian |
| A Midsummer Night's Dream | C. Wheeldon | F. Mendlessohn |
| Miraculous Mandarin | S. Kozadayev | B. Bartok |
| Mon Dieu (solo) | M. Fredmann | Sung by Edith Piaf |
| Nine Sinatra Songs | T. Tharp, staged by S. Washington | Songs recorded by F. Sinatra |
| The Nutcracker (2 Acts) | M. Fredmann | P.I. Tchaikovsky |
| Of Blessed Memory | S. Welch | J. Cantaloube |
| Picture of Sedalia | P. Pucci | S. Joplin |
| Peter Pan | G. Conzales/ A. Thompson | L. Delibes |
| Pounds and Stomps | D. Varone | Songs by the Yardbirds |
| Rachmaninov Second | K. Uralsky | S. Rachmaninov |
| Raymonda (Act III) | M. Petipa, staged by M. Stavitskaya | A. Glazunov |
| Ricordanza | M. Fredmann | F. Liszt |
| Talisman (pas de deux) | M. Petipa | R. Drigo |
| Things Left Unsaid | A. Seiwert | F. Mendelson |
| The River | A. Ailey, staged by M. Chaya | D. Ellington |
| Rodeo | A. de Mille, staged by P. Sutherland | A. Copland |
| Romeo & Juliet (3 Acts) | M. Fredmann | S. Prokofiev |
| Rubies | G. Balanchine, staged by B. Cook | I. Stravinsky |
| Sachertorte | M. Fredmann | Strauss Family |
| Second Exposure | D. Grand Moultrie | R. Romaneiro |
| Serenade | G. Balanchine, staged by P. Neary | P.I. Tchaikovsky |
| Silent Woods (pas de deux) | M. Fredmann | A. Dvorak |
| The Sleeping Beauty | M. Petipa, staged by M. Daukayev, J. Labsan | P.I. Tchaikovsky |
| Size Nine Spirit | P. Pucci | B. Goodman |
| Soul of Porcelain | O. Messina | P.I. Tchaikovsky |
| Stars and Stripes | G. Balanchine, staged by B. Cook | J.P. Sousa |
| Swan Lake (4 Acts) | M. Petipa/L. Ivanov, staged by S. Kozadayev, Z. Dubroskaya, A. McKerrow, & J. Gardner | P.I. Tchaikovsky |
| Theme and Variations | G. Balanchine, staged by P. Neary | P.I. Tchaikovsky |
| Troy Game | R. North, staged by J. Moss | B. Downes |
| Vital Sensations | D. Moultrie | Puente, Sidestepper, R. Size/ Reprazent |
| Western Symphony | G. Balanchine, staged by B. Cook | H. Kay |
| When the Lad for Longing Sighs | M. Fredmann, J. Levinson | G. Butterworth |
| Where the Wild Things Are | S. Webre | R. Woolf |
| Who Cares? | G. Balanchine, staged by J. Fugate | G. Gershwin |
| Wingborne | L. Houlton | A. Dvorak |
| Winter Moons | P. Tate | J. Tate |
| Without Words | T. Shimazaki | T. Kako, R. Eno, L.M. Gottschalk, F. Mendlessohn |
| Yes, Virginia, Another Piano Ballet | P. Anastos | F. Chopin |
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