Verb Ballets
Cleveland’s National Repertory Dance Company
PROGRAM Hernando Cortez, Artistic Director The Company Mondo Jumbo World Premiere Danielle Brickman, Erin Conway, Katie Gnagy The creation of Mondo Jumbo made possible with the support of the Cleveland Foundation. Music for Mondo Jumbo made possible by the support of the Bascom Little Fund. ~Intermission~ Andante Sostenuto World Premiere: April 8, 1988, E.J. Thomas Performing Arts Hall, Akron, Ohio Jennifer Moll Safonovs, Brian Murphy By permission of Richard Dickinson. The original production of Andante Sostenuto was made possible by a grant from The Cleveland Foundation with assistance from Louise Guthman. This Verb Ballets presentation is made possible by the generous support of the AHS Foundation. ~Break~ Ski-Du World Premiere The creation of Ski-Du made possible with the support of the Cleveland Foundation. ~Intermission~ Frontrow Catherine Meredith, Jennifer Moll Safonovs, Danielle Brickman 1. Cheating, Lying, Stealing Verbtuosity (Backlash redux) was composed by Eric Ziolek for Verb
Ballets. *Major support for the creation of "Verbtuosity" provided by the Bascom Little Fund. **Used by arrangement by G. Schirmer, Inc., Administrator for Red Poppy, Verb Ballets is now in its seventh season under the leadership of Artistic Director Hernando Cortez, Executive Director Dr. Margaret Carlson, an energetic staff and its dedicated Board of Trustees, who have established Verb as Cleveland’s premiere dance repertory company. Verb Ballets was named one of "25 to Watch in 2004" by Dance Magazine, the country’s leading news magazine covering dance, and recently the magazine bestowed more kudos on the company by naming Verb one of 5 "Great Tiny Troupes" in America. Verb Ballets discovers, collects, interprets and stages choreography that matters to the region and to the world of dance. As a curator of expressive movement that is globally connected and nationally respected, Verb Ballets has a mandate to support and foster emerging talent, present excellence in contemporary choreographers and revive and honor modern dance classics. Hernando Cortez (Artistic Director) was born in Manila, Philippines, and spent his early years in British Columbia, where he began his dance training at Vancouver's Pacific Ballet Theatre. He graduated with Honors from Purchase College Conservatory of Dance in 1985. He was invited to join Feld Ballets/NY, and in 1987 joined the Paul Taylor Dance Company. He was featured in two PBS/WNET Dance in America specials, and his own choreography is showcased in the Taylor Company's critically acclaimed smash hit Funny Papers. He performed with Mikhail Baryshnikov's White Oak Dance Project in their 1998 national tour. A popular freelance choreographer, Cortez recently created dances for: American Ballet Theatre (the Studio Company), the Williamstown Theater Festival and the Sands Hotel in Atlantic City He has been on the faculties of Purchase College Conservatory of Dance, The Boston Conservatory, the Joffrey School, and the school of the Paul Taylor Dance Company. Cortez is Founding Director of Dancers Responding to AIDS (DRA), a fundraising program of Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS. Mr. Cortez is a proud recipient of a 2004 Northern Ohio Live Award of Achievement, and was named one of Cleveland’s Most Interesting People 2005 by Cleveland Magazine. . Through nomination and the generous support of The Cleveland Foundation, Cortez attended the Executive Program for Non-Profit Leaders, a joint program of the Stanford Graduate School of Business Center for Social Innovation and National Arts Strategies. He has served on numerous panels, most recently as an advisor for the National Endowment for the Arts. |