Advance Program Notes Twyla Tharp 50th Anniversary Tour Friday, March 3, 2017, 7:30 PM These Advance Program Notes are provided online for our patrons who like to read about performances ahead of time. Printed programs will be provided to patrons at the performances. Programs are subject to change. Twyla Tharp 50th Anniversary Tour John Selya Matthew Dibble Ron Todorowski Amy Ruggiero Ramona Kelley Kaitlyn Gilliland Reed Tankersley Kara Chan Mary Beth Hansohn Michaela Rae Mann Peter Chursin Dominic Santia Preludes and Fugues was commissioned by The Joyce Theater, New York with funds from the Estate of John L. Klebanoff and the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts, Washington D.C. (lead commissioners); Auditorium Theatre of Roosevelt University and Ravinia Festival Association, Chicago; TITAS Presents in association with AT&T Performing Arts Center, Dallas; and the Wallis Annenberg Center for the Performing Arts, Beverly Hills. This work was also made possible 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 Twyla Tharp Dance Foundation gratefully acknowledges Jay Franke and David Herro, Bill and Catherine Miller, Patsy and Jeff Tarr, Stephen and Cathy Weinroth, and Vicente Wolf for their generous support, with special thanks to Tam O’Shaughnessy, in memory of Sally Ride, for sponsorship of Preludes and Fugues. Program PRELUDES AND FUGUES Dedicated to Richard Burke Premiered 2015 in Dallas, Texas Choreography by Twyla Tharp Music by Johann Sebastian Bach Music performed by David Korevaar and Angela Hewitt Costumes by Santo Loquasto Lighting by James F. Ingalls Staged by Rika Okamoto The company Well-Tempered Clavier Volume 1 recorded by MSR Records, Volume 2 recorded by Hyperion Records Ltd. INTERMISSION NINE SINATRA SONGS With appreciation to Sinatra Enterprises and the Frank Sinatra Foundation Premiered 1982 in Vancouver, Canada Choreography by Twyla Tharp Songs sung by Frank Sinatra Original costumes by Oscar de la Renta Original lighting by Jennifer Tipton Original scenics by Santo Loquasto Staged by Shelley Washington I. Softly As I Leave You VI. All the Way Chan and Santia Gilliland and Selya II. Strangers in the Night VII. Forget Domani Gilliland and Selya Ruggiero and Dibble III. One For My Baby (And One More For the Road) VIII. That’s Life Hansohn and Chursin Kelley and Todorowski IV. My Way IX. My Way Chan, Santia, Gilliland, Selya, Hansohn, and Chursin The Company V. Somethin’ Stupid Mann and Tankersley Biographies TWYLA THARP, choreographer and director Twyla Tharp has choreographed more than 160 works, including 129 dances, 12 television specials, six Hollywood movies, four full-length ballets, four Broadway shows, and two figure skating routines. She has received one Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, 19 honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President’s Award, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts, the 2008 Jerome Robbins Prize, and a 2008 Kennedy Center Honor. Her many grants include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1992 Tharp published her autobiography, Push Comes to Shove. She went on to write The Creative Habit: Learn It and Use It for Life followed by The Collaborative Habit: Life Lessons for Working Together. She is currently working on a fourth book. Today, Tharp continues to create. THE COMPANY JOHN SELYA John Selya trained at the School of American Ballet and joined American Ballet Theatre (ABT), where he danced and choreographed. Following his departure from ABT, Selya joined Twyla Tharp’s company. He then appeared in the Broadway musical, Movin’ Out, for which he earned a Tony Award nomination. Selya has performed in other Broadway productions, including Guys and Dolls and Twyla Tharp’s The Times They Are A-Changin’ and Come Fly Away. Selya can also be seen in movies, such as Woody Allen’s Everyone Says I Love You, Julie Taymore’s Across the Universe, and John Turturro’s Romance and Cigarettes. He directed and starred in the national tour of Come Fly Away, and in 2013 he staged the work for the Royal Danish Ballet. MATTHEW DIBBLE Matthew Dibble was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, England, and began his training at the Royal Ballet School. After five years with the Royal Ballet, having worked with Twyla Tharp in 1996, Dibble became a founding member of K Ballet in Japan, and in 2001 he joined Twyla Tharp Dance. He later danced a principal role (James) on the Movin’ Out tour and created the role of Chanos in Come Fly Away on Broadway, both choreographed and directed by Tharp. Dibble has also danced for Scottish Ballet, Matthew Bourne, Roland Petit, Christopher Wheeldon, Francis Patrelle, and Benjamin Millepied. Today he dances and sets works for Tharp all around the world. RON TODOROWSKI Ron Todorowski is originally from Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and has had a diverse career in concert, musical theatre, and commercial dance. He has been a member of Complexions Contemporary Ballet, Cedar Lake Contemporary Ballet, the Parsons Dance Company, and Mia Michaels’ RAW, and has guested for many others. He was most recently part of the original cast of Finding Neverland on Broadway. Other Broadway credits include Twyla Tharp’s Come Fly Away, The Times They Are A-Changin’, and Movin’ Out, along with Wicked, Guys and Dolls, and Footloose. He starred in London’s West End production and first national tour of Movin’ Out, for which he received a Helen Hayes Award for best actor in a musical. Off-Broadway and other theatre credits include Andrew Lippa’s The Wild Party, Chess for the Actor’s Fund with Josh Groban, Barry Manilow’s Copacabana, Spirit, and Cinderella. Some television and film credits includeSNL, The Today Show, Good Morning America, The View, the Tony Awards, the VMAs, and the feature film,Winter’s Tale. He has choreographed original work for Wayne State University and BC Beat in New York City, and he worked as assistant choreographer for Seven Brides for Seven Brothers at the Lyric Theater in Oklahoma City, as well as Celine Dion’s A New Day in Las Vegas. He recently shot a music video for Nate Ruess’s new single, A-Ha. Thanks to family, Ryan, and Twyla for this incredible opportunity. Biographies, continued RAMONA KELLEY Ramona Kelley is originally from California, where she began her training at Berkeley Ballet Theater under the direction of Sally Streets. She is a National Foundation for the Advancement of the Arts (NFAA) scholarship award winner, and she holds a bachelor of fine arts in dance from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts. Kelley first worked with Twyla Tharp when she danced the principal role of Betsy in the North American/ Japanese tour of Tharp’s Come Fly Away. Her most recent work with Tharp includes the 50th Anniversary Tour. She has also worked with Cherylyn Lavagnino Dance, Oakland Ballet Company, and the Phantom of the Opera 25th Anniversary Tour, among others. AMY RUGGIERO Amy Ruggiero trained at the Seiskaya Ballet Academy on Long Island and received a bachelor’s degree in dance with biological sciences from Goucher College. Ruggiero danced as an apprentice with Ballet Austin and later with American Repertory Ballet before moving to New York City to perform as an ensemble dancer with the Radio City Christmas Spectacular. She began working with Twyla Tharp as the swing and later dance captain for the first national and Japan tours ofCome Fly Away. She then performed on Tharp’s 50th Anniversary Tour. Other notable credits include Little Dancer at the Kennedy Center, American Dance Machine for the 21st Century, and Manon at the Metropolitan Opera. Film and television credits include Under Armour’s “Army of One” commercial, Flesh and Bone, and the opening video for Beyonce’s The Mrs. Carter Show World Tour. She is grateful for this opportunity to perform more of Tharp’s work alongside such talented artists. KAITLYN GILLILAND Kaitlyn Gilliland began her dance training at the Minnesota Dance Theatre and continued her studies at the School of American Ballet. From 2006-2011 Gilliland danced with the New York City Ballet, receiving the company’s 2009-2010 Janice Levin Dancer Award. She has since appeared with BalletNext, Ballet Collective, Ballet Tech, Emery LeCrone Dance, Intermezzo Dance Company, JV Squad and Designated Movement, New Chamber Ballet, Pontus Lidberg Dance, and Trainor Dance. She joined Twyla Tharp in 2014 for her 50th Anniversary Tour. In May of 2015 she graduated summa cum laude, Phi Beta Kappa, from Columbia University with a degree in psychology. REED TANKERSLEY Reed Tankersley is a native of the San Francisco Bay Area where he began his dance training at the age of five. After graduating from the Juilliard School (2014) in New York, he began working with Twyla Tharp on her 50th Anniversary Tour. Tankersley is one of Dance Magazine’s 25 to watch for 2017. KARA CHAN Kara Chan, a native of Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, is a bachelor of fine arts graduate from the Juilliard School. She began dancing at the age of five and received her formal training at Pro Arte Center under the direction of Astrid Sherman. Well versed in classical and modern styles, Chan performed masterpiece repertory works by José Limon, Murray Louis, Merce Cunningham, and Jerome Robbins while at Juilliard. In her senior year, Chan made her debut at the Joyce Theatre performing as a guest artist with the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company.