An evening with Edwaard Liang

Edwaard Liang had only been in our studios for several hours when we invited a few of our supporters to observe him creating a new ballet on Tulsa Ballet dancers. He was working on a pas de deux, with 5 couples learning the parts. We watched for nearly an hour as he listened to the music, worked out the choreography in his mind, and then had the dancers perform it. Here are a couple of stills from the video I shot:





It was really fascinating to hear how Edwaard came to be a part of this season's evening of creations, to be preseted in April, and how he creates the ballet for the dancers who will perform. Although Edwaard says his ballets tend to be classically inspired, in keeping with the theme for the evening, Pop Culture, he has chosen a beautiful song by Rufus Wainwright.

I can't wait to see the full ballet in spring.

What do Desperate Housewives, Facebook and Chase have in common-- in order to help non profit organizations across the country?

I just found out about this interesting collaboration between Facebook and Chase and thought it might be worth passing along . I am encouraging all of our TB fans to join me in voting for Tulsa Ballet!

Chase and Facebook Launch Innovative Giving Program for Small and Local Charities

For the first time ever, Facebook®: users will be able to choose from more than 500,000 small and local charities to decide which community organizations they want to receive donations totaling millions of dollars from a corporate philanthropy fund. Chase and Facebook today announced the launch of Chase Community Giving: You Decide What Matters, a grassroots campaign to inspire a new way of corporate philanthropy.

Chase is enlisting Facebook users to vote for which small and local non profits will receive donations totaling $5 million. The eligible charity receiving the most votes will be awarded $1 million, the top five runners-up will receive $100,000 each and the 100 finalists, including the top winners, will be awarded $25,000 each.

Additionally, a special Advisory Board featuring members who are active in philanthropy, including actress Eva Longoria,(of Desperate Housewives fame) Do Something founder Nancy Lublin and NBA Hall of Famer David Robinson, will allocate a total of $1 million to the nominated charities of its choice.

In Round One of the Chase Community Giving program, Facebook users will vote for non-profit organizations they think should receive a portion of Chase's philanthropy funds. Facebook users will be able to nominate non profits that serve the general public in the following areas: education, healthcare, housing, the environment, combating hunger, arts and culture, human services and animal welfare. On December 15, the top 100 qualified vote-getters will be announced to receive $25,000 each, and will move on to the next round.

In Round Two, the top 100 organizations will have the option to submit a Million Dollar Grant proposal to Facebook users, detailing the difference they would make in their local community with the significant extra resources. Facebook users will vote starting January 15, and on February 1, the qualified organization receiving the most votes will be announced as the winner of a Million Dollar Grant from Chase. The next five organizations with the most votes will receive $100,000 each. Additionally, the Advisory Board will donate $1 million to the nominated charities of its choice.

For more information and program requirements, visit http://apps.facebook.com/chasecommunitygiving.

Join me in voting for Tulsa Ballet!

Tulsa Ballet Supports the Salvation Army This Holiday Season

While the holiday season is usually all about The Nutcracker around here, Tulsa Ballet also finds ways to give back to our community during this special time. This year, the company is partnering with the Salvation Army to bring holiday cheer to Tulsans in need.

Tulsa Ballet Toy Drive: Bring a new, unwrapped toy to Tulsa Ballet's Brookside facility now through December 10 and receive a "Ballet Buck," good towards all holiday and ballet merchandise in our store.

Red Kettle: Join us at the PAC before performances of The Nutcracker on December 17-20, step up to the big Red Kettle and donate your spare change to help those in need.

We thank you for helping us partner with the Salvation Army!

Experience the fun part of rehearsal process, Tulsa Ballet

Tulsa Ballet dancer Ricardo Graziano is practicing a solo from Nacho Duato's Gnawa in Tulsa Ballet 2008-2009 season.

Many people are wondering what dancers have to do during the rehearsal process. Well, of course we have to get all the steps correct, musicality correct, stage formations correct, feelings and motions correct, but sometime we also have fun! As you can see in the video, dancers really enjoyed watching Ricardo's hip move in Brazilian style!

There are much fun more than you can imagine, so whenever you get a chance, get arranged to come to see us!

Ashley and Alfonso

Ever wonder why dancers usually date other dancers?

Part-Time Pianists Wanted!

Who: Pianists wanting to explore the world of ballet and dance accompaniment. Applicants must have 5 years piano experience, preferably in the classical study.

What: Providing accompaniment for pre-professional ballet classes at Tulsa Ballet Center for Dance Education. No ballet accompaniment experience necessary, training will be provided.

When: Weekday afternoons and evenings and Saturday mornings. Hours are flexible and great for college students and teachers.

Where: Tulsa Ballet, 1212 E. 45th Pl. Tulsa OK 74105

Contact: Andrew Lahti at 918.749.6030 ext. 266 or andrew.lahti@tulsaballet.org

Arts Advocacy (and breakfast) in Tulsa

On Thursday morning, the CEO of The United States' leading nonprofit organization for advancing the arts in America, Americans for the Arts, had breakfast in Tulsa, Oklahoma. Robert Lynch was in town for the induction of Ken Ferguson into the Oklahoma Hall of Fame. Ken Ferguson is a banker from Altus, OK who has become a huge supporter and advocate for the arts in Oklahoma. Mr. Ferguson serves as the national treasurer for Americans for the Arts.

Most of us are no strangers to the importance of arts advocacy in today's society, especially in today's economic climate. As most non-profit organizations struggle to receive funding from the corporate and government sector, it becomes more important than ever for us to carry the torch for the arts and the need for its support on all levels. I was fortunate enough to join Mr. Lynch and Ken Ferguson for breakfast (downtown at the Chalkboard Restaurant) along with seven other advocates for the arts in Tulsa, OK: Rich Fisher (from Public Radio Tulsa), Linda Frazier (representing Tulsa Symphony Orchestra), James Watts (from the Tulsa World), Elizabeth Geer (representing Tulsa Opera) , Edith Wilson and Ken Busby (representing the Arts and Humanities Council of Tulsa) along with one of Tulsa's biggest arts advocates, Nancy Feldman.

After we had all been seated for just a few minutes, Ken Busby returned to our table with Tulsa's new mayor elect, Dewey Bartlett Jr, who was also having breakfast at the restaurant. Of course, as any politician would do with a captive audience, Mr. Bartlett proclaimed the importance of the arts in Tulsa and said that he is looking forward to serving the community, etc. At one point, Ken Ferguson told Mr. Bartlett that we would love to see him go down in history as the mayor that did the most for the arts in Tulsa. Indeed, we would all love for that to be the case and wish him the best.

Perhaps the most interesting thing that we all learned from hearing Mr. Lynch speak about his work in arts advocacy was that it only takes a few emails to sway your local congressman's decision on a particular topic that might be facing a vote. The revealing number was 10! It only takes 10 emails from constituents to be considered a landslide victory for influencing a particular vote. That is not to say that it happens every time, but more often than not a congressman will be influenced by as little as 10 emails when faced with a decision. For basically all of us at the table, that was a huge revelation! Just think about how many arts supporters we have amongst us with regard to board members, staff members, volunteers and patrons. If each of use were to just take 2 minutes to send a note to our representatives when key issues involving the arts are being brought to the floor, we could become a major force with seeing increased support for the arts and arts education- which are vital to our future as Americans--and especially Oklahomans.

Let's All Get Involved
Encourage your friends, colleagues and fellow board members to join the Arts Advocacy Fund through Americans for the Arts. Membership is FREE and it gives you access to all kinds of easy tools to communicate with our national and local legislators as well as the media. Also, lots of helpful information and statistics about the cultural and economic benefits of having a vibrant arts community.

So, as each of us learned the other morning, it's very easy to make a difference. 2 minutes is all it takes to ensure that our voice is heard and that arts will continue to thrive in Tulsa, making it one of the best places in the world to live, work, play and raise a family. Don't you think Tulsa deserves the very best?

The verdict is in..... this year’s Tulsa Ballet Winter Celebration Gala
will be more FUN than its inaugural performance last year.



We have a rich menu of works that will include the Oklahoma premiere of Ma Cong’s Luscious, a work that you will only be able to see at Winter Celebration. Ma created this work for Ballet Iowa last season and is happy to share it with his audience here in Tulsa. We’ll have an excerpt from Dracula, of course revisited…and a competition that the audience will be judging. We’ll have a short preview of the new Edwaard Liang work that will see its World Premiere in April in Studio K and, of course the Snow Scene from The Nutty Nutcracker. And, we also hear that two of our Principal male dancers will debut as choreographers. Alfonso and Yi have joined forces to create their first-ever short ballet. Don’t tell Ma Cong, but he is the star. We hear the music might include the theme from the movie Rocky among others, that there is some weight-lifting included in the “World Premiere” and that the title of the work might be Revenge!


What is all this about???? Join us December 3 at 7 pm and find out!


Performance tickets are limited and selling quickly. If you haven’t done so yet, call Carrie in our box office and reserve your tickets to an evening of great fun, remarkable entertainment and phenomenal dancing!

Team work!

Dear Tulsa Ballet Friends,

Our next production "Winter Celebration" is on its way, we started working on it last week. It's going to be a very exciting team work, you will experience everything you would like to see, it will be a fun, enjoyable, exciting evening! We hope you come and join us for this special event!

Tulsa Ballet receives Community Collaboration Award from the Mental Health Association in Tulsa

On Thursday evening, November 5, I had the honor of attending the Mental Health Association in Tulsa's 2009 Annual Awards Celebration along with Tulsa Ballet's current board President, Jackie Kouri. The event was held at the Laureate Psychiatric Clinic and Hospital Conference Center in Tulsa. Tulsa Ballet was one of 25 recipients who were honored with the Community Collaboration Award, given to local organizations that partner with the Mental Health Assoc. on a regular basis to help fulfill its mission of: promoting mental health, preventing mental disorders and achieving victory over mental illnesses through advocacy, education, research, service and housing. Tulsa Ballet works with the Mental Association through our Hope For the Holidays program and Partners in Art.

In case you aren't familiar with these programs, Hope For the Holidays is an annual event that provides complimentary tickets to over 2,000 social service clients, allowing them the chance to experience Tulsa Ballet's annual production of The Nutcracker. It's an evening in which over 40 community agencies are able to experience the magic of the holidays through the arts, thanks to the support of several local sponsors and individuals. The Mental Health Association in Tulsa is one of the groups that regularly attends. The other program that Tulsa Ballet offers, Partners in Art, allows area social service clients the opportunity to watch the final dress rehearsal of a Tulsa Ballet production at no cost, thanks again to the support of local foundations, corporations and individuals.

Thank you to the Mental Health Association in Tulsa for recognizing Tulsa Ballet as one of your community partners. We are honored to receive one of the 2009 Community Collaboration Awards.

Where in the World is Ma Cong?

You may have noticed Ma Cong was suspiciously absent from all seven performances of Dracula. His absence had some worried that he had left Tulsa! Never fear, loyal fans, our Ma is back in the studios this week preparing for The Nutcracker and Winter Celebration. He spent the last month setting a new ballet on Houston Ballet II. A few years ago, Dance Magazine named Ma one of 25 to watch – and boy were they right. His career as a choreographer has really taken off. So now, in addition to flying across the country (and beyond) to guest as a dancer, he has a full schedule of choreographing and setting works on other companies as well. I’m not going to go into his resume (you can read it here), but I will direct you to Ma’s YouTube channel where he posts video of many of his creations.

Ma’s local fans won’t need to wait long to see some of his new work, either. The company will perform three different Ma Cong ballets this season – Carmina Burana, first performed by Tulsa Ballet in 2006; a brand new creation to be set on Tulsa Ballet this season, which will premiere at Studio K in April as part of the Pop Culture series; and Luscious, a new piece he has set on another company this year, to be performed exclusively at Winter Celebration on December 3, 2009.



Houston Ballet recently sent out an email highlighting Ma’s visit:

Spring Showcase Features Ma Cong Work

Rising and gifted young choreographer Ma Cong, a principal dancer and resident choreographer with Tulsa Ballet, arrived last week at Houston Ballet and began working with Houston Ballet II to create a new work that will be performed at the Academy Spring Showcase, April 16-17, 2010.

“I’m glad to have the chance to work with and create with this talented young generation. I’m impressed by the dancers of Houston Ballet II. Their experience is evident and they have great physicality. It’s been a wonderful time working with them,” said Cong.

For the piece, the name of which is still under wraps, Cong was inspired by both the life and music of Goran Bregovic. The piece will feature six dancers, performing to the music of Bregovic and Kroke. The dance takes on a gypsy flavor with high energy and playful yet modern movement.

Congrats, Ma! We’re glad to have you back!