AN EVENING WITH BALLET WEST
at
RED BUTTE GARDEN
Friday, September 9, 2022

Presented by

Dancer Roster

CASTING AND PROGRAM ORDER SUBJECT TO CHANGE

ORANGE

Costume Design: Jason Hadley
Lighting Design: Joseph R. Walls
Music: Ludwig Van Beethoven, Frédéric Chopin, Johann Sebastien Bach, and Sergi Rachmaninoff

Choreographed by Juliano Nunes
This world premiere for Ballet West is an expression of joy and peace. Nunes was trained at the Brazilian Dance Conservatory in Rio de Janeiro and the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts in Germany, later working with choreographers William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, and Jirí Kylián.

CAST

I
Emily Adams, Katlyn Addison, Dominic Ballard, Beau Chesivoir, Isabella Corridon, Hadriel Diniz, Nicole Fannéy, Robert Fowler, Adrian Fry, Tyler Gum, Olivia Gusti, Jenna Rae Herrera, David Huffmire, Chelsea Keefer, Vinicius Lima, Amy Potter, Victoria Vassos, Jordan Veit, Claire Wilson

II
Jordan Veit

III
Katlyn Addison, Hadriel Diniz, David Huffmire
Dominic Ballard, Tyler Gum, Amy Potter
Nicole Fannéy, Adrian Fry, Jordan Veit
Olivia Gusti, Chelsea Keefer, Victoria Vassos

IV
Entire cast

V
Katlyn Addison & Adrian Fry
Emily Adams & Hadriel Diniz
Jenna Rae Herrera & Jordan Veit
Nicole Fannéy & Vinicius Lima
Claire Wilson & Tyler Gum

World premiere May 11, 2022, at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center

LA VIVANDIERE PAS DE SIX

Costumes: Traditional
Lighting: Joseph Walls
Music: Cesare Pugni and Jean-Baptiste Nadaud

Choreographed by Arthur Saint-Léon
Ballet West II will present Arthur St. Léon’s charming La Vivandiere Pas de Six, an excerpt preserved from the mid-19th century. This lively Romantic-era suite of short dances from a lost full-length story ballet is delicate, light, and full of challenging technical demands for the dancers. Choreography reconstructed by Ann Hutchinson Guest from Saint-Léon’s Notation Score. 

CAST 

Stella Birkinshaw & Jonas Malinka-Thompson
Kye Cooley, Schuyler Lian, Kennedy Sheriff, Rebecca Trockel

World premiere May 23, 1844, at Her Majesty’s Theatre, London, UK
Ballet West premiere April 26, 2022, Casper, Wyoming

Ballet West wishes to thank supporting sponsors of Orange:
Gideon and Jennifer Malherbe
Harvey and Madeleine Plonsker

GALANTHEAE

Music: Frederic Chopin/Ernst Reijseger
Music arrangement: Lucy Allan
Costume Design: Jason Hadley
Lighting Design: Joseph R. Walls

Choreographed by Sophie Laplane
Galantheae is the scientific name for the unique snowdrop flower that pushes its way through the frozen earth each year, battling the elements to survive. Galantheae metaphorically shows the staunch determination of ballet dancers coming out of the pandemic to create beauty and their art. Laplane has been a member of the Scottish Ballet since 2004, and their Choreographer-in-Residence since 2017. Her pieces include works for the Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, Project Y Scotland Persist!, the National Youth Ballet UK and the New York Choreographic Institute. 

CAST 

SNOWFALL
Emily Adams
with
Katlyn Addison, Dominic Ballard, Lillian Casscells, Beau Chesvoir, Hadriel Diniz, Nicole Fannéy, Adrian Fry, Robert Fowler, Olivia Gusti, Connor Hammond, Jenna Rae Herrera, David Huffmire, Chelsea Keefer, Vinicius Lima, Kazlyn Nielsen, Amy Potter, Anisa Sinteral, Victoria Vassos, Jordan Veit, Brian Waldrep, Loren Walton, Kristina Weimer, Claire Wilson, Joshua Whitehead

UNDERGROUND
Ensemble

MALE DUET 
David Huffmire, Vinicius Lima

SNOWDROP POEM
Ensemble

DUET
Nicole Fannéy, Beau Chesivoir

ETUDES 
Amy Potter, Loren Walton, Anissa Sinteral, Chelsea Keefer, Jake Preece, Olivia Gusti, Jenna Rae Herrera, Hadriel Diniz, Kristina Weimer, Kazlyn Nielsen, Robert Fowler, Victoria Vassos, Katlyn Addison, Dominic Ballard

DUET
Kazlyn Nielsen, Chelsea Keefer

FINALE
Ensemble

World premiere May 11, 2022, at the Rose Wagner Performing Arts Center

ADAM SKLUTE

ARTISTIC DIRECTOR, BALLET WEST
THE WILLAM CHRISTENSEN ARTISTIC DIRECTOR CHAIR
SPONSORED BY PEGGY BERGMANN

Since 2007, Adam Sklute has expanded Ballet West’s outlook, repertoire, and visibility with exciting company premieres, increased touring, heightened public exposure, and a greater focus on the Ballet West Academy.

Sklute began his training in Oakland, California and was with The Joffrey Ballet for twenty-three years, starting in New York as a dancer where he was one of the last two artists personally chosen by Robert Joffrey for his company. He became Ballet Master in 1995 and was part of the team that moved the company from NY to Chicago. In 2004 he became the Associate Director of the Joffrey Ballet. Sklute has extensive television and film credits and is an Adjunct Professor at The University of Utah as well as a teacher, lecturer, coach, and judge for ballet schools, competitions, and companies worldwide.

Sklute was listed as one of the 25 Movers and Shakers of the Utah Arts Scene in 2007. In 2014, he was named one of Utah’s Enlightened 50, and he received the Utah National Guard’s Bronze Minuteman Award for outstanding service to Utah and the nation. Sklute was awarded the Utah Diversity Connection’s Business Award for “Outstanding Commitment to Diversity Initiatives,” and Westminster College’s MLK Unsung Hero Award for his ongoing work to promote inclusivity and diversity in ballet and in our community. Most recently, Sklute was included in Deseret Magazine’s 25 Changemakers of the West for his efforts to build greater equity and inclusion in classical ballet. In 2016, Sklute took on the dual positions of CEO and Artistic Director of Ballet West for the year.

MICHAEL SCOLAMIERO 

Executive Director, Ballet West

The Elizabeth Solomon Executive Director Chair

Michael Scolamiero recently joined Ballet West after an extensive international search led by Michael Kaiser, President Emeritus of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.  Mr. Scolamiero previously served as Executive Director of Miami City Ballet for three years, during which time the organization achieved a significant reduction in debt, as well as robust growth in ticket revenue, contributions, and touring income. Prior to Miami City Ballet, Mr. Scolamiero was Pennsylvania Ballet’s Executive Director for 17 years, the longest tenure in the Company’s history and among the longest of any leader of a major ballet company. During his tenure, Mr. Scolamiero led the organization’s first capital campaign that raised $11.9 million (against a $10 million goal) to build an endowment and fund repertoire expansion. At Ballet West, Mr. Scolamiero is set to implement a newly completed strategic plan and excited to guide a growing and robust Company.

SOPHIE LAPLANE

Choreographer, Galantheae

Sophie is a Franco-British choreographer currently choreographer in residence with Scottish Ballet, Scotland, where she danced with the company for thirteen years before transitioning fully into choreography. Sophie also choreographs internationally as a freelance choreographer and has also worked on dance within different art forms such as film and theatre.

Her inventive and playful style has evolved through several creations for Scottish Ballet, including Oxymore, showcased at the Edinburgh Festival in 2013, Maze, which was later adapted for film and won Best Screen Dance Short at the 2015 San Francisco Dance Film Festival, and Sibilo, billed as part of Scottish Ballet’s 2016 Autumn Tour and which in 2019 had its US premiere at the Ballet West Choreographic Festival in Salt Lake City, followed by performances at The Joyce Theater in New York in 2020. Her work, Dextera, a celebration of creative craftsmanship to the music of Mozart, was performed as part of Scottish Ballet’s 50th Anniversary Spring Bill in 2019, to critical acclaim, alongside Sir Kenneth Macmillan’s Elite Syncopations.

As a freelance international choreographer Sophie has worked with Ballet Black, premiering Click! at the Barbican, London and the digital piece Joy! Her work with the New York Choreographic Institute features Vis-à-vis and 20/20, in collaboration with composer Jack Gulielmetti, and the short film Yoyo created in 2021 with dancers from New York City Ballet. Her piece Dialogue, the fruit of a collaboration with young Italian and Scottish dancers was performed at the TorinoDanza Festival in Turin. Capturing the exuberance of the young dancers of The Royal Conservatoire of Scotland, her piece Bagatelle premiered in June 2021. Her most recent work was performed at the Paris Opéra Garnier, as part of the
exciting new production of Les Noces de Figaro directed by Netia Jones.

Sophie’s interest in dance on film developed through Scottish Ballet’s Digital Season, creating A Work in a Week: Idle Eyes which was live-streamed throughout the process. During the pandemic lockdowns Sophie produced several pieces for film: the aptly named Indoors was nominated for the UK National Dance Awards, best short dance film. She created a film adaption of Sibilo in 2020 for the Argentinian company Ballet Contemporaneo del Teatro San Martin which was shown at Julio Bocca’s charity gala Gran Gala por los Ninos. Her most recent film Dive, a collaboration with co-creator, James Bonas and film director Oscar Sansom explores the life and work of the artist Yves Klein. This “genuinely cinematic, absolutely invigorating feast for the senses.” (The National) was featured as part of the Biennale di Venezia official selection 2021

JULIANO NUNES

Choreographer, Orange

Trained at the Brazilian Dance Conservatory in Rio de Janeiro, Juliano Nunes (b.1990) furthered his studies at the Mannheim University of Music and Performing Arts in Germany with a Bachelor of Arts and Master of Arts. Joining Companies such as Royal Ballet of Flanders, Leipzig Opera Ballet, Badisches Staatstheater Karlsruhe, and Stuttgart Gauthier Dance. He has worked with choreographers such as William Forsythe, Christopher Wheeldon, Hans van Manen, Jirí Kylián, Ohad Naharin, Sidi Larbi Cherkaoui, Yuri Grigorovich, Akram Kahn and others. He has gone on to receive critical acclaim for his own choreography and has created pieces for the Royal Ballet in London, Nederlands Dans Theatre 2, Mariinsky Theater, Norwegian National Ballet, Zürich Ballet, Ballet Jazz de Montreal, Acosta Danza, Pennsylvania Ballet, Atlanta Ballet, Staatsoper Hannover, Ballet West, a new Netflix series “Tiny Pretty Things” and he worked with FKA Twigs on a Film Playscape for the International Woolmark prize 2022 and for a special performance at the Jimmy Fallon Late night show.

ARTHUR MICHEL SAINT-LÉON

Choreographer, La Vivandiere Pas de Six 

Arthur Michel Saint-Léon (1821-1870) was raised in Stuttgart, Germany, where, encouraged by his ballet master father, he studied music and dance. He made his debut as a dancer in Brussels, Belgium, at the age of 17. 

While touring in Europe, he met the famed ballerina Fanny Cerito, whom he later married, and for whom he choreographed La Vivandiere, which became especially popular with London audiences.

In 1859, Saint-Léon succeeded Jules Perrot as ballet master of the Imperial Theatre, a position he held for 10 years, at which time he was succeeded by Marius Petipa. As a dancer, Saint-Léon was well-known for his remarkable tours and jumps. In addition to composing some forty pieces of music for the violin, he left a treatise on a new method of dance notation, which he used to record his ballets. 

Sources:

The Dance Encyclopedia Revised and Enlarged Edition, Compiled and Edited by Anatole Chujoy and P. W. Manchester; Simon and Shuster, New York, 1967
The Complete Book of Ballets, A Guide to the Principal Ballets of the Nineteenth and Twentieth Centuries by Cyril W. Beaumont; Garden City Publishing Co., Inc., Garden City, N. Y., 1941
The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Ballet Second Edition by Horst Koegler; Oxford University Press, London, New York, Melbourne, 1982

ABOUT BALLET WEST

BALLET WEST, one of America’s leading and largest ballet companies, led by Artistic Director Adam Sklute, has earned an international reputation for artistic innovation and excellence since its founding in 1963. For more than 50 years, the Salt Lake City-based Company has entertained and excited audiences in Utah and worldwide by presenting great classical ballets, historical masterpieces, and new cutting-edge creations with only the highest artistic and professional standards. The Company continues to build future ballet artists and audiences by providing classical ballet training through the Frederick Q. Lawson Ballet West Academy and its four campuses and more than 1,000 students. Ballet West also operates one of the largest outreach and education programs in the country which reaches hundreds of thousands of children and adults throughout Utah and the Intermountain Region every year.