01/29/16 EMBARGOED FOR RELEASE UNTIL FEBRUARY 2, 2016

Lar Lubovitch to create a full‐length narrative dance, inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s “The Bronze Horseman,” which will receive its world premiere on May 25, 2016 at the Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia

New York, NY, January 29, 2016 – The internationally renowned choreographer Lar Lubovitch is creating a full‐length narrative inspired by Alexander Pushkin’s beloved poem The Bronze Horseman: A Petersburg Tale. The world premiere will take place on May 25, 2016 at the renowned Mikhailovsky Theater in St. Petersburg, Russia. The Russian title of the new dance (“Lublu tebia, Petra tvorenie…”) is a well‐known line from the poem that translates inadequately into English as “I love you, Peter’s great creation…”

The poem, written in 1833, is a story of love and loss in which the equestrian statue of Peter the Great in Saint Petersburg plays a major role. It is widely considered to be Pushkin’s most successful narrative poem and has had a lasting impact on Russian literature. The statue (sculpted by Étienne Maurice Falconet and completed in 1782) became known as The Bronze Horseman due to the great influence of the poem. Regarded as the greatest Russian poet and the founder of modern Russian literature, Pushkin’s works have served as the inspiration for many and operas, among them Eugene Onegin, Boris Godunov, Rusalka and the Golden Cockerel.

The poem is especially resonant for the Mikhailovsky Theater, one of Russia’s oldest and most venerated theaters, because the theater’s curtain rose for the very first time in 1833 – in the same year and in the same city the poem was created. Through the language of contemporary choreography, Lubovitch’s tragic two‐act dance reflects back on the founding of St. Petersburg just over 300 years ago.

With joint support from the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company and the Mikhailovsky Theater, the dance will be created, in part, this winter in New York City on the dancers of the Lubovitch company joined by guest artists. It will then be completed this spring in St. Petersburg on the dancers of the Mikhailovsky Ballet, and the world premiere at the Mikhailovsky Theater will be performed by the dancers and musicians of the theater. The score, to be played live, is based on Reinhold Gliere’s Symphony #3 – it is

not based on Gliere’s ballet music known as The Bronze Horseman. Gliere’s symphonic score is being adapted and orchestrated by the American composer Jesse Limbacher. The set is being designed by George Tsypin, and the costumes are being designed by Ann Hould‐Ward, both of whom collaborated with Lubovitch on his only previous full‐length narrative ballet: Othello – A Dance in Three Acts. Since premiering in 1997, Othello has been highly successful, entering the repertoires of American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, the Joffrey Ballet, and other major companies. The lighting is being designed by Clifton Taylor. Lubovitch’s choreographic assistant is Katarzyna Skarpetowska, who joined the Lubovitch company in 2007 as a dancer and has more recently served as rehearsal director.

In addition to the world premiere performance on May 25th, encore performances will take place on May 26th & May 28th (matinee & evening). Tickets online at htttp://www.mikhailovsky.ru/en/afisha/performances/2016/5/. The Mikhailovsky Theater is located at Iskusstv ploshchad, d. 1, St Petersburg, Russia, 191011.

About the Company The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company was founded in 1968. Over the past 48 years it has gained an international reputation as one of America’s top dance companies. The company, based in New York City, has created more than 110 new dances and performed throughout the United States and in more than 40 other countries.

Lar Lubovitch is one of America’s most versatile, popular, and widely seen choreographers. His dances have appeared in the repertoires of major dance companies throughout the world, including American Ballet Theatre, San Francisco Ballet, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, New York City Ballet, Joffrey Ballet, Martha Graham Dance Company, and many others. His Othello–‐A Dance in Three Acts, originally created as a three‐way collaboration by the Lubovitch company, American Ballet Theatre and San Francisco Ballet, appeared on PBS’s “Great Performances” (and was nominated for an Emmy Award). His dances on film also include Fandango (International Emmy Award) and My Funny Valentine for the Robert Altman film The Company (nominated for an American Choreography Award). Lubovitch has also made a notable contribution to choreography in the field of ice‐dancing, having created dances for Olympic skaters John Curry, Dorothy Hamill, Peggy Fleming, Brian Orser, JoJo Starbuck and Paul Wylie, as well as two ice‐dance specials for television: The Sleeping Beauty (PBS) and The Planets (A&E) (nominated for an International Emmy Award, a Cable Ace Award, and a Grammy Award). His work on Broadway includes Into the Woods (Tony Award nomination), The Red Shoes (Astaire Award) and the Tony Award‐winning revival of The King and I. In 2007, he founded the Chicago Dancing Festival with co‐

artistic director Jay Franke. The Festival is a series of performances by major American dance companies that takes place the last week of August at the Museum of Contemporary Art, the Harris Theater, the Auditorium Theatre, and Chicago’s Millennium Park. The Chicago Dancing Festival reaches over 15,000 audience members annually and is completely free to the public. In 2007, Lubovitch was named “Chicagoan of the Year” by the Chicago Tribune, and in 2008, Lubovitch and Franke were named by Chicago Magazine as “Chicagoans of the Year” for having created the Chicago Dancing Festival. In 2011, Lubovitch was named a Ford Fellow by United States Artists, and he received the Dance/USA Honors, the dance field’s highest award. In 2012, the choreography for Lubovitch’s Crisis Variations was awarded the for Choreography at the Bolshoi Theater in Moscow. In 2013, the American Dance Guild honored him for lifetime achievement. In 2014, he was awarded an honorary doctorate by The Juilliard School. On July 11, 2016, he is to be honored with the Scripps/American Dance Festival Award.

The Lar Lubovitch Dance Company is supported, in part, by public funds from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo and the New York State Legislature, and the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council, as well as by the New England Foundation for the Arts’ National Dance Project, with lead funding from the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation and the Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, with additional support from the National Endowment for the Arts. The company also acknowledges the generous support of the New York Community Trust, Howard Gilman Foundation, Little One Foundation, McMullan Family Fund, O’Donnell‐Green Music & Dance Foundation, Emma Sheafer Charitable Trust, Shubert Foundation, USA Projects, A. Woodner Fund, Harkness Foundation for Dance and numerous additional generous individuals, corporations and foundations.

Press contact: Richard J. Caples – 212.221.7909 / [email protected] Digital photos are available upon request.

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