Avi Scher & Dancers Presents Second New York Season 4/23-25

Avi Scher & Dancers presents its second New York Season, including the World Premieres of Mirrors and DreamScapes, from April 23-25, 2011 at The Alvin Ailey Citigroup Theater, 405 W. 55th Street, NYC (at Ninth Avenue). Performances: Saturday at 8pm, Sunday at 3pm, Monday at 8pm. Tickets are $25 ($15 for students) and will be available beginning February 23 at www.smarttix.com or by phone at 212-868-4444.

Avi Scher & Dancers provides audiences with the opportunity to see new work by choreographer Avichai Scher performed by guest artists from the country's top dance companies in small, intimate venues with affordable ticket prices. The World Premiere of Mirrors features Carla Korbes and Seth Orza of Pacific Northwest Ballet, as well as four dancers from American Ballet Theatre. Mirrorsis about self-perceptions and what we learn about ourselves from looking in the mirror, sometimes too closely. Costumes by Janie Taylor of New York City Ballet; music by Elena Kats Chernin, performed live by ABT associate conductor David LaMarche on piano with a cellist tba. The program also includes the World Premiere of DreamScapes, a piece about distinguishing dreams from real life and using those dreams to guide reality. Music by Matt McBane and Timothy Andres, featuring San Francisco Ballet Principal Sofiane Sylve, New York City Ballet Principal Tyler Angle, NYCB Soloists Savannah Lowery and Ana Sophia Scheller, as well as Korbes and Orza from PNB. The program will also include a third work, tba.

Avi Scher & Dancers was formed in August of 2008 by emerging choreographer Avichai Scher. The company's mission is to build new audiences for neo classical and contemporary ballet by presenting top quality dancers and new works in small, affordable venues. The company has danced an NYC season at the Ailey Citigroup Theater, the Kennedy Center Millennium Stage, Jacob's Pillow Inside/Out and several festivals in NYC.

Avichai Scher, 26, was born in NYC and raised in Israel. He returned to New York to study on scholarship at the School of American Ballet for eight years. There he had the opportunity to perform Fritz and the Nutcracker Prince with New York City Ballet in The Nutcracker for four seasons. A desire to work with many different companies and choreographers took him on a journey, dancing with eleven different companies in six years: Metropolitan Opera Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Washington Ballet, Ballet San Jose, Joffrey Ballet, Los Angeles Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, European Ballet, Ballet British Columbia, Carolina Ballet and Ballet X. Some standout roles have included: Puck in Ashton's The Dream, working with Sir Anthony Dowell, "Red-Man" in Elemental Brubeck, choreographed and staged by Lar Lubovitch, Mark Morris's A Garden, Michael Smuin's Shinju, Matthew Neenan's Steelworks, and Tharp's Nine Sinatra Songs. Scher always had the desire to be a choreographer and his first professional commissions came at age 18, creating Jouons for American Ballet Theater Studio Company and The Perilous Night for Miami City Ballet. Since then he has had works at: Ballet West II, Miami City Ballet School and San Francisco Ballet School's annual showcases, Usdan Center for the Arts, Washington Ballet Studio Company, Harvard University, Festival Ballet Providence, Manhattan Youth Ballet, West Wave Dance Festival, Ballet Builders, Sacramento Ballet, and Shut Up & Dance: Dancers of Pennsylvania Ballet. Dance Magazine recognized his choreography by naming him one of the "Top 25 To Watch," and he is the recipient of the Strassler excellence Award from Jacob's Pillow Dance Festival. Upcoming works in 2011 include, Ballet West, Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet and the Guggenheim Works & Process series.

Avi Scher & Dancers has received a matching grant this year from Michael M. Kaiser, President of the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts. All donations from first time donors will be matched up to $10,000.

For more information, visit www.avischer.com.