Boca Raton, Florida (February 24, 2010) - Giving aspiring dancers the opportunity to work with professional dancers from world-renowned dance companies is an integral part of Boca Ballet Theatre's mission. Today the company announced that its next production, Spring Serenade, will feature the choreography of Christopher Fleming and Paula Young David. Co-Artistic Director Dan Guin will stage the "Enchanted Garden" section from Marius Petipa's Le Corsaire (Petipa is best known for his choreography of The Sleeping Beauty and Swan Lake) and world-famous Régisseur [Stage Director] Elyse Borne will again bring her artistry to BBT as she stages George Balanchine's masterpiece Serenade as the anchor of this concert.
A former member of the New York City Ballet, Christopher Fleming danced solo and principal roles in works by George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Peter Martins and John Taras. With Balanchine's encouragement he embarked on a career as a choreographer and received a fellowship from the National Choreographic Institute. Fleming served as the Artistic Director of the Compañia Colombiana de Ballet at the Teatro Colon in Colombia from 1985 to 1990, followed by the position of Artistic Director of Bay Ballet Theatre in Tampa. He has choreographed a broad variety of works including traditional full-length works such as The Nutcracker and Romeo and Juliet as well as original full-length works such as Gaspar, Dracula and The Three Musketeers. Fleming's Play Ball!, originally created for the Dayton Ballet, premiered at Boca Ballet Theatre in July 2000. Fleming also served as Assistant to the Director of Philadelphia's The Rock School, the official school of The Pennsylvania Ballet.
A native of the Chicago area, Paula Young David has trained with some of the greats of jazz and ballet. She joined the Hubbard Street Dance Company in 1983 as a dancer and worked with choreographers Lou Conte, Claire Bataille Sorsa, Lynn Taylor-Corbett, Margo Sappington, David Parsons, Richard Levy, John McFall, and Rick Hilsabeck. In 1988, David began teaching and choreographing full time. She has successfully choreographed more than 15 original works. She co-owned the Dance Academy of Libertyville, Illinois and co-directed the Terpsichore Dance Company. She is now forming an exciting dance company in the City of Saint Louis.
Elyse Borne trained at the School of American Ballet in New York. As a recipient of a Ford Foundation scholarship, she joined the New York City Ballet where she danced for more than 13 years and was promoted to Soloist. She performed numerous principal roles in ballets by Balanchine and Robbins and shared a debut in The Nutcracker with Mikhail Baryshnikov. During this time, she also made several television appearances and traveled on concert tours with Mikhail Baryshnikov, Peter Martins, Suzanne Farrell, Edward Villella, Patricia McBride and Jean-Pierre Bonnefous. She served as Ballet Mistress for the Miami City Ballet for eight years and San Francisco Ballet for six years. Currently she devotes herself full-time to staging ballets nationally and internationally on behalf of the George Balanchine and Jerome Robbins Trusts, and additional works by Hans van Manen and Helgi Tomasson. She has staged ballets at the Boston Ballet, Pittsburgh Ballet Theatre, Dutch National Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, The Royal Ballet, Kirov Ballet, Central Ballet of China, Royal Danish Ballet, Royal Swedish Ballet, Norwegian National Ballet, Zurich Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Ballet Nacional de Danza (Mexico), Alberta Ballet, Hamburg Ballet, New York City Ballet, San Francisco Ballet, and many others.
Spring Serenade features George Balanchine's Serenade presented with permission of the George Balanchine© Trust. Set to the music of Tchaikovsky, Serenade anchors a magnificent evening of dance that features an exciting collection of both classical and contemporary works. Performances will be held Saturday, March 27 at 8 pm, and Sunday, March 28 at 2 pm. All performances will be held at FAU's University Theatre (Griswold). Tickets for Spring Serenade are $35 for adults and $25 for children (12 years and under) and seniors (65 years and over).
Boca Ballet Theatre... where the stars of tomorrow, join the stars of today.
Boca Ballet Theatre is a non-profit organization with a 19-year tradition of educating community youth in classical ballet and concert dance through focused training, participation in full-length ballets and contemporary choreography, and interaction with professional dancers in a unique mentorship program. For more information or tickets please call 561-995-0709 or visit www.bocaballet.org.
