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The innovative Washington Ballet will present two new major works and two classic ballet staples 8 p.m. Tuesday, April 9, at Lafayette’s Williams Center for the Arts.
The evening will include “Journey Home,” set to music of Sweet Honey on the Rock, with choreography by Septime Webre and set design by Sam Gilliam, and “Blue Until June,” to music by blues legend Etta James and choreography by rising star Trey McIntyre. Two classic ballet staples by George Balanchine complete the program: The Pas de Deux from “Don Quijote” and the male solo from “The Corsaire.”
Tickets cost $20 and may be ordered by calling the box office at 610-330-5009.
Preceding the concert will be a 7 p.m. talk by designer Sam Gilliam about his collaboration with Washington Ballet in Williams Center room 108. Gilliam, a long-time resident of Washington, was last year’s Richard A. and Rissa W. Grossman Artist-in-Residence at Lafayette. His artwork will be in display in the Williams Center lobby the week of the performance.
Washington Ballet is led by the bold choreography of its new artistic director, Septime Webre, who has created a stylistic fusion between the classical purity of ballet and the spectrum of cultural idioms derived from African-American music, Latin traditions, and American jazz and blues.
“Journey Home” was inspired by songs from the African-American women’s vocal ensemble Sweet Honey in the Rock. Also based in Washington, Grammy Award-winning Sweet Honey in the Rock is one of the world’s most renowned a cappella groups and a pillar of African American choral music — spirituals, hymns, and gospel — which they mix with jazz, blues, contemporary rhythms, and narrative. Since 1973, the ensemble has created an uplifting sound with a universal appeal that relates history, points the finger at justice, encourages activism, and sings the praises of love. Sweet Honey in the Rock has toured nationally and internationally to critical acclaim; released more than 15 records and CD’s; produced music for television; and received prestigious awards.
McIntyre has created works for both national and international companies, receiving commissions from everyone from Memphis Ballet to Stuttgart Ballet. He is one of the central subjects in an upcoming documentary by Academy Award-winning director Barbara Kopple. “McIntyre is a choreographer — and not just any choreographer,” notes Dance Spirit. “He is one of the most sought after young dancemakers working in the world of contemporary ballet today.”
Born in Wichita, Kan., McIntyre was named choreographic apprentice to Houston Ballet in spring 1989, a position created especially for him by Houston Ballet Artistic Director Ben Stevenson. He joined Houston Ballet as a member of the corps de ballet in 1990. McIntyre created his first work for the company, Skeleton Clock (1990) at age 20. He has since created four other works for Houston Ballet: Curupira (1993), Touched (1994), Second Before the Ground (1996), which was later performed by the company at the Kennedy Center, and Bound (2000).
In 1995, McIntyre was named choreographic associate for Houston Ballet. In 1994, he was the youngest choreographer selected internationally to participate in New York City Ballet’s “Diamond Project,” designed to foster creation of new dance works. In May of that year, he traveled to New York City for the world premiere of his ballet, Steel and Rain. The New York Times dance critic Anna Kisselgoff said of the work, “Trey McIntyre…is obviously a new face to watch.” McIntyre was awarded choreographic fellowships from the National Endowment for the Arts in 1995 and 1996. In 1996, he also received a Choo-San Goh Award for Choreography.
One of the nation’s most accomplished abstract painters and a preeminent artist in Washington for 30 years, Gilliam has exhibited widely in the U.S. and abroad. Born in Tupelo, Miss., Gilliam came to prominence in the late 1960s for his drape paintings: unstretched canvasses saturated with color that were gathered and hung like curtains from ceilings and walls. As Gilliam continues to express his fascination with structured improvisation, he is now creating vividly colored three-dimensional constructions of acrylic on birch plywood, often with collaged elements.
The scenario for “Journey Home” is by Norman Allen, recipient of an Emmy Award for the PBS documentary “The Eye of Duncan Phillips.” Allen is the author of Nijinsky’s Last Dance, winner of the Helen Hayes Award for Best Play during its premiere at Signature Theatre, with subsequent productions in South Africa and Budapest. Other theatrical works include In The Garden and Melville Slept Here for Signature Theatre, Cirque Ingenieux on national tour and Sweet Adeline for Encores! at New York City Center. For PBS Allen has scripted documentaries on Van Gogh, John Singer Sargent, and Mary Cassatt. Upcoming projects include Coffee with Richelieu at Olney Theatre Center and a new work commissioned by the Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts.
Webre was appointed artistic director of Washington Ballet in June 1999 after a six-year term as artistic director of American Repertory Ballet. He has created works that appear in the repertoires of Pacific Northwest Ballet, Les Grands Ballets Canadiens, North Carolina Dance Theatre, Colorado Ballet, Dayton Ballet, Ballet Austin, Eglevsky Ballet, Aspen Ballet, Sacramento Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Louisville Ballet, Memphis Ballet, and Washington Ballet. As a dancer, Webre was featured in works by Balanchine, Taylor, Tudor, Ailey, and Cunningham, as well as in principal and solo roles from the classical repertoire.
Webre’s recent projects include Washington Ballet’s trip to Cuba in fall 2000 and a collaboration with artistic director Molly Smith at Washington’s Arena Stage (Coyote Builds North America). A member of the board of directors of Dance/USA, Webre has been honored by Young Audiences of the District of Columbia and received fellowships and recognition for his choreography. He graduated from the University of Texas with a bachelor’s degree in history/pre-law.
Funding in part is provided by the National Dance Project of the New England Foundation for the Arts, with leading funding from the National Endowment for the Arts and the Doris Duke Charitable Foundation. Additional funding is provided by The Andrew W. Mellon Foundation, Philip Morris Companies Inc., Pennsylvania Council on the Arts, and the British Council.
The 2001-02 Performance Series at Lafayette is supported in part by gifts from Friends of the Williams Center for the Arts and by grants from the Pennsylvania Council on the Arts and the National Endowment for the Arts.