Four ballets by Miro Magloire and Guest Choreographer Deborah Lohse promise a rich menu for our upcoming performances.

In a first for NCB, a commissioned score (by New York composer Stefan Weisman) will set the tone for Deborah Lohse's physically challenging new duet for Emily SoRelle Adams and Emery LeCrone.

Another highlight will be Miro Magloire's new ballet, in which Anton Webern's ultra-short Pieces for Violin and Piano figure like brief islands of sound resonating in a sea of silent choreography for the entire company.

Fluid, never-ending movement and stillness are the elements of Monologue, Magloire's most recent creation, supported by the otherworldly music of Morton Feldman.

And finally, the joyful symmetry of fast-paced solos and duets lights up the stage in Magloire's Aeolia, propelled by Baroque solo violin Fantaisies by Georg Philipp Telemann.

Don't miss this program! Tickets are on sale already - reserve your seats today!

Friday, March 27th at 8pm &
Saturday, March 28th at 8pm
New York City Center Studio 4
130 West 56th St, 4th floor (betw. 6th and 7th Ave)

Anytime Guest Choreographer Deborah Lohse creates a new work for the company, it is an experience for everyone involved. With her physical style and relentless rehearsal energy, she effortlessly pushes the dancers beyond their limits.

This year's creation, however, is a novelty for both Lohse and NCB: the ballet has a new score by New York composer Stefan Weisman. Weisman (see portrait below) came to observe early rehearsals of the piece before beginning to write the music, which is scored for piano and violin. "He is very familiar with my work," says Lohse. "He is basing the music on the movement vocabulary and tempo shifts we have discovered in rehearsal. I really enjoy working in this way, which is very different from my normal musical habits."

With Weisman working on the score, Lohse is finishing up her ballet, an intense duet for company dancers Emily SoRelle Adams and Emery LeCrone. (You can see a video trailer by clicking on the picture above.) As so often in Lohse's ballets, there is a deep emotional undercurrent, as two conflicting characters are unleashed on each other.

For Lohse, the work won't be over on opening night - excerpts from this piece will become part of a large scale work she will present with her own company, ad hoc ballet, later this spring. For NCB's artists, her collaboration has already enriched the year.

Talk to NCB dancer Emily SoRelle Adams about dance, and she will inevitably mention truth and honesty. This quest for a deeper meaning has fueled her performances in ballets like Constantine Baecher's Arachnophilia (photo) or Miro Magloire's Romantic Pieces, leaving audiences spellbound.

"I began dancing as soon as I could stand on two feet," says Emily. After initially dancing around the house to the guitar playing of her father, who is a musician, she added more formal training at the Kirov School, the Washington School of Ballet and the Rock School among others. "I loved the thrill of performing for an audience. It seemed so natural to me to be out there on stage."

After stints at Washington Ballet and Ballet Austin, she decided to move to New York City, where she soon joined New Chamber Ballet. "What distinguishes NCB from other companies is the live music, the intimate atmosphere, and the artistic risks that are taken." She has helped bring to life some of the companies signature pieces, including Magloire's Klavierstück. "What I love most about being a dancer is the opportunity to share a piece of my art, in hopes that it will bring a renewed perspective of truth, beauty and life."

Currently, Emily is participating in the creation of Deborah Lohse's new ballet. "Deborah is a genuine artist whose pieces are grounded in exploration of human relationships and behavior. The piece forces you to dig deeper within yourself to an honest, open place, where nothing can be contrived." Another chance, that is, for Emily to deliver a haunting performance.

Did you miss the review?

Under the headline "A Theatrical Experience In an Everyday Setting," Alastair Macaulay discussed NCB's most recent performances in the New York Times.

Along with many interesting observations on the individual ballets and dancers, Macaulay praised the use of live music ("...it's heartening to see work so focused on the meeting of dance and music"), the quality of the choreography ("...and always you're aware of an intelligence at work that resists Romantic cliché"), and the interaction of the two ("...the peculiarity of its music-dance connections is refreshingly original.")

But actually, you can read it for yourself!

With his music for Deborah Lohse's new ballet, Stefan Weisman became the first composer to create a score for a New Chamber Ballet performance - a development long overdue.

Weisman, who is currently living in New York's Hells Kitchen neighborhood, was born and raised in New Jersey. He studied composition at Bard College, Yale and Princeton, and has since made a name for himself as one of his generations most interesting composers, with works ranging from chamber music to opera.

The new piece is his second time writing for dance. "I love to collaborate, and do so as often as I can," he says. His pulsating, quietly ecstatic music is a natural fit for Deborah Lohse's movements, and both have enjoyed the process. "Working with Deborah was great fun," Weisman adds, "I'm looking forward to seeing how it all turns out!" And so do we.

A new violinist will join us for this spring's performances: Owen Dalby. (In a bit of scheduling-related teamwork, Dalby will play for three of the ballets, while NCB violinist Erik Carlson will play for the fourth one.)

A Yale alumni, Dalby was called "A fearless and inquisitive violinist" by the San Francisco Classical Voice. Hailed for his instrumental and stylistic versatility, he is a frequent performer with cutting-edge contemporary music groups as well as period instrument ensembles.

In addition to performing throughout North America and Europe as a solo artist, orchestral and chamber musician, Dalby is a member of The Academy, a much-heralded program of Carnegie Hall, the Juilliard School, and the Weill Music Institute that links a performer's life with arts advocacy and a teaching residency in New York City public schools. New Chamber Ballet is delighted to welcome him on board!

Here's what New Chamber Ballet's artists have been up to since the last show:

Company member Emery LeCrone choreographed a ballet for Greensboro Ballet in Greensboro, NC... Elizabeth Brown performed at Joe's Pub in New York City, appearing in a piece by Deborah Lohse as part of the sold-out Modern Dance Musicals program... Violinist Erik Carlson performed in Boston and New York with the Momenta String Quartet... Former company member Christin Hanna recently founded Tahoe Youth Ballet (photo) in Lake Tahoe, CA. The company grew out of NCB's Lake Tahoe Project, which Hanna initiated, and is now a self-sustained youth ensemble scheduled to begin performing later this spring. Stay tuned for more details in our next newsletter...

Yes, the economy, the economy, and always the economy - and here we are asking for your money! Why? Ticket sales still cover only about 20% of the costs of each performance. Since long before the current financial woes we have aimed to keep our costs as low as possible. But some costs are unavoidable: rehearsal studio fees (a big item here in the city), performance space fees, music royalties, performer fees, printing costs, costuming and costume maintenance, sheet music costs, stamps, banking fees, advance ticket sale fees, PR costs...

All of these items are just bare necessities to produce our no-frills performances. Instead of cutting back, we try to perform more to keep our art alive and you, our audience, happy. Not an easy task, and we can only do it with your help! Please take a moment to go to our website and find out how you can support our work...