Behind the Bun: NEW YORK CITY FEVER IS HITTING TULSA BALLET!!!

photo credit: http://www.flickr.com/photos/en321/19513570/

Hello Tulsa Ballet Fans and Family:

Jessica Flores here, Tulsa Ballet's production/stage manager. I just returned from New York, preparing scenery for Por Vos Muero for our New York City performances. I got to test out the hotel our company will be staying in and deal with the reality and fun of renting scenery from European companies then wait for customs clearance!!! (I digress.)

As you may know, Tulsa Ballet has been invited to perform at the prestigious Joyce Theater in New York City. The Joyce is one of the preeminent dance venues in the United States. Located in Manhattan's Chelsea neighborhood on 8th Avenue between West 18th and 19th Streets, The Joyce has been host to a variety of tremendously fierce and amazing dance companies. The Joyce Theater doesn't "just" present dance in it's Chelsea and Joyce SoHo venues, they also commission new work, subsidize company performances, develop and engage oft-unrecognized and under-radar artists and companies, and continue to promote their mission of dance education within the New York community, as well as the broader realm of national and international audiences. Tulsa Ballet is honored to join their ranks for our first New York City performances in 25 years!

What makes The Joyce unique is it's intimate environment and atmosphere catering specifically to dance. With less than 500 seats, limited fly space, hard legs and stage depth (ok - techie talk) Tulsa audiences will immediately recognize the physical space similarities of The Joyce Theater to our own Studio K / K-Hall at the Tulsa Ballet Studios! What you'll also notice, like K-Hall, at The Joyce you're intimately connected with the dancers: so close, you can hear them breathe, see them sweat (ew), and feel the depth of emotion and movement that each dance, that each dancer, that each note, or breath, or step, evokes. If you're not a dance fan after seeing a show at The Joyce, someone has done something wrong.

The excitement around the Tulsa Ballet office and studios is palpable. The company just began rehearsals last week, and between new staffers, new dancers, and a talented corps of existing dancers, staff members, and board members - everyone is thrilled to begin the 2009-2010 season in New York City.

The other day I was doing a Google map street view of The Joyce Theater with one of our ballet mistresses, Susan Frei, and we discovered that the 360 street view photo was taken when I was actually inside The Joyce!

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Personally, this is my fourth opportunity to work at The Joyce; my last residency was in September 2007, when the Google 360 car passed by, I was the production stage manager for The Martha Graham Dance Company's 80th Anniversary performance series. My previous stops were during the summer seasons of '99 and '02 with my old company: Oregon Ballet Theatre.

Back here in Tulsa, the Company is hard at work preparing for our one week residency. The amazing Tony Fabre is here from Nacho Duato's Compañía Nacional de Danza de España. He's setting Nacho's Por Vos Muero.

Here's a picture from a Por Vos Muero rehearsal last week. Ballet Mistress Daniela Buson rehearses principal dancers Ma Cong and Karina Gonzalez in Tulsa Ballet's Studio C:

We are also performing Elite Syncopations by Sir Kenneth MacMillan. The company just performed this work this past February at the Tulsa Performing Arts Center on our 08/09 season "Carnival" program. Twenty-four dancers partake in this "ragtime romp."

Let's not forget our closing ballet of the evening: Young Soon Hue's This is Your Life. Commissioned for Tulsa Ballet for K-Hall's opening program: the Tango series of Spring 2008, This is Your Life was last performed by Tulsa Ballet during our South Korean tour last year. Young Soon has taken the ballet around the world and now This is Your Life has been seen in four different countries: The United States, South Korea, Germany, and Turkey! Tulsa Ballet now brings This is Your Life to New York for it's New York City premiere!

Enjoy the following This is Your Life pictures from backstage in Seoul as a preview of our New York residency! Hope to see you at our Big Apple Gala send-off performance in Tulsa on August 6th at 7:00pm or at The Joyce Theater from August 10th through the 15th!

-Jessica