The St. Paul’s School Ballet Company announces the launch of its Spring Performance, a repertory program designed to bring a greater level of awareness and appreciation of ballet and contemporary dance to the greater Concord community. The annual performance will feature choreography by some of the world’s most recognized and important choreographers, and, like the school’s Nutcracker performances, will be free and open to the public.
The performances are scheduled for May 23 and 24 at 8 p.m., and Saturday, May 31, at 8 p.m. in Memorial Hall on the campus of St. Paul’s School. Each show will last approximately one hour and the house will open 30 minutes before curtain.
This year’s Spring Performance features Paul Taylor’s Junction, Diane Coburn Bruning’s Piazzolla Suite, excerpts of Sharon Eyal’s Bill, and the world premiere of A Classic Conundrum by SPS alumnus and former New York City Ballet principal dancer Philip Neal.
Neal, who graduated from St. Paul’s in 1986, recently concluded a distinguished 23-year career as a principal dancer with New York City Ballet, having been featured in some of the finest works of the 20th century, including those of George Balanchine, Jerome Robbins, Twyla Tharp, Peter Martins, and Ulysses Dove.
SPS Director of Dance, Jennifer Howard, calls the newly launched Spring Performance “an exciting opportunity to engage and educate the SPS and greater Concord communities. This program includes choreography ranging from modern dance to neo-classical ballet, and to music by such greats as Astor Piazzolla, Johann Sebastian Bach, and Bach’s son, Carl Philipp Emanuel.”