TPB Masters Performance
TPB’s Masters Performance features 30 advanced dancers who, in a scant two weeks, have learned a professional performance program of three contemporary ballets. The centerpiece is the premiere of John Clifford‘s “Goldberg Variations” set to nearly all of Bach’s intricate and exciting keyboard variations. TPB has only the Men’s Program in the region and Masters Performance also includes a re-staging of Clifford’s 2008 Scherzo a la Russe, set to Stravinsky. The piece highlights the gymnastic bravura of three young men, each solo a distinct expression of the dancer’s skill and personality.
The Portland Ballet August – November Calendar
August 13 – 26, Masters Workshop August 25, Pre-Ballet Auditions August 26, Masters Performance October 1, Tickets on sale A Midsummer Night’s Dream October 6 & 13, November 3 & 10, Free, Open Rehearsals
A Midsummer Night’s Dream November 23 – 25, Performances, A Midsummer Night’s Dream
CONTACT:
Cynthia Kirk/(syn●tax) cynkirk@syntaxpdx.com 503-330-1886
The Portland Ballet’s August 26 Masters Performance Sets Barre High
One-Night-Only Performance Anticipates Year of Excellence, On Stage and In Studio More Details Confirmed for Thanksgiving Weekend’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream
THE PORTLAND BALLET (Nancy Davis, artistic director) offers a year-round program of excellence in training
and performance for young dancers at every stage of development. TPB offers its dancers four professionally-
produced performance opportunities each year: the major, annual Thanksgiving weekend production (2012, A
Midsummer Night’s Dream), Spring Concert, Spring Recital, and Masters Performance, all cast by audition.
Masters Workshop, August 13 – 26 TPB Studio, 6250 SW Capitol Highway Resident Choreographer: John Clifford
Masters Performance, August 26, 7:30 PM PSU’s Lincoln Hall, 1620 SW Park at Market Tickets: $10, youth; $15, senior; $20, general
theportlandballet.org ● 503-452-8448 ● Masters Performance run-time: 1 hour
Many of them are already TPB Company Members or Apprentices and join the Masters Workshop immediately after month-long summer intensives at schools ranging from TPB to Miami City Ballet, School of American Ballet to San Francisco Ballet.
2012-13 Pre-Ballet Audition, August 25, 10:30 AM – Noon
For training ages 6 – 7 in a full curriculum from September 10, 2012 – June 8, 2013
Registration 10:30 AM, class 11:00 – Noon ● Registration fee: $15
TPB’s Masters Workshop challenges the most advanced students to work with extraordinary teachers to learn
a full performance program of choreography in just two weeks. With a maximum of 30 advanced dancers,
TPB’s Master Workshop is conducted as a professional company, with two hours of class and four to six hours
of rehearsal each day. Previous Masters Workshops have included choreography by Balanchine, Bournonville,
Caniparoli, Clifford and Petipa.
As is expected of professionals, TPB Masters dancers must learn new choreography very quickly if they are to
dance the work that resident choreographer John Clifford is preparing for the August 26 Masters
Performance, 7:30 PM, at Lincoln Hall. That work includes new choreography to nearly all of Bach’s
Goldberg Variations; a restaging of his Scherzo à la Russe, set to Stravinsky; and a new piece created
specifically for the skills, experience and artistry of the 2012 Masters cohort.
Special guest dancers at this year’s Masters include Lauren Lane (daughter of
TPB directors Nancy Davis and Jim Lane) and Michael McGonegal (who trained at TPB and Houston Ballet)
from St. Louis Ballet, and Liliana Muhlbach from Ballet Memphis.
The Workshop culminates in the fast-paced, accomplished Masters Performance. The music alone indicates the
professionalism audiences can expect of that one-night-only performance. John Clifford, founder of the Los
Angeles Ballet, Balanchine protégé and sought-after choreographer, is artistic advisor to The Portland Ballet.
TPB Studio, 6250 SW Capitol Highway
The Portland Ballet, with a syllabus based on the Russian school of ballet mastery (advanced by George
Balanchine), the region’s only Men’s Ballet Program, a prestigious tie to The George Balanchine Trust, and
generous merit and need-based scholarships, offers the broadest, deepest, and most enriching ballet instruction
in the region. It does so in an environment that is challenging, supportive, disciplined and rigorous, yet also safe,
healthy and nurturing. John Clifford’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream Mendelssohn’s music performed live at every performance by PSU Orchestra and opera singers
Free, Open Rehearsals Saturdays, Oct 6 & 13, Nov 3 & 10 ● 3-4 PM
theportlandballet.org ● 503-452-8448
Performances Friday-Sunday, November 23-25
Friday, November 23, 4 PM (preview, discounted*) Friday, November 23, 7:30 PM (opening night) Saturday/Sunday, November 24/25, 1 & 4 PM Run-time: 75 minutes, with intermission
TPB Studio, 6250 SW Capitol Highway PSU’s Lincoln Hall, 1620 SW Park at Market
Praise for The Portland Ballet’s 2011 world premiere of John Clifford’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream: Fast-paced choreography, clearly and musically executed…a pleasure to watch.
– Martha Ullman West, The Oregonian As soon as TPB dancers assemble for their first classes on September 10, they begin preparing for TPB’s major
public production, six performances over Thanksgiving weekend at PSU’s Lincoln Hall. In the past 10 years, TPB has established its own holiday tradition: it doesn’t dance The Nutcracker and its production precedes the crowded December holiday schedule. With its gorgeous music, whimsical costumes, cast of 80 and choreography that is at once fleet-footed, charming, challenging and amusing, John Clifford’s A Midsummer Night’s Dream has already proven to be a critically-praised, audience-pleaser. For 2012, Clifford will add a few divertissements to the Act II wedding of Theseus and Hippolyta, giving even more TPB dancers a chance to revel in their technique and artistry.
Continuing the SRO success of 2011’s initiative to open the Midsummer rehearsal process to the public, TPB once again invites the community to free, open rehearsals on the first two Saturdays, October 6 (Oregon Days of Culture) & 13, November 3& 10, 3 – 4 PM, at the TPB Studio, 6250 SW Capitol Highway. Tickets, on sale October 1: Preview (F/Nov 23, 4 PM) pricing,* $10, youth, $25, general
All other performances: $15, youth; $35, general
$90, family package (two general, two youth; additional youth tickets at $10) Information: 503-452-8448 ● Tickets: theportlandballet.org ● PSU Box Office
Honors: Work for Art’s Arts Card ● Arts for All $5 tickets for Oregon Trail Card holders
THE PORTLAND BALLET (TPB) nurtures young dancers from age three to 19. TPB students are trained with professional
intent, and the enrichment and expectation that brings. TPB dancers leave the school with the life skills – commitment,
discipline, teamwork, curiosity, accomplishment — that bring success in any endeavor.
The pinnacle of TPB’s curriculum is its annual, fully-professional produced holiday production. The production has
original staging, costumes, sets and live music – a standard of excellence for its dancers and audience that is at play every
day in the studios of TPB.
TPB was established in 2001 by Nancy Davis (artistic director) and Jim Lane (managing director), former principal
dancers with the original Los Angeles Ballet. There, they worked closely with Los Angeles Ballet founder John Clifford,
one-time New York City Ballet principal dancer and choreographer, who is now TPB’s artistic advisor and frequent guest
choreographer. Ms. Davis began studying with Balanchine and other world renowned teachers and choreographers at age
14 when she was accepted into NYCB’s School of American Ballet. At 18, she joined Ben Stevenson and Fredric
Franklin’s National Ballet of Washington D.C.
TPB’s faculty has long and deep experience at San Francisco Ballet, Oregon Ballet Theatre, Royal Danish Ballet, Odessa
Ballet, Smuin Ballet/SF, Le Grand and Ballet de Genève, Bouand Dance Company, BodyVox, Ballet West, and many
others. TPB graduates have gone on to professional careers in ballet with companies such as Houston Ballet, St. Louis
Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Ballet West and Ballet Idaho. Others have been accepted in the professional divisions of companies
like The School of American Ballet, Miami City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet,
San Francisco Ballet and Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre. They have also earned dance scholarships at universities such as Tisch
School of the Arts at NYU, University of Arizona, University of Indiana, and The University of Utah.
The Portland Ballet is generously supported by, Dorothea M. Lensch Fund of the Oregon Community Foundation,
Juan Young Trust, Oregon Arts Commission, Regional Arts and Culture Council, The Herbert B.
Jones Foundation, The James F. and Marion L. Miller Foundation and Work for Art; The Oregonian and All
Classical; its board and individuals donors. It participates in the ArtsCard and “Arts for All” initiatives.
