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Home , Annabelle Lopez Ochoa, Atlanta Ballet, Cullberg Ballet, Glass Pieces, In Creases, Joffrey Ballet

Friday and Saturday, November 17 and 18, 201 7, 8pm Sunday, November 19, 2017, 3pm Zellerbach Hall The Joffrey

Ashley Wheater, artistic director Greg Cameron, executive director , founder , founder Artists of the Company Matthew Adamczyk Derrick Agnoletti Yoshihisa Arai Amanda Assucena Edson Barbosa Miguel Angel Blanco Anais Bueno Fabrice Calmels Raúl Casasola Valeriia Chaykina Nicole Ciapponi Lucia Connolly April Daly Fernando Duarte Olivia Duryea Cara Marie Gary Stefan Goncalvez Luis Eduardo Gonzalez Dylan Gutierrez Rory Hohenstein Dara Holmes Riley Horton Yuka Iwai Victoria Jaiani Hansol Jeong Gayeon Jung Yumi Kanazawa Brooke Linford Greig Matthew Graham Maverick Jeraldine Mendoza Jacqueline Moscicke Aaron Renteria Christine Rocas Chloé Sherman Temur Suluashvili Olivia Tang-Mifsud Alonso Tepetzi Elivelton Tomazi Alberto Velazquez Joanna Wozniak Joan Sebastián Zamora Scott Speck, music director Gerard Charles, director of artistic operations Nicolas Blanc, /principal coach Adam Blyde and Suzanne Lopez, ballet masters Blair Baldwin, company manager Grace Kim and Michael Moricz, company pianists Katherine Selig, principal stage manager Amanda Heuermann, stage manager

This performance is made possible, in part, by Patron Sponsors Susan Marinoff and Thomas Schrag, Joe and Carol Neil, Deborah and Bob Van Nest, and Anonymous. Cal Performances’ 2017 –18 season is sponsored by Wells Fargo.

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In Creases by Music by * Costume Design by Justin Peck Lighting by Mark Stanley, recreated by Alexander V. Nichols Grace Kim and Matthew Long, piano World Premiere: July 14, 2012 – Ballet, Saratoga Performing Arts Center, Saratoga Springs, NY Joffrey Premiere: April 17, 2015 – , , IL *Four Movements for Two Pianos by Philip Glass © 2007 Dunvagen Music Publishers Inc. Used by permission.

Encounter Choreography by Nicolas Blanc Music by John Adams Costume Design by Nicolas Blanc Lighting Design by Alexander V. Nichols World Premiere: October 30, 2015 – , Chicago, IL Joffrey Premiere: April 15, 2016 – The , , Chicago, IL

INTERMISSION Joy Choreography by Alexander Ekman Music by Brad Mehldau Trio, Django Django, Tiga, Moby Costume, Lighting, and Scenic Design by Alexander Ekman Lighting Design realized by Alexander V. Nichols Assistant to the Choreographer: Julia Eichten World Premiere: April 26, 2017 – The Joffrey Ballet, Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL Joy was commissioned by The Joffrey Ballet in association with Cal Performances, University of California, Berkeley. INTERMISSION Mammatus Choreography by Annabelle Lopez Ochoa Music by Michael Gordon** Costume and Scenic Design by Dieuweke van Reij Lighting Design by Alexander V. Nichols World Premiere: September 16, 2015 – The Joffrey Ballet, Auditorium Theatre, Chicago, IL **Michael Gordon’s Weather One, for Strings by arrangement with G. Schirmer, Inc., publisher and copyright owner.

Opposite: Graham Maverick in Alexander Ekman’s Joy . Photo by Cheryl Mann.  PROGRAM NOTES

BALLET NOTES seen these days in circles. New York Times critic Alastair Macaulay declared Peck the “third most important choreographer to Choreographed have emerged in classical ballet this century.” by Justin Peck Justin Peck has been hailed In Creases is Peck’s first ballet created for the as an important new voice NYCB and showcases his keen eye for manip - in 21st-century choreogra - ulating bodies to form complex geometric phy. He is currently a soloist dancer and the structures and unique patterns. The ballet is set resident choreographer with New York City to Philip Glass’ Four Movements for Two Pianos Ballet (NYCB). Originally from San Diego, Peck and received its world premiere in July 2012 moved to New York at the age of 15 to attend during NYCB’s annual summer residency at the School of . In 2006 he was the Saratoga Performing Arts Center in upstate invited by ballet master-in-chief Peter Mar tins New York. Dressed in light-gray hues, the eight to become a member of NYCB. dancers—four women, four men—are accom - Since joining NYCB, Peck has danced a wide panied by two pianists playing the intricate range of repertoire, including principal roles in score live on stage. de - ’s , The Fire- scribed In Creases as a “dreamscape that height - bird, Liebeslieder Walzer, Tschai kovsky Suite ens the progress and colors of its score” and No. 3, La Sonnambula, The , praised the work for its poetic structure, musi - Brahms-Schoenberg Quartet, and A Midsummer cality, and invention. Night’s Dream ; Jerome Rob bins’ , • • • , I’m Old Fash ioned, , Encounter NY Export: Opus Jazz, and Ives Songs ; Alexei Choreographed Rat mansky’s Concerto DSCH ; Benjamin Mille - by Nicolas Blanc pied’s Plainspoken and Why am I not where you Nicolas Blanc started his are ; ’ Fearful Symmetries, Thou dance training in Montau - Swell, Project, and Romeo and Juliet ; and ban, France, continuing at ’s Scènes de Ballet and the Acadé mie de Danse Princesse Grace in Estancia . Monte Carlo. After winning a scholarship in the Peck had his choreographic debut in 2009, 1994 , he completed his edu - and has been actively creating dance since cation at the School. then. He has been commissioned by the NYCB, Blanc went on to dance for Nice Opera New York Choreographic Institute, School of Ballet, Zurich Ballet, Deutsche Oper am Rhein Ameri can Ballet, , New World in Düsseldorf, and , where Sym phony, L.A. Dance Project, New York City he was made a principal dancer in 2004. In Cen ter’s Fall For Dance, Nantucket Atheneum 2006 and 2007 he created Amplitude Goldberg Dance Festival, Paci fic Northwest Ballet, Gug - and In Search Of for the trainees of San Fran - genheim Museum, Paris Opera Ballet, and more. cisco Ballet School. Blanc also created After Peck has collaborated with the likes of Suf jan Having Been for the International Ballet Com - Stevens, , Shepard Fairey, Prabal pe tition (IBC) in Jackson, MS, and he was part Gurung, Ster ling Ruby, Mary Katrant zou, and of the Young Choreographers Workshop at Karl Jensen. in 2010. In 2014 Peck was appointed the resident cho - Nicolas Blanc was awarded a special prize reographer of NYCB, making him the second for his contributions to the performing arts by choreographer in the history of the institution the city of Düssel dorf in 1998, special home - to hold this position. town recognition prizes (Mon tauban/Nègrepe - Still a dancer with NYCB, Peck has launched lisse) in 2004 and 2013, and was named one of his choreographic career with an impact rarely the “25 to Watch” by Dance Magazine in 2004.

 PLAYBILL PROGRAM NOTES

In 2010 he was nominated along with Tina the human voice.” This “human voice” and se - LeBlanc for an Isa dora Duncan Dance Award ductive sound is expressed through movement (for Best Ensemble in Christopher Wheeldon’s that is sensual yet tormented. The jazzy saxo - Within The Golden Hour ). phone sound reminded Blanc of an American Blanc joined Scottish Ballet as the company’s post-war, urban environment. Meanwhile, some ballet master in 2009 and has held the same tunes evoked Debussy’s Afternoon of a Faun, in - positon with The Joffrey Ballet since 2011. Also spiring Blanc to pay homage to this iconic piece in 2011 he created Pivotal Frequencies for the of 20th-century music. students of the Royal Conservatory of Scotland, • • • as well as participating in a Joy cho reo graphic lab with Dance House Glasgow. Choreographed Since then, he has created Purple , Memories of by Alexander Ekman the Future , Unveiled , The Spell, and Encounter Alexander Ekman is a cho - for the annual fundraiser for Embarc Chicago, reographer/director creat - as well as a dance for Chicago Shakespeare ing dance pieces for opera Thea ter’s production of Timon of Athens . In July houses, theaters, and museums. He also directs 2014 Blanc received an award for his duet films and music videos as well as live perform - Rendez-vous from the IBC. ances in pop-up locations. Ekman is known for Blanc created L’espace d’un chapitre for his his fast-paced timing, witty humor, and clever home town dance festival in July 2013. The work transitions. Since 2006 he has devoted himself received its US premiere under the title Evenfall to creating work that both entertains and chal - with The Joffrey Ballet as part of the company’s lenges the observer. Ekman aims to both sur - 2015 spring program. prise and transform audiences. Blanc was selected to participate in the 2015 Upwards of 50 dance companies worldwide National Choreographers Initiative and created have performed works by Ekman, including the Orphée, which premiered at the Barclay Thea - , Cullberg Ballet, Royal ter in Irvine, CA. Later that year, he was chosen Ballet of , Norwegian Na tion al Ballet, to participate in NYCB’s New York Cho reo- Iceland Dance Company, Göteborg Ballet, Bern graphic Institute, where he created the work Ballet, Royal Ballet of Flanders, Ballet de l’Opéra Mothership, which premiered at NYCB’s 2016 du Rhin, Vienna Ballet, Sydney Dance Com- spring gala. pany, Cedar Lake , and . Ekman has also created for festi - Encounter was originally created for Joffrey vals including French Europa Danse and the dancers for a 2015 fundraiser for Embarc, a Athens International Dance Festival. Chicago organization dedicated to supporting His work Cacti has become a worldwide hit low-income high school students in their train - and has been performed by 18 dance compa - ing. Set to music from John Adams’ Saxophone nies. Cacti was nominated for the Dutch Zwaan Concerto, the duet explores the relationship of dance prize in 2010, for the National Dance two individuals swept up by conflicting attrac - Award (UK) in 2012, and for the prestigious tions to each other, while a sense of wariness Oli vier Award (UK) in 2013. floats in the background of their minds. In 2014 Ekman created his own version of The duet is based on how the various sonori - , a new take that received enormous ties and musical layers of the score informed attention worldwide. A Swan Lake features a Blanc’s creative process. In John Adams’ words: simulated lake on stage (using 6,000 liters of “while the concerto is not meant to sound jazzy, water) and is available on DVD. The documen - per se, its jazz influences lie only slightly below tary Rare Birds by director T.M. Rives shows the the surface. I make constant use of the instru - process of creating a lake inside an opera house. ment’s vaunted agility as well as its capacity for Ekman has also collaborated closely with top a lyrical utterance that is a short step away from fashion designer Henrik Vibskov, who created

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the costumes for A Swan Lake . Vibskov then Mammatus adapted Ekman’s choreography for his fall collec - Choreographed by tion, which was seen in Paris and Copenhagen. Annabelle Lopez Ochoa In 2015 Ekman created his own version of A Annabelle Lopez Ochoa has Mid summer Night’s Dream at the Royal Swedish created works for more than Ballet, an instant hit with audiences and critics. 40 companies worldwide. Ekman received the Swedish MEDEA Award After training at School of as an “inventor and renewer” in September 2015, Flanders in Belgium, she danced professionally as well as the Såstaholm Award and the Birgit for 12 years, including as a soloist at Scapino Cullberg Scholarship. In 2016 he received the Ballet, before focusing her energy solely on cho - Deutscher Theaterpreis Der Faust for his ballet reography. In 2003 the news paper NRC called COW for the Semperoper Ballet. her a “rising star of the Dutch dance scene,” and in 2007 she was invited to participate in NYCB’s Alexander Ekman has provided the following prestigious New York Choreographic Institute. program note for Joy : Along with The Joffrey Ballet, Lopez Ochoa has choreographed for NYCB, Ballet, How can we express joy through our move - , Ballet Nacional de Cuba, Cin- ments? I asked the dancers this question on our cinnati Ballet, Compañia Nacional de Danza, first day together. I leaned back in my chair, ob - , English Na tional Ballet, served the dancers, and started to smile. To , Pacific Northwest Bal - observe dancers feeling joy on stage is always let, , Penn sylvania Ballet, contagious. Scottish Ballet, and the Wash ington Ballet, Joy is my 47th piece, created over only two among other companies. weeks in Chicago. For the first time in a long Her work has received numerous honors. time, I wanted to simply arrive in the studio, Broken Wings, created for the English National without having prepared too much. I wanted Ballet, was named one of 2016’s best premieres to see what the dancers would bring to the by Dance Europe and was nominated for a Cri - piece. The result is something completely dif - tics’ Circle National Dance Award; Sombrer is - ferent than I had expected—that is, it expresses imo received Cuba’s Villanueva Award in 2015; the pure joy of creating in the moment. To be A Streetcar Named Desire won the award for open to dancers’ talents and unique expressions Best Cho reography (Classical) at the Critics’ can bring personality and depth to the work. Circle National Dance Awards and was nomi - Through playing, we have come up with this nated for an Olivier Award in 2012; and Replay quirky universe. won first prize at the Choreographers Compe - Seeing a new work come alive in front of us, tition in Bornem, Belgium, in 2002. together, is the best job in the world. I have to give a big “Thank You!” to Julia Eichten, who Annabelle Lopez Ochoa spent four weeks work - has helped me create this work. ing with the Joffrey dancers creating Mam - I hope you will feel joy when you watch this matus . The title is derived from the Latin word piece. for a specific cloud formation. For this work, —Alexander she decided to take a different choreographic • • • approach, moving away from dissecting human behavior to create a completely new environ - ment inspired by animal movements and the energy in nature. “In nature, nothing is sym - metrical, so I was looking to create an organic chaos,” says Lopez Ochoa. “I like to give myself a challenge. For me, the exciting part of chore - ography is to try something new.”

 PLAYBILL ABOUT THE ARTISTS

The score, Weather One by the composer In 2007 Wheater was appointed artistic di - Michael Gordon, begins with a thunderstorm, rector of The Joffrey Ballet. New work is the life immediately setting the pace of the piece. Lopez blood of a company, and he has introduced Ochoa worked closely with set and costume de - numerous premieres to the repertoire. In 2008 signer Dieuweke van Reij to create a brand new the Boeing Corporation recognized Wheater’s environment. The set is an asymmetrical, sur - commitment to community outreach and di - realistic world, complete with a large LED light versity in the world of dance, presenting him sculpture and fog, as if the dancing is happen - with the “Game Changer” award. In 2010 ing on a cloud. Groups of dancers migrate Wheater, representing The Joffrey Ballet, was around the stage like abstract birds or insects named a Lincoln Academy Laureate, the high - forming sinuous, organic duets, wearing black est honor presented by the State of . and white costumes that reflect how hot and The selected Wheater as 2013 cold air collide to make a storm. “Chi cagoan of the Year” for his contributions to dance. In 2014 he accepted the Chicago Spirit The Joffrey Ballet of Innovation Award for The Joffrey Ballet and Classically trained to the highest standards, The in 2015 he received the University of Chicago Joffrey Ballet expresses a unique, inclusive per - Rosen berger Medal for Outstanding Achieve- spective on dance, proudly reflecting the diver - ment in the Creative and Performing Arts. sity of America with its company, audiences, Wheater also serves as the artistic director of and repertoire, which includes major story bal - the Joffrey Academy of Dance, the official lets, reconstructions of masterpieces, and con - school of The Joffrey Ballet. temporary works. The company’s commitment to accessibility Alexander V. Nichols is met through an innovative and highly effec - Broadway credits include: Wishful Drinking, tive education program, including the much- Hugh Jackman – Back On Broadway, Nice Work lauded Academy of Dance, the official school If You Can Get It. Off-Broadway productions: of The Joffrey Ballet; community engagement In Masks Outrageous and Austere, Los Big programs; and collaborations with numerous Names , Horizon , Bridge and Tunnel , Taking other visual and performing arts organizations. Over , Through the Night , and In the Wake. Founded by visionary teacher Robert Joffrey Nichols has served as resident lighting designer in 1956, and guided by celebrated choreogra - for , Hartford Ballet, and pher Gerald Arpino from 1988 until 2007, American Repertory Ballet, and as lighting su - The Joffrey Ballet continues to thrive under pervisor for . Other renowned artistic director Ashley Wheater and dance credits include San Francisco Ballet, Bos - executive director Greg Cameron. ton Ballet, Royal Winnepeg Ballet, American Dance Theater, Hubbard Street Ashley Wheater, Dance Chicago, ODC/SF, and the Margaret artistic director Jenkins Dance Com pany. Recent projects in - Born in Scotland and raised clude the museum installation Circle of Memory , in England, Ashley Wheater a collaboration with Eleanor Coppola, recently was trained at the Royal presented in Stockholm, Sweden; and video Ballet School. Wheater be - and visual design for LIFE: A Journey Through gan his professional career with the Royal Ballet Time , a collaboration with Frans Lanting and and danced at the London Festival Ballet, Philip Glass, recently presented at the Con cert- Australian Ballet, The Joffrey Ballet, and San gebouw, Amsterdam. Francisco Ballet. In 1997 he became the ballet master at San Francisco Ballet, and in 2002, assistant to the artistic director.

 THE JOFFREY BALLET

Matthew Adamczyk Derrick Agnoletti Yoshihisa Arai Amanda Assucena Edson Barbosa Miguel Angel Blanco

Anais Bueno Fabrice Calmels Raúl Casasola Valeriia Chaykina Nicole Ciapponi\ Lucia Connolly

April Daly Fernando Duarte Olivia Duryea Cara Marie Gary Stefan Goncalvez Luis Eduardo Gonzalez

Dylan Gutierrez Rory Hohenstein Dara Holmes Riley Horton Yuka Iwai Victoria Jaiani

Hansol Jeong Gayeon Jung Yumi Kanazawa Brooke Linford Greig Matthew Graham Maverick

Jeraldine Mendoza Jacqueline Moscicke Aaron Renteria Christine Rocas Chloé Sherman Temur Suluashvili

Olivia Tang-Mifsud Alonso Tepetzi Elivelton Tomazi Alberto Velazquez Joanna Wozniak Joan Sebastián Zamora

 PLAYBILL