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Springloaded New Ballet Ensemble

June 5-June 7, 2009

New Ballet Ensemble presents SPRINGLOADED

When: June 5 (7PM), 6, (7PM); 7 (2:30PM)
Where: Buckman Performing Arts Center, 60 Perkins Extended
Tickets: Adults $20.00; Children and Students of all ages $10.00 (with student ID)
What: FIRE, choreography by Uri Sands

Special Guest Appearances by Bantaba Dance Company and Hybrid Performance Group

Presented by New Ballet Ensemble, SPRINGLOADED is an explosion of dance styles from NeoClassical to the movement of the moment. The Arthur F. and Alice E. Adams Foundation has funded the work of Uri Sands, former Alvin Ailey star, Princess Grace Award winner, and "one of the top 25 choreographers to watch" (Dance Magazine). Audiences will be thrilled by this piece which infuses contemporary  ballet with an urban-techno sensibility and soundtrack. As a young teenager living in Memphis, Mr. Sands was a student of Tennessee Ballet and after a career at Alvin Ailey, now runs TUDance (Minneapolis) with wife and former Ailey favorite, Toni Pierce.

Kevin Thomas, Ballet Master of New Ballet and former Principal at Dance Theater of Harlem, will make a rare appearance as guest dancer in FIRE. Mr. Thomas has made guest appearances with London's Royal Ballet, Les Grandes Ballet Canadiens and Coleman-Lemieux companies, and is the Artistic Director of Collage Dance Collective, NYC. Previewed at the opening of the Lowenstein Building in Downtown Memphis, FIRE was enthusiastically received and raised the temperature of the assembled crowd.

Also on the program, Thomas' Aimez-Vous Bach- (a pas de deux for Company members Melissa Leech and Brandon Conger) and guest appearances by Bantaba Dance Company (African) and Hybrid Performance Group (Hip Hop), both New Ballet Ensemble Incubator companies and partners who rehearse and hold classes in the ArtsMemphis sponsored Community DanceSpace.