New York Theatre Ballet's LEGENDS AND VISIONARIES Program Features Alston Premieres, Beginning Today

Gemma Bond's Silent Titles with music by Louis Moreau takes its inspiration from silent films. The ballet reflects the elegance of the silent movie age with black and white costumes and piano music played live on stage.

Antony Tudor's Dark Elegies is considered by many to be his greatest work. The ballet is set to Gustav Mahler's Kindertotenlieder and depicts a community in mourning. The nature of the disaster that has struck remains unspecified, but the grief is palpable.

James Waring's An Eccentric Beauty Revisited is inspired by Nijinsky's Le Dieu Bleu (1912) and danced to Erik Satie's La Belle Excentrique, a composition for piano which will be performed live. The intricate hand-painted costume by Sylvia Nolan is based on the original Leon Baskt design for Nijinsky. NYTB will be using Waring's original hand-beaded mask.

James Waring's Feathers is a solo choreographed for Raymond Johnson, who first performed the dance at the University of California Santa Cruz on July 6, 1973. The music is excerpts from Mozart's quartets for flute and strings in G major and D major. The dance is dedicated to Barbette, the American transvestite trapeze artist (1899-1972). Eulogized by Jean Cocteau and photographed by Man Ray, Barbette was one of the greatest stars of the French music-hall.

Diana Byer, NYTB's artistic director commented "This season combines the work of choreographers I knew and know well. I danced for Antony Tudor and James Waring. Tudor, Robbins and Limón, of course, were keenly aware of each other's work. We consider it part of our mission to juxtapose the old with the new to give context to the dance community. The new choreography this season is from artists we admire who are keenly aware of our past and who are creating the many ways into the dance future."

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB), founded in 1978 by artistic director Diana Byer, is the most widely seen chamber ballet company in the United States and has been hailed by The New York Times as "an invaluable company". NYTB is dedicated to inspiring a love of dance in diverse audiences through performances of chamber ballet masterpieces and bold new works, as well as innovative one-hour ballets for children, all at affordable prices.

By pairing the ballets of legendary creators with those of contemporary visionaries, NYTB brings a new understanding and appreciation of dance. The approach to live performance for children is groundbreaking and unique. New York Theatre Ballet offers an annual series of hour-long ballets tailored to the attention span of young audience members, while offering high production values and clever choreography sophisticated enough for discerning parents.

NYTB is committed to reaching underserved audiences by performing in small cities throughout the U.S. Its professional school provides ballet training based on the Cecchetti syllabus. Classes are offered at affordable prices. Scholarships are awarded to talented homeless and underserved children along with support for well-rounded learning.

Pictured: Richard Alston's Light Flooding Into Darkened Rooms. Photo Credit: Tom Caravaglia