Miami City Ballet’s Spring Mix program opens Friday, March 8 for three performances at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts with a program presents three works: George Balanchine’s "Agon," Alonzo King’s "Following the Subtle Current Upstream" and Ricardo Amarante’s "Delight."
Miami City Ballet dancers in "Agon." Choreography by George Balanchine (Photo credit by of Alexander Iziliaev)
"Agon," choreographed by Balanchine for New York City Ballet, the company he co-founded with Lincoln Kirstein in 1948, is set to music by Igor Stravinsky and premiered on Dec. 1, 1957 at City Center of Music and Drama in New York City.
The dancers wear black leotards and pink tights. There is no scenery. "Agon" ( “The Contest") is a ballet that is all lines and kinetic movements. It became an instant classic.
Miami City Ballet first performed the ballet in January 1995.
Miami City Ballet Dancers Lily Maulsby and Ella Titus rehearse "Delight." Choreography by Ricardo Amarante (Photo credit by Alexander Iziliaev)
Alonzo King, choreographer, Artistic Director and co-founder of Alonzo King Lines Ballet, a San Francisco based company. King has been referred to as a visionary choreographer, who is altering the way we look at ballet.
King says Lines Ballet was “created with the purpose of touching hearts and stirring minds through dance.” I spoke with King about his piece, "Following the Subtle Current Upstream," which Miami City Ballet is performing on its Spring Mix program. The ballet was choreographed for Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater and had its World Premiere at New York City Center in 2000.
King says the piece is “about how to return to joy.”
Francisco Schilereff in rehearsal for Miami City Ballet's "Delight," a world premiere by Ricardo Amarante, part of the company's "Spring Mix," opening Friday, March 8 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, Miami (Photo credit by Alexander Iziliaev)
King explains that he was inspired to create "Following the Subtle Current Upstream" after a luncheon with Judith Jamison, who was then the Artistic Director of the Ailey company. It was King’s first work for the company.
He says it was Jamison's trust and enthusiasm that inspired him.
"It was my first work for Ailey and I wanted it to be good and have longevity. I asked tabla master Zakir Hussain to make music for the finale. Miriam Makeba was an idol for me…I was long familiar with her music and had to use it. Miguel Frasconi was also a musician that I worked with a lot at the time. I had a great team with me and was super inspired.”
Choreographer Alonzo King works with dancer Satoki Habuchi in "Following the Subtle Current Upstream." (Photo credit by Alexander Iziliaev)
Miami City Ballet’s Principal Dancer Hannah Fischer is performing in "Following The Subtle Current Upstream." She describes the piece as exciting and also as an intense ballet.
“It was very beneficial to the dancer to learn to move in a different style. Alonzo made it inspiring instead of overwhelming. He got into the creativity behind it and the reason behind it. He explained the reason he was asking for what he was asking (of the dancers ). It became more about ideas rather than just steps.”
Katia Carranza and Cameron Catazaro rehearse Ricardo Amarante's "Delight" making its world premiere with the Miami City Ballet. (Photo credit by Alexander Iziliaev)
Brazilian-born Ricardo Amarante is presenting the World Premiere of his piece "Delight" on the Spring Mix program. Amarante started his career as a dancer and says that his teachers and coaches were so influential that he aspired to become a ballet master and coach himself.
He wanted to work with dancers to help them perfect their technique and become better artists.
It was only after he created his first ballet that he “became really excited about the idea of creation.” After that first ballet for the Royal Ballet of Flanders ( based in Antwerp, Belgium ) he has now been creating pieces for them for a decade.
Brazilian choreographer Ricardo Amarante's world premiere, "Delight," is part of Spring Mix, MCB's third program of the season, opening at the Adrienne Arsht Center in Miami on Friday, March 8. (Photo credit by Alexey Nekrassov)
"Delight," set to music by Johann Sebastian Bach, is “a piece with a lot of dancing and lots of emotions,” says Amarante. He goes on to say that he likes to create “pieces that are fluid and organic to the body (where) one movement falls into the other and feels very natural to the body”.
Miami City Ballet’s Spring Mix is just that: a program that presents the work of three very distinct choreographers whose work reflects different approaches to ballet and the vision of the artist behind each piece.
Miami City Ballet’s “Spring Mix”will be performed at 7:30 p.m. Friday, March 8, Saturday, March 9; 2 p.m. Sunday, March 10 at the Adrienne Arsht Center for the Performing Arts, 1300 Biscayne Blvd., Miami. Additional performances are at the Kravis Center for the Performing Arts, 701 Okeechobee Blvd., West Palm Beach; 2 and 7:30 p.m. Saturday, March 23, and 1 p.m., Sunday, March 24 Tickets are $39, $40, $79, $115, $189, depending on show time and venue. Call 305-929-7010 or miamicityballet.org
