PRESS TIP/PHOTO OP
Please
contact Marla Carpenter in the NCSA Communications & Marketing Office at
336-770-3337 or
carpem@ncarts.edu for press tickets if you would like to cover this
event. There are certain restrictions.*
STARS OF THE DANCE WORLD TO GATHER
TO CELEBRATE DEAN SUSAN MCCULLOUGH
AT THE NORTH CAROLINA SCHOOL OF THE ARTS
WINSTON-SALEM – A once-in-a-lifetime performance featuring the stars of the major ballet companies in America will be presented Monday, Oct. 15, to celebrate Susan McCullough as she steps down as dean of the School of Dance at the North Carolina School of the Arts.
The dance concert will be held at 7:30 p.m. Monday, Oct. 15, at the Stevens Center, 405 West Fourth St., downtown Winston-Salem. Some tickets ($60 for orchestra seats; $50 for balcony seats) remain; call the NCSA Box Office at 336-721-1945.
Dance companies represented will include American Ballet Theatre, Boston Ballet, Miami City Ballet, New York City Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and Via Dance Collaborative.
Other performers will include current NCSA dance students and students from NCSA’s Preparatory Dance Program.
The NCSA Symphony Orchestra, under the direction of NCSA Chancellor John Mauceri, will also perform.
The program was specially selected to pay tribute to McCullough for her 19 years of service as dean of the School of Dance. Remarks will be made by Chancellor Mauceri and NCSA School of Dance Interim Dean Alex Ewing, as well as McCullough herself.
Highlights of the program will be two performances by Ethan Stiefel, principal dancer with American Ballet Theatre and the new dean designate of the School of Dance, and Gillian Murphy ’96, also a principal dancer with ABT and an alumna of the NCSA School of Dance. Stiefel and Murphy will perform “The Sleeping Beauty” Pas de Deux (Adagio and Coda) and the “White Swan” Pas de Deux from “Swan Lake.”
Susan McCulloughPhoto by Rick McCullough
Gillian Murphy and
Ethan Stiefel
in "Don Quixote"
Photo by Rosalie O'Connor
The program will also include:
* George Balanchine’s “Who Cares?” performed by NCSA alumni Amy Aldridge ’94 and Jonathan Stiles ’95/’98 of Pennsylvania Ballet;
* Balanchine’s “Tarantella,” performed by Ana Sophia Sheller of New York City Ballet and alumnus Joseph Phillips ’03 of Miami City Ballet;
* “The Nutcracker” Snow, performed by Kelley Potter ’02 and Jared Redick ’89 of Boston Ballet;
* “Cymbal Rush,” choreographed by alumnus Brian Gibbs ’04 and performed by alumni Garen Scribner ’03 and Quinn Wharton ‘04/’05 of San Francisco Ballet;
* “Two Short Dreams Remembered,” performed by Adrienne Westwood ’03, Janice Lancaster ‘97/’01, Dawn Poirier ’00, Lindsay Fisher ’02, and Gudjborg Arnalds ’05, members of the Via Dance Collaborative, an all-NCSA alumni dance company in New York; and
* “Locus,” a world premiere contemporary work co-created and performed by Catherine Miller ‘99, Eun Jung Gonzalez ‘97, Camille Brown ‘01, and Juel Lane ’02.
In addition, the program will include a remounting of the Adagio from “Concerto,” choreographed by Susan McCullough, and performed by current NCSA dance students; and “Gavotte/Waltz,” performed by NCSA School of Dance Preparatory Dance Program students.
A native of Indiana who grew up in Ohio, Susan McCullough is a graduate of the NCSA School of Dance who was a charter member of North Carolina Dance Theatre and also danced with the Nederlands Dans Theatre. She also was the Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre School director. She returned to her alma mater to guest teach and choreograph works and eventually as only the second dean of dance in 1988. She stepped down last year after 19 years as dean. She is currently on sabbatical and will return to the faculty to teach in the fall of 2008.
See http://www.ncarts.edu/performances/featured2.htm for more photos.
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*Media restrictions: No flash photography and no photography (still or video) of the George Balanchine pieces, “Tarantella” and “Who Cares,” because of licensing agreements.
