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Los Angeles Ballet's diverse program forms a robust whole. It's hard enough for dancers trained in different styles of ballet — sometimes in different countries — to form a unified ensemble. The new company's diverse dancers form a robust whole in a program of Balanchine and Bournonville. March 17, 2007 Los Angeles Times by Lewis Segal Los Angeles Ballet's diverse program forms a robust whole. It's hard enough for dancers trained in different styles of ballet — sometimes in different countries — to form a unified ensemble. It's harder still to display that unity in the distinctive dance languages of two choreographic masters. Born just four months ago, Los Angeles Ballet passed that test in its first repertory program Thursday at UCLA's Freud Playhouse — maybe not perfectly, maybe not without a pervasive sense of effort, but splendidly enough to make three challenging pieces come alive for a large, enthusiastic audience. Classical Balanchine, contemporary Balanchine and buoyant, Romantic Bournonville all received scrupulous performances in stagings by company artistic directors Colleen Neary (a Balanchine specialist) and Thordal Christensen (an alumnus of Bournonville's Royal Danish Ballet). Whether or not it can survive in our traditionally inhospitable dance landscape, their Los Angeles Ballet is the real thing, a force for many kinds of excellence that deserves the community's attention and support. One could wish that as the company moves from Westwood to Redondo Beach and then to Glendale this month, the dancers might relax into their roles and enjoy their dancing as much as the audience does. It's not a matter of smiles (of which there were plenty Thursday) but of the sense of interpretive freedom within the choreography that only Melissa Barak and a very few others showed opening night. Barak's individual and often spontaneous attacks came in Balanchine's "Concerto Barocco," which always seems to be a showcase for conservative classical purity until you look more closely and see the innovative body-foldings, partnering experiments and other creative wonders that Balanchine devised in 1941 to music by Bach. Mirroring Barak in the outer sections and becoming the work's focus in the central duet, Corina Gill gave a rapt, secure performance, partnered with great nobility by Oleg Gorboulev. Gill and Gorboulev also brought their remarkable ability to deliver a string of choreographic fireworks as one brilliantly sustained phrase to Balanchine's "Agon," an inspired 1957 game of neoclassic one-upmanship played with and against Igor Stravinsky. All fire and ice, whimsical forays into off-balance balance and a modernistic milestone, the choreography can look a lot jauntier than it did Thursday, but Neary's deadpan staging did allow all the non sequiturs to take you by surprise. As with "Concerto Barocco," the company as a whole often managed the complex passages more artfully than the simplest steps, but Lauren Toole endowed both with a serene confidence in her technical control. Sergey Kheylik threw himself into his solo with complete abandon, but neatness definitely counted here, and his wild vivacity proved far more useful in the divertissements from Bournonville's "Napoli." With music by Helsted and Paulli, the celebratory "Napoli" pas de six and tarantella date from 1842, before classical bravura acquired the edge of aggression it gained, for better or worse, in Russia. If "Agon" is consummately spiky and "Concerto Barocco" supremely flowing, this quasi-Italianate showpiece is indomitably fluffy, marked by major shifts in tempo and pressure (to which the company needs greater attention) but always light and genial. On Thursday, exposed balances in extension sometimes proved shaky and terminations not always ideally clean. But it was fascinating to see what elements of Bournonville style attracted the individual soloists and dominated their performances. Guest Rainer Krenstetter of the Berlin Staatsballett had the sparkle, Masahiro Suehara the precision, Gill the sweetness and Toole the calm center. Kheylik, as always, brought invigorating energy to the party. The excerpt also displayed the talents of Peter Snow, Kelly Ann Sloan, Alexandra Blacker, Nancy Richer and Erin RiveraBrennand. Everyone looked yummy in Soren Frandsen's prismatic abstractions of folk costumes and behaved as if an L.A. company dancing a Danish interpretation of Italian folklore was, somehow, natural casting. Taped music accompanied all the pieces on the program. lewis.segal@latimes.com DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Thordal Christensen choreographed a Romeo and Juliet pas de deux for SYTYCD competitors Melissa Sandvig and Ade Obayomi that aired on July 1st, 2009. Thordal Christensen, Los Angeles Ballet's Co-Artistic Director, Makes His Choreographic Debut on SYTYCD July 1, 2009 Company News from the Staff at LAB Thordal Christensen choreographed a Romeo and Juliet pas de deux for SYTYCD competitors Melissa Sandvig and Ade Obayomi that aired on July 1st, 2009. This marked the first time classical ballet was introduced as a component of the competition. Home / News / New Item

Read the full article at LAObserved.com Los Angeles Ballet rehearses the Nutcracker December 3, 2009 LA Observed by Judy Graeme Most ballet dancers have performed in The Nutcracker since they first put on tights. Every holiday season, they have to get excited all over again by the Sugar Plum Fairy and Drosselmeyer. The Nutcracker is a perennial favorite with families that introduces ballet to new audiences and helps pay a company's bills. I was allowed to observe up close as the Los Angeles Ballet prepared for this year's performances. About two dozen dancers arrive in the morning at a nondescript studio on Exposition Boulevard in West L.A. They take class and rehearse the iconic roles with co-artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary, the husband and wife team that started the ballet company four years ago. The Los Angeles Ballet's production features homages to L.A., and while the Tchaikovsky music is familiar, the choreography is original. In the accompanying slide show, Before the Costumes, you'll see and hear Christensen and Neary at work and meet dancers Katie Tomer, Justin Liu, Monica Pelfrey, Matthew Dowsett, Nancy Richer and Alexander Forck. Performances begin Saturday at the Alex Theatre in Glendale, then move to Royce Hall at UCLA on Dec. 19 and 20 and the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center Dec. 26-27. Ticket info. Audio slide show by Judy Graeme READ ARTICLE AT SOURCE Home / News / New Item

Aiming to become what artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary call "a major company that belongs to L.A. - that has a local flavor at an international level," the newly formed Los Angeles Ballet has announced its first season of performances and placed subscription tickets on sale. A ballet's next steps October 11, 2006 Company News from the Staff at LAB Los Angeles Ballet announces its first season, to be presented in three areas of the sprawling city By Lewis Segal, Times Staff Writer October 11, 2006 Aiming to become what artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary call "a major company that belongs to L.A. - that has a local flavor at an international level," the newly formed Los Angeles Ballet has announced its first season of performances and placed subscription tickets on sale. The company's debut will take place Dec. 2 at the Wilshire Theatre in a brand-new Christensen / Neary "Nutcracker," with repeat engagements through December at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center and the Alex Theatre in Glendale. Programs dominated by the works of George Balanchine are scheduled for mid-March and early June at these same three venues."We feel that it's part of our mission to bring ourselves to audiences in all of the areas," Neary explained in a recent interview. Christensen added: "You can't blame audience members for not wanting to sit in traffic when they go out at night. By being in the Wilshire Theatre, we're covering the Westside. By being at the Alex, we're covering Glendale and Pasadena. And by being down in Redondo, we're covering the beach communities." Christensen danced with Pacific Northwest Ballet before becoming artistic director of the Royal Danish Ballet. Neary (his wife) danced with New York City Ballet and has staged Balanchine choreography for a number of major companies. Their Los Angeles Ballet has no connection with the company of the same name run by New York City Ballet alumnus John Clifford from the early 1970s to the mid-'80s, or with Clifford's attempt to restart that company 10 years later. The current roster includes 21 resident professional dancers on 21-week contracts. Home is the Malibu Performing Arts Center. The projected annual budget is $1.7 million, and Christensen said that enough money is on hand, from unspecified sources, to carry the company through the "Nutcracker" engagements "without selling any tickets. We have paid for our production, we have paid for the theaters, and on top of that we have a cash reserve of approximately two- to three-hundred-thousand dollars." "Nutcracker" costumes are being donated by the Royal Danish Ballet, but the sets are newly created by locally based designer Catherine Kanner. "They'll be traditional but a little bit different," Christensen promised. "We wanted to make something very specifically for Los Angeles." Negotiations continue with musicians needed for the "Nutcracker" orchestra and with guest dancers as well. American Ballet Theatre principal Paloma Herrera has been signed for three "Nutcracker" performances. In addition, the company subscription brochure lists Artem Shpilevsky of the Bolshoi Ballet and five principals from New York City Ballet (Yvonne Borree, Nikolaj Hübbe, Maria Kowroski, Nilas Martins and Benjamin Millipied) as guest artists, but who will appear when has to be determined. Christensen and Neary have been working for years for this moment of launch. "Los Angeles is ready for its own ballet company," Christensen declares. "The timing is right for this. We're going to have to develop our own audience — to prove ourselves, to show that the level of excellence that we put on is at a very high level. That's going to be our challenge. But we feel now that we're ready to begin." Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Ballet Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary are pleased to announce the company’s fifth season as Los Angeles’ own professional ballet company. Los Angeles Ballet Announces Season 5 August 10, 2010 LAB Public Relations Celebrating Landmark Fifth Season! (Los Angeles, CA) Los Angeles Ballet Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary are pleased to announce the company’s fifth season as Los Angeles’ own professional ballet company. This season the company will dazzle viewers with The Nutcracker , Balanchine masterworks, a World Premiere , and the beloved romantic ballet Giselle . Back to thrill audiences during the holidays and begin the fifth season, LAB will perform its Neary- Christensen choreographed production of The Nutcracker , the city's most enduring holiday tradition. Celebration comes to Los Angeles in March, featuring Balanchine's luscious Raymonda Variations and riotous Western Symphony , plus another World Premiere created specifically for LAB dancers by the returning Sonya Tayeh. In May, the 2010-2011 landmark season culminates with the timeless, full-length romantic Giselle, with choreography by Artistic Director Thordal Christensen, (after Coralli, Perrot and Petipa). The Season 5 Gala Celebration will take place on Saturday May 28th, 2011, at the Broad Stage in Santa Monica, after a performance of Giselle. Additionally, Los Angeles Ballet continues its commitment to the workshop process, to the identification and nurture of emerging choreographers, composers and designers. LAB’s Choreographic Workshop will take place May 24, 2011. The Company continues to build a repertoire that underscores the creative leadership of its artistic directors, presenting timeless classics as well as innovative choreography from today’s contemporary artists. DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Ballet, founded in 2006, marked its latest stage of artistic growth by mounting a handsome production of “La Sylphide” Saturday at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, with period sets and costumes borrowed from the Houston Ballet. Balanchine, Backhaus...Meet Broad March 20, 2009 FineArtsLA.com by Penny Orloff Los Angeles Ballet, founded in 2006, marked its latest stage of artistic growth by mounting a handsome production of “La Sylphide” Saturday at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, with period sets and costumes borrowed from the Houston Ballet. (Performances continue over the next two weekends at other venues.) (Freud Playhouse, UCLA, May 23 and 24, and at the Alex Theater in Glendale, May 30.) DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Highly pedigreed? You bet. Well-known in the dance world? No question. But Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary have also passed the acid test: As directors of the Los Angeles Ballet, now in its sixth season, they can take a collective bow for their thoroughly sterling production of “Swan Lake.” Los Angeles Ballet's 'Swan Lake' is full of grace March 12, 2012 Glendale News-Press by Donna Perlmutter Highly pedigreed? You bet. Well-known in the dance world? No question. But Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary have also passed the acid test: As directors of the Los Angeles Ballet, now in its sixth season, they can take a collective bow for their thoroughly sterling production of “Swan Lake.” Just remember, not any old company can stage this icon of classical ballet. Oh, many with lesser artistic resources try. But to put on a show of so fine a caliber normally takes a bigger-than-big budget, dancer bench-depth, masterly and dedicated coaching. What’s more, they mounted their full-length extravaganza with the requisite number of performances. “And that meant we had to find venues all over the city.” says Christensen, who led the eminent Royal Danish Ballet and is steeped in its standards of style and rigorous technique. “We had to travel to the audiences,” he adds, noting that people will venture out to an attraction, so long as it doesn’t mean long drives through congested traffic. So from Westwood to Long Beach, with a stop at the Alex Theatre on March 17, the company is showing off its current jewel, “Swan Lake,” all feathery finery, moonlit mirages, pathos born of misfortune, good-versus-evil conflict. Thus the mountain comes to Muhammad. And it is a mountain, what with the full-scale sets originally built at Pacific Northwest Ballet, Christensen’s last post before he decamped to Los Angeles. “In fact,” says the Danish-born danseur, “when you think about it, it’s madness, dealing with four separate acts. We’ve had to extend intermission lengths just to do the set changes,” and that took the crew a week of practice just to learn how to move things along faster, he added. But the décor is eminently beautiful, old-school poetic without looking old — or worn — and it accommodates to any standard proscenium. The costumes, too, are delicate pastels, setting off the pristine-white lakeside scenes. What catches attention, though, apart from these details, is the totality of the spectacle — the dancers’ total immersion in the action and feeling states, be they coryphees, peasants, courtiers, royalty. As to the coaching, well, it is meticulous — in contrast, even, to some A-circuit “Swan Lake” productions, like the last one American Ballet Theatre brought on tour to L.A., where we saw casts that suffered rehearsal deficits. In their prime, both Christensen and Neary danced the lead roles many times. With his deep background in Bournonville, not to mention her prominence as a member of the Balanchine Trust, it’s no surprise that the choreography they adapted from the Petipa/Ivanov model is wonderfully evocative and rational. So, too, is the mime clear, uncluttered and natural — a feat in itself for American dancers seldom exposed to courtly behavior. But then the troupe’s roster now stands higher than ever in its level of virtuosity — thanks mostly to Neary’s recruitment of dancers from companies on which she has set Balanchine works, among them ABT and Russia’s Mariinsky, formerly the Kirov. Still, holding on to them is difficult. “We lose roughly a third each year,” says LAB executive director Julie Whittaker. “But that’s par for the course with all companies.” Corina Gill was stolen by the Boston Ballet, she recalls. And some leave because of the low salaries. “Most of our dancers stay, though. The trick is to keep them performing and not laid off for any substantial period of time.” So far, artistry runs the gamut at Los Angeles Ballet. It also keeps the wheel turning. And this “Swan Lake” does the trick. DONNA PERLMUTTER is an ASCAP-Award winning music/dance critic and journalist whose work has appeared in the Los Angeles Times, the New York Times and many other publications. She is also the author of “Shadowplay: The Life of Antony Tudor.” Email her at donna.perlmutter@gmail.com . DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Colleen Neary will never forget the day when George Balanchine articulated the blueprint for her life’s work. She was in her early 20s, then a respected New York City Ballet dancer. L.A. Ballet's Balanchine Festival follows in master's steps March 8, 2013 Los Angeles Times by Susan Josephs March 8, 2013 | By Susan Josephs Colleen Neary will never forget the day when George Balanchine articulated the blueprint for her life’s work. She was in her early 20s, then a respected New York City Ballet dancer. “He put me in to teach company class,” she says. “He said to me, ‘This is what you will do in the future.’ I said I wanted to dance, but he said, ‘You won’t dance forever. You will teach dancers my ballets.” Fast forward to 2013, to a rehearsal of Balanchine’s 1941 “Concerto Barocco” at the Westside headquarters of Los Angeles Ballet. Neary, now 60 and the company’s co-founder, surveys her dancers with microscopic scrutiny as they attempt to master the rigorously precise footwork, high-energy unison phrases and tricky group formations of the 18-minute dance. Both critical and encouraging, she invokes the words of her mentor during the section where three female dancers must weave around the sole male dancer in the work, interlocking hands and arms to create sculptural yet quickly dissolving tableaux. “Balanchine always used to say, ‘You should be walking around like Grecian goddesses,’ “ she tells the female dancers. “You’re missing this thing. In all his ballets, there’s this thing that’s more than the steps. It’s about feeling beautiful within yourself, and I can’t teach you that.” Neary, however, can remember how the famous choreographer known as Mr. B made his dancers feel beautiful, and it’s this firsthand experience that serves as the guiding force behind her company’s Balanchine Festival 2013. “Colleen has this great gift for challenging dancers to embody the Balanchine aesthetic,” says Ellen Sorrin, director of the George Balanchine Trust, which authorizes the staging of Balanchine’s ballets worldwide. “It’s an enormous responsibility to do what she’s doing, to disseminate Balanchine’s works as fully and wonderfully as possible.” DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

After dancing with Los Angeles Ballet as a Soloist for nine years, Laura Chachich is thrilled to transition into a new administrative role. Laura is a passionate educator who supports and nurtures Company dancers in rehearsals, and oversees the children performing in Los Angeles Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker. She brings the joy of dance to communities in Los Angeles through the outreach programs she manages, A Chance to Dance and POP! Power of Performance. Laura received her dance education at Miami City Ballet School, North Carolina School of the Arts and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet before joining The Washington Ballet in DC in 2011. She joined Los Angeles Ballet in 2014 and immediately fell in love with the company and the city. During her time as a dancer, Laura served as LAB’s Outreach Coordinator and helped to grow the company’s outreach programs. She feels that art has the power to connect and heal diverse audiences and looks forward to continuing to serve the LA community. Ballet Master Director of Education Programs Laura Chachich After dancing with Los Angeles Ballet as a Soloist for nine years, Laura Chachich is thrilled to transition into a new administrative role. Laura is a passionate educator who supports and nurtures Company dancers in rehearsals, and oversees the children performing in Los Angeles Ballet’s production of The Nutcracker. She brings the joy of dance to communities in Los Angeles through the outreach programs she manages, A Chance to Dance and POP! Power of Performance. Laura received her dance education at Miami City Ballet School, North Carolina School of the Arts and Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet before joining The Washington Ballet in DC in 2011. She joined Los Angeles Ballet in 2014 and immediately fell in love with the company and the city. During her time as a dancer, Laura served as LAB’s Outreach Coordinator and helped to grow the company’s outreach programs. She feels that art has the power to connect and heal diverse audiences and looks forward to continuing to serve the LA community. Home / Staff / Administrator

Los Angeles Ballet presents a company of outstanding dancers from local communities and around the world. LAB dance artists master classical as well as contemporary techniques. Ray & Ghada Irani Principal Dancer Tigran Sargsyan Hometown Yerevan, Armenia Schools Yerevan Choreographic Dance College, Dance Academy of Zurich, San Francisco Ballet School Companies Dortmund Ballet Theater Los Angeles Ballet 7th Season

Dancing under the stars in Grand Park, Los Angeles Ballet performed George Balanchine's Agon and Rubies, both to the music of Igor Stravinsky, on July 6th in its first partnership with The Music Center. Over 3,500 Attend LAB's Performance in Grand Park July 1, 2013 Los Angeles Magazine Dancing under the stars in Grand Park, Los Angeles Ballet performed George Balanchine's Agon and Rubies, both to the music of Igor Stravinsky, on July 6th in its first partnership with The Music Center. The free performance was part of The Music Center's LA's Rite: Stravinsky, Innovation and Dance. An enthusiastic audience of more than 3,500 were in attendance. Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Ballet presents a company of outstanding dancers from local communities and around the world. LAB dance artists master classical as well as contemporary techniques. Jimmy & Debbie Lustig Principal Dancer Petra Conti Hometown Frosinone, Italy Schools National Academy of Dance, Rome Companies La Scala Ballet, Boston Ballet Los Angeles Ballet 6th Season