A happily anticipated springtime production is Colorado Ballet’s “Director’s Choice” program of contemporary works, which will happen March 25-27 at the Newman Center and on April 1 at Lone Tree Arts Center. With a mix of classical and contemporary music, the company performs ballets created in recent years for varied companies by different choreographers.
The program will open with “Wolfgang (for Webb)” by Dominic Walsh, with music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart. It premiered with the Sarasota Ballet in 2008 and in 2009, it was presented as part of “The Trilogy: Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart” in a collaboration between the Dominic Walsh Ballet Company and the Sarasota Ballet. Walsh is principal dancer and choreographer with the Houston Ballet and founder of the contemporary company that bears his name.
Next will be two pas de deuxs:
Choreographer Amy Seiwert’s award-winning “It’s Not a Cry” is set to Jeff Buckley’s recording of Leonard Cohen’s “Hallelujah.” Siewert is artistic director and choreographer for the contemporary San Francisco ballet company Imagery and her work is performed across the U.S. She was a dancer with Smuin Ballet.
“Light Rain” by Gerald Arpino has been the Joffrey Ballet’s signature piece since it premiered in 1981. He was co-founder of the Joffrey Ballet and created more than a third of the company’s repertoire. Arpino became director of the contemporary company after Joffrey’s death and moved it to Chicago, where it remains under direction of Ashley Wheaterer, who stepped in in 2007. Arpino died in 2008.
A new work by Colorado Ballet’s Ballet Mistress and choreographer Lorita Traviglia will close the program. “The Angel of Buenos Aires” will feature live music by the Austin Piazolla Quintet. In addition to her work with Colorado Ballet, Traviglia is creative director of Parasol Arts, a nonprofit organization that takes inspiration from the art of Argentine tango.