Colleen Neary News

West End Productions' final presentation of 2018 is Terence Rattigan's SEPARATE TABLES. You might have seen the movie which starred Rita Hayworth, Deborah Kerr, Burt Lancaster and David Niven. Rattigan's play was first produced in London, 1954. Two one-acts, set eighteen months apart in the lounge and dining room of a small hotel on the south coast of England, are 'deftly woven together into an intelligent, handsome' comedy/drama. The play examines social attitudes towards lifestyles and behavior deemed morally reprehensible in 1950s Britain.

Los Angeles Ballet, the city's own and only professional classical ballet company, announces its 2018-2019 Season that includes both classical and contemporary programming.

Los Angeles Ballet (www.losangelesballet.org), the city's own and only professional classical ballet company, announces its 2017-2018 that includes both classic and contemporary programming.

Los Angeles Ballet (www.losangelesballet.org), the city's own and only professional classical ballet company, brings back the holiday favorite The Nutcracker at LAB's home theatres: UCLA's Royce Hall, Glendale's Alex Theatre, Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center and the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The performances at the Dolby Theatre will include a live orchestra.

Los Angeles Ballet (www.losangelesballet.org), the city's own and only professional classical ballet company, brings back the holiday favorite The Nutcracker at LAB's home theatres: UCLA's Royce Hall, Glendale's Alex Theatre, Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center and the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood. The performances at the Dolby Theatre will include a live orchestra.

As its first offering of its 2017/2018 season, LA Ballet is treating audiences to a mixed bill Director's Choice program entitled PUSHING DANCE BOUNDARIES, a compilation of four modern dance suites with contemporary choreography. There's no elaborate costumes or sets; just brilliantly talented dancers and choreographers doing what they do best together enchant and entertain their audiences at LAB's home theaters: UCLA's Royce Hall, Glendale's Alex Theatre, Redondo Beach Performing Arts Center, and the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood.

Los Angeles Ballet (www.losangelesballet.org), the city's own and only professional classical ballet company, announces its 2017-2018 that includes both classic and contemporary programming.

Los Angeles Ballet (LAB) celebrated its Season 11 Gala on Friday, April 21, 2017 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. This year's honorees were Academy Award® nominated film producer Lawrence Bender and Governor Gray Davis & Sharon Davis.

Los Angeles Ballet (LAB) celebrates its Season 11 Gala on Friday, April 21, 2017 at the Beverly Wilshire Hotel. This year's honorees are Academy Award® nominated film producer Lawrence Bender and Governor Gray Davis & Sharon Davis.

Balanchine choreographed 425 works over the course of 60-plus years, and his works are considered masterpieces and performed by ballet companies all over the world. So you can image how thrilled I was to find out Los Angeles Ballet was going to present BALANCHINE: MASTER OF THE DANCE as their final selection of their 2016/2017 season. In it, three of his most outstanding ballet choreographies are presented: Divertimento No. 15 featuring music by Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart; Prodigal Son with music by Sergei Prokofiev; and Who Cares? with music by George Gershwin, adapted and orchestrated by Hershy Kay.

It is the 1980s, Liverpool, England. Frank is a tutor of English in his fifties whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and to bury himself in his books. Enter Rita, a forthright 26 year-old hairdresser who is eager to learn and to change her social circumstances through the pursuit of higher education. Willy Russell delightfully weaves together the lives of these two unique characters, with great wit, humor and profound insight. Commissioned by the Royal Shakespeare Company, Educating Rita premiered at The Warehouse, London, in June 1980 starring Julie Walters and Mark Kingston. The play was directed by Mike Ockrent, and in 1983 became a hit film with Michael Caine and Julie Walters.

It is the 1980s, Liverpool, England. Frank is a tutor of English in his fifties whose disillusioned outlook on life drives him to drink and to bury himself in his books. Enter Rita, a forthright 26 year-old hairdresser who is eager to learn and to change her social circumstances through the pursuit of higher education.

LA Ballet returns the essential holiday tradition of THE NUTCRACKER ballet to hometown audiences during the month of December, including venues in Glendale, Hollywood, Westwood and Redondo Beach. This production is the perfect introduction to classic ballet for the whole family as there are many children of all ages in the cast, all students of Los Angeles Ballet School. And given the number of touring companies bringing productions to Los Angeles, it's nice to be able to support a hometown ballet company where many of the featured dancers were born in our area.

 The Performing Arts School at bergenPAC announces the 2017 Master Class series in residence with Principal Ballet Dancers. The classes will be held at The Performing Arts School at bergenPAC-1 Depot Square, Englewood, NJ 07631. 

Los Angeles Ballet's eleventh season celebrates the masters and introduces LA to a new choreographer that is changing the dance landscape. The season opened with Modernists/Ballet Visionaries which features works of three icons of their time: August Bournonville, 1805-79, creator of the Danish Bournonville style of ballet, still vibrant today; George Balanchine, 1904-82, Master choreographer who transformed American dance and created modern American ballet; Aszure Barton, contemporary choreographer who is leading ballet into rich, new territory. The program includes Bournonville's Napoli Pas de Six and Tarantella, Balanchine's Stravinsky Violin Concerto and the Los Angeles Ballet Premiere of Barton's Untouched (2010).

LA Ballet's upcoming 2016/2017 Season launches their second decade and embraces the full-length classical ballets, the Balanchine repertoire that so revolutionized the dance world, and the commitment to identify, nurture and present both emerging and world-renowned choreographers. Co-Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary have announced the next season includes two full-length story ballets, the family-friendly comic ballet "Coppelia" and the holiday favorite "The Nutcracker" and two mixed bill programs, "Modernists /Directors' Choice" and "Balanchine/Master of the Dance." The upcoming season will also reintroduce pre-performance discussions, hosted by Christensen and Neary and their guests (at select performances).

DON QUIXOTE is a fantastic Los Angeles Ballet production, filled with the dreams of the Don (Adam Luders), the love of Kitri and Basilio (technically perfect and emotionally evocative dancers Julie Cinquemani and Kenta Shimizu) and the adventures that follow them during this epic tale. There is something for everyone: humor, love, adventure and lots of beauty performed by a lively cast of characters from village folk to gypsies to flamenco dancers who will enthrall audiences of all ages.

Premiered by Los Angeles Ballet in 2011, GISELLE is a haunting and ethereal masterwork; the perfect embodiment of the Romantic ideal to kick off its tenth season. Continuing its mission to offer world-class professional ballet to greater Los Angeles, the season will include four full-length story ballets including new productions of Don Quixote and Romeo and Juliet and the return of the company's critically-acclaimed productions of Giselle and The Nutcracker.

THE SLEEPING BEAUTY ballet with glorious music by Tchaikovsky premiered in Moscow in 1890. With original choreography by Marius Petipa, it is considered one of the greatest story ballets of all time and the epitome of classical ballet. The story represents much more than just the fairy tale, showing us that even when poisoned by the forces of evil, the power of love can surmount any roadblock and triumph. Los Angeles Ballet Co-Artistic Directors Thordal Christensen and Colleen Neary have adapted the ballet with their own original choreography, based after Petipa. Their World Premiere LA Ballet presentation proved to be a spectacular work of artistic excellence thanks to the remarkable LA Ballet dancers.

Set to Tchaikovsky's sweeping score, the success of SWAN LAKE depends on its Odette/Odile, the sweetly vulnerable white swan/cunningly malevolent black swan. On the Los Angeles Ballet's 2014/2015 season opening night, the miraculous Allynne Noelle captivated with fragile, fluttering arms and superb footwork of the white swan to perfection. Ulrik Birkkjaer's Prince Siegfried lifts appeared so fluid, you would think Noelle was as light as a feather.