The Performing Arts Center presents the Atlanta Ballet at 3 p.m. Sept. 24 in the Fine Arts Theatre. Tickets are $34 (front orchestra) and $29 (rear orchestra). Discounts are available for groups; and tickets are half-price for students with a valid ID. The program will showcase works that received world premieres this year in Atlanta.
The program is scheduled to open with “Inouï Rossini,” which premiered in May. Set to the music of Gioacchino Rossini, the ballet was choreographed by Violette Verdy, currently a professor of ballet at Indiana University School of Music. Verdy was a principal dancer with the New York City Ballet for 20 years, and recently taught at the Bolshoi Ballet Company, becoming the first female outside of Russia to be invited to teach at the prestigious school since 1917.
The ballet’s program also includes “Shoo Pah Minor,” another ballet that received a May premiere. Lauri Stallings choreographed the piece for Atlanta Ballet, using music composed by Antonio Vivaldi. Very much in demand as a choreographer, Stallings also has created new works in the past year for Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, Princeton Ballet, SUNY/Purchase and the Juilliard School.
Lila York’s “Celts,” a ballet set to contemporary Irish music, also is scheduled for the program. A former member of the Paul Taylor Dance Company, York has choreographed works for Boston Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, Houston Ballet, the Alvin Ailey Repertory Ensemble and the Royal Danish Ballet, and staged Paul Taylor’s works for ballet and modern dance companies worldwide.
Founded in 1929, the Atlanta Ballet is the oldest professional dance company in the U.S.; it is also the official state ballet of Georgia. John McFall was appointed the ballet’s artistic director in 1994, becoming only the third person to head the organization in its seven decades of operation. In his 12 years at the helm of Atlanta Ballet, McFall has guided the company to become one of the premier arts institutions in the Southeast. He also has opened the doors to the Atlanta Ballet Centre for Dance Education, which has already grown into the sixth largest dance school in the nation.
McFall will give a pre-concert lecture at 2:15 p.m.
