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In July of this year co-artistic director Colleen Neary was in St. Petersburg, Russia, staging George Balanchine’s Symphony in C on the acclaimed Kirov Ballet as part of the city’s White Nights Festival. Colleen Neary Travels to St. Petersberg July 1, 2008 Company News from the Staff at LAB As danced Saturday by Eddy Tovar, a permanent LAB guest from Orlando Ballet, James was a bewildered dreamer, torn between the Sylph and Effie. He was also impulsive, flaring into outraged anger upon seeing Madge warming herself by the fire. A handsome, compact dancer, Tovar had the strength and style to execute Bournonville’s demanding foot beats with speed and clarity. Home / News / New Item

Continuing her global work as a member of the George Balanchine Trust, Colleen Neary has just returned from Moscow's Bolshoi Ballet where she staged and rehearsed Symphony in C. Next she is off to Portland, Oregon to restage Rubies, a work she originally set there in 2003. Colleen Neary travels to Portland & Moscow January 1, 2008 Company News from the Staff at LAB The ballet ends with a terrible image. Madge pulls the fallen James up by the hair to see his beloved but dead Sylph float up into the heavens. With insouciant flicks of her wrists, Madge then dismisses James’ lifeless form. All in a day’s work, she seems to say, and easy work at that. Final curtain. Home / News / New Item

Download this article The Curtain Rises for L.A. Ballet November 22, 2006 Palisadian-Post by Libby Motika Download this article DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

With “See the Music, Hear the Dance,” an evening of three challenging choreographies by George Balanchine at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse, the Los Angeles Ballet has reaffirmed its ascendance as the ballet company for which Los Angeles has waited decades. Los Angeles Ballet Presents 3 by Balanchine February 22, 2010 Culturespot LA by Penny Orloff With “See the Music, Hear the Dance,” an evening of three challenging choreographies by George Balanchine at UCLA’s Freud Playhouse, the Los Angeles Ballet has reaffirmed its ascendance as the ballet company for which Los Angeles has waited decades. Chosen from the vast catalogue of works from the Balanchine’s prodigiously long career, the LAB premieres of “Kammermusik No. 2” and “Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2,” and reprise of “Serenade” from Season 1, give local audiences a glimpse into the limitless creativity of the greatest of 20th century choreographers. As usual, Co-Artistic Directors Colleen Neary and Thordal Christensen greeted the packed auditorium. After a brief description of the dances and a couple of anecdotes about Neary’s work with Balanchine, the couple stepped offstage, and the curtain rose on “Serenade” - the first of the Balanchine’s creations after arriving in America in 1933. The perfection of the pale blue tableau of LAB’s women’s corps de ballet elicited spontaneous applause from the audience. With its kaleidoscope patterns of razor-straight lines melting into liquid curves, the piece showcases what has been perceived as LAB’s greatest strength - the flawless precision of the women’s ensemble. With “Kammermusik No. 2,” the company has taken another huge step forward. The dance features two couples backed by an eight-man ensemble. In last year’s Prodigal Son, though the men’s corps showed their technical proficiency and strength, they had not quite homogenized their collective ears to Prokofiev’s score, such that they could dance together with absolute precision. But what a difference a year makes. The Hindemith piano/chamber ensemble opus is very difficult – but the group’s solid, cohesive musicianship, allowed them to move as one through the avant garde combinations. Andrew Brader, Melissa Barak, Drew Grant and Grace McLoughlin in Kammermusik No. 2; Photo: Reed Hutchinson Unleashing powerful, lightning-fast athleticism coupled with uncanny fluidity, Melissa Barak commands the stage. There is, apparently, nothing she can’t do. She is surely in her element in this piece. Her partner, the long-limbed and majestic Andrew Brader, is a perfect foil for Barak’s abandon. His stunning lifts break laws of gravity. Shadowing Barak is exuberant gamin Grace McLoughlin, who danced an endearing Effie in last year’s “La Sylphide.” Her diminutive size belies a large personality, and she expertly “works the room” for laughs during a series of Charleston-on-steroids maneuvers. Rounding out the quartet of soloists, veteran LAB principal dancer Drew Grant’s guides his compact frame through the blazing pace with confidence and discipline. The final work, “Tchaikovsky Piano Concerto No. 2,” is Balanchine’s 1973 revision of his “Ballet Imperial” from 1941, and utilizes every resource available to dazzle and astonish. Monica Pelfrey shines in this very classical Balanchine homage to Petipa. Grand breadth of gesture and superb balance distinguish her dancing. New to LAB as the Rose in the recent “Nutcracker,” one is confident that she will adapt her ‘English Royal Ballet’ style as she relaxes into this very ‘American’ company. Also new to the company, Zheng Hua Li is a surprise as the romantic cavalier, after his witty Mouse King in “Nutcracker.” His beautiful, expressive face is no small asset, and his feet are about as perfect as feet get. The audience rewarded his clean execution of double tours-en-l’air and big, floating jetee’s with enthusiastic applause. As expected, the ensemble finale was spectacular, corps and soloists wonderfully coordinated. The prolonged ovation necessitated multiple curtain calls. Don’t miss two more chances to see this program. “Balanchine – ‘See the Music, Hear the Dance,’ ” Los Angeles Ballet, 7:30 p.m., Saturday, Alex Theatre, 216 N. Brand Ave., Glendale; 7:30 p.m., March 6, Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd., Redondo Beach, tickets: $15-$95, contact: www.losangelesballet.org or (310) 998-7782. DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

Co-Artistic Director Thordal Christensen announced the promotion of Ms. Noelle to LAB Principal Dancer at the curtain call of the December 17th 1 pm performance of The Nutcracker at Royce Hall, UCLA. Allynne Noelle Appointed Los Angeles Ballet Principal Dancer December 1, 2011 Company News from the Staff at LAB Co-Artistic Director Thordal Christensen announced the promotion of Ms. Noelle to LAB Principal Dancer at the curtain call of the December 17th 1 pm performance of The Nutcracker at Royce Hall, UCLA. Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Ballet's Artistic Director Colleen Neary travels to Berlin to give a lecture on the Balanchine Legacy for the German Dance Congress, 2006. Colleen Neary Travels to Germany April 1, 2006 Company News from the Staff at LAB Los Angeles Ballet's Artistic Director Colleen Neary travels to Berlin to give a lecture on the Balanchine Legacy for the German Dance Congress, 2006. She will give a history of George Balanchine, and discuss his revolutionary influence on dance. Included will be a demonstration by the dancers of the Staatsballett Berlin, performing excerpts of the Balanchine repertoire that Colleen has staged for that company. Home / News / New Item

Los Angeles Ballet ended its benchmark 10th season in June as the first American company to dance Frederick Ashton’s distinctively intimate and poetic “Romeo and Juliet.” Unfortunately, that season left the company fiscally overextended, so the 11th season, which opened Saturday, has cutbacks in the roster and the repertory. Los Angeles Ballet At the Top of its Form October 20, 2016 Los Angeles Times by Lewis Segal Los Angeles Ballet ended its benchmark 10th season in June as the first American company to dance Frederick Ashton’s distinctively intimate and poetic “Romeo and Juliet.” Unfortunately, that season left the company fiscally overextended, so the 11th season, which opened Saturday, has cutbacks in the roster and the repertory. That’s disappointing, of course, but the situation forced artistic directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary to capitalize on their bedrock artistic strengths in an invigorating program at the Alex Theatre in Glendale. From Christensen’s Danish birthright came August Bournonville’s antique Pas de Six and Tarantella from “Napoli.” From Neary’s career at New York City Ballet came an authoritative staging of George Balanchine’s wondrous “Stravinsky Violin Concerto.” The directors’ longstanding commitment to new work brought Canadian modernist Aszure Barton’s quirky, challenging “Untouched” to the program too. The celebratory Bournonville divertissement began with a classical abstraction of folklore and then unleashed a nonstop barrage of bouncy, heel-and-toe folk steps. Technical strain from the women and hard landings from the men marred the opening section. But those shortcomings soon yielded to spot-on contributions from the excellent Julia Cinquemani and Kenta Shimizu, as well as Javier Moya Romero and Madeline Houk (replacing the injured Allyssa Bross), plus a stellar newcomer, Tigran Sargsyan, able to project Bournonville style effortlessly at opera house scale. The “Napoli” excerpt also confirmed the growing importance of Dustin True, a versatile soloist previously seen in subsidiary roles but given major assignments in all three works Saturday. In the Bournonville and Barton pieces, you could admire his skill and spirit without feeling he’d outclassed his colleagues. But in the “Stravinsky Violin Concerto,” opposite Elizabeth Claire Walker (replacing Bross), the almost contemptuous force and sensuality of his dancing made it impossible to watch anyone else — even Shimizu and Cinquemani, efficient if subdued in their duet. In a tribute to his friendship with the composer, Balanchine initially reshuffled soloists and small ensembles, then explored two moody, intricate duets before launching a folk-accented finale requiring extraordinary precision from the whole cast. It is one of the prime neoclassic creations of the 20th century and, discounting a few lapses in stamina, the Los Angeles Ballet performance delivered its greatness impressively. Crammed with musical and movement eccentricity, Barton’s 2010 “Untouched” looked at the tensions between group identity and individual expression. For much of the work’s length, the title proved prophetic: Everyone danced in juxtaposition but with no contact. And even when fleeting interactions occurred, the participants remained untouched in a fundamental sense: locked in their own pain and processes. With everyone wearing Fritz Masten’s floral prints, the piece evoked an upscale party at which everyone expected relationships to form but nobody really connected. Along the way, newcomer Leah McCall dominated the stage in a dramatic solo, and Bianca Bulle endured partnering assaults stoically, but everyone in the 12-member cast took to Barton’s twisty, wiggly, off-kilter style as if ballet dancing always incorporated such oddities. Nicole Pearce designed the claustrophobic set (borrowed from Hubbard Street Dance Chicago). Obviously, few would rejoice at Los Angeles Ballet’s cutbacks. But the company’s value stayed resplendent Saturday with no need for more of anything — expect possibly live music. Indeed, this is why we need these dancers in Los Angeles, not for hand-me-down stagings of Russian warhorses but for sustaining the living legacy of modernism (even 19th-century modernism) that has distinguished it for the last decade. The L.A. Ballet program will visit other Southland venues in weeks to come; no doubt, other audiences will see what the Alex audience witnessed: an invaluable community resource suffering growing pains, perhaps, but still near the top of its game. ------------ Los Angeles Ballet In Redondo Beach: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 22 at the Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, 1935 Manhattan Beach Blvd. In Westwood: 7:30 p.m. Oct. 29 at Royce Hall, UCLA Tickets: $29.50-$104 Info: (310) 998-7782, www.losangelesballet.org Follow The Times’ arts team @culturemonster. ALSO An ode to an avant-garde Japanese dance legend USC celebrates the opening of a $46-million building for dance 40 years of Martin Scorsese movies, mashed up as a concert-musical READ ARTICLE AT SOURCE Home / News / New Item

On July 20, 2015, Los Angeles Ballet announced that the historic 10th Season will feature the Great Romantics. Historic 10th Anniversary Season Announced July 1, 2015 Company News from the Staff at LAB On July 20, 2015, Los Angeles Ballet announced that the historic 10th Season will feature the Great Romantics. Included are LAB's critically-acclaimed productions of Giselle and The Nutcracker; a world premiere production of Don Quixote, choreographed by Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary; and the Los Angeles premiere of Frederick Ashton's Romeo and Juliet. "As we embark upon our tenth season and to celebrate this milestone, we thought that this was the perfect time to share the Romantics with the city," said Christensen. "Thanks to the support of our patrons, the company has seen thrilling growth over the last nine years. Our dancers have grown artistically and technically, and our audience has grown across the city," said Neary. Home / News / New Item

Something rare is afoot in Los Angeles. To put it simply, “Swan Lake.” Yes, that icon of classical exactitude and style is popping up on stages all over. And the producer turns out to be not some long-standing, well-endowed enterprise on tour here, but the LA Ballet, which is a mere six years old. Swan feathers float down on local stages March 14, 2012 LA Observed by Donna Perlmutter Something rare is afoot in Los Angeles. To put it simply, “Swan Lake.” Yes, that icon of classical exactitude and style is popping up on stages all over. And the producer turns out to be not some long-standing, well-endowed enterprise on tour here, but the LA Ballet, which is a mere six years old. Why? Why would brand-name husband/wife directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary be confident enough to mount this behemoth of a ballet? This vast spectacle designed for the likes of kingly companies with multi-millions -- the Bolshoi, American Ballet Theatre, Royal Covent Garden, Royal Danish? Answer: They have the chops now, that is, the dancers, together with their deep, artistic savvy. And they know it. All I did was tip-toe into Royce Hall - the first stop in a city-wide tour of major Southland venues that continues through March 31 - only to discover a production of the Petipa-Ivanov-Tchaikovsky ballet that approximated world-class standards. The capstone of all this cheering came in the second act - you know, the famed lakeside scene, that moonlit mirage with the snowy white swan corps floating about and Prince Siegfried sensing the imminent appearance of his fateful inamorata Odette, aka the Swan Queen, turned from maiden into an avian creature by an evil sorcerer. And when she alit onstage, in the person of Allynne Noelle, the effect was dazzling -- as that first sighting was meant to be. Tall, with perfect proportions and gorgeously tapering long limbs, this Swan Queen had both bird-like spark and human pathos, her hand articulation spelling out regal elegance. She danced with alacrity and definition and fluid musicality. It was as though she’d been in training at Vaganova since adolescence - not a girl from Huntington Beach - although she’d done stints at redoubtable dance oases (National Ballet of Canada, Villella’s Miami City Ballet and not least, Vicky Koenig’s Inland Pacific Ballet). So...with Noelle and a host of others now just in their second season with LAB, Christensen and Neary knew this was their moment. In fact, the bench is deep enough to alternate the lead role, as well as others. But that’s not all. These high-pedigree directors (he a Royal Dane, she a Balanchine Trustee), who have both formerly danced the “Swan Lake” lead roles for years, boast wide contacts for bringing resources to the company -- the dancers, for instance -- and this production, originally designed for Pacific Northwest Ballet. Besides Noelle, who joined LAB only 18 months ago, is Alyssa Bross, the alternate lead. I glimpsed her rehearsing Odile (the Black Swan), and saw richly expressive qualities - she used every enticement to undermine the Prince’s oath to Odette and was a dewy seductress, not the hard, haughty type who would laugh at her easy conquest. And when she danced Odette, it was with aching vulnerability - which belies her photograph on the program book cover, a misleadingly placid look. No wonder Christensen went forward with “Swan Lake.” He knew he’d recruited the talent - many had trained at prestigious schools and had danced with top companies. As Noelle’s and Bross’s partners, both Kenta Shimizu and Christopher Revels acquitted themselves nobly, if not exactly at the danseur level. Guest artist Akimitsu Yahata did his thrilling bravura stuff as the Jester. But down to the last coryphée, the coaching was scrupulous. Everyone had clear focus and a sense of unanimity, even the mimed gestures were natural. What’s more, the muted, old-world sets and costumes looked lovely on the Royce Hall stage, as if made for it. Considering that taped music allows for no moment-to-moment variation, the company coped well. 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

Together, along with Julie Whittaker, another ballet-world veteran and executive director of LAB, they created a board of directors. Two years of business planning followed before the company gave its very first performance, The Nutcracker, to favorable reviews in 2006. Los Angeles Ballet's Season5 Gala Celebration | Broad Stage Santa Monica May 1, 2011 Giselle is a village girl courted by a prince disguised as a peasant. She falls in love with him, but when she finds out his identity -- and that he’s engaged to someone else -- she loses her mind and dies. End of ballet? Not by a long shot. In Act 2, she appears as a spirit newly enrolled in the ranks of the Wilis, night creatures that wreak vengeance on perjured suitors. Giselle resists her new duties and saves her prince. READ ARTICLE AT SOURCE Home / News / New Item

Co-artistic director Colleen Neary, a former New York City Ballet principal, made a formidable Madge, only gradually revealing her malevolent powers. Best of 2007 Listings December 16, 2007 Los Angeles Times by Lewis Segal Co-artistic director Colleen Neary, a former New York City Ballet principal, made a formidable Madge, only gradually revealing her malevolent powers. It was easy to laugh at her mumbo-jumbo antics with her four witch friends around the black cauldron at the start of Act 2. But nobody was laughing at the end of the ballet. DOWNLOAD PDF Home / News / New Item

In June 2006 Ms. Neary traveled to Amsterdam, Netherlands to stage Balanchine’s Kammermusik No. 2, for the HET National Ballet. Colleen Neary Travels to Amsterdam June 1, 2006 Company News from the Staff at LAB In June 2006 Ms. Neary traveled to Amsterdam, Netherlands to stage Balanchine’s Kammermusik No. 2, for the HET National Ballet. Ms. Neary was in the original cast of this ballet in 1978. She worked with the company for four weeks until the premiere on June 16th. Home / News / New Item