National Choreographers Initiative

NCI Discovery

July 5-23, 2005
Performance July 23, 2005 at 8pm 

Orange County, CA - The National Choreographers Initiative will again take place in July 2005. During the three weeks of intense creative effort at the dance studios of University of California, Irvine, teams of choreographers and dancers will produce new dance works culminating in a public performance of NCI Discovery at Irvine Barclay Theatre on Saturday, July 23.

The choreographers invited by Director, Molly Lynch, to participate in the National Choreographers Initiative come from a variety of backgrounds and are leaders in the dance community.

"We are very pleased with the interest and excitement among choreographers, dancers, and artistic directors of companies throughout the U.S. There is a need for this type of project and it benefits not only our community in the producing of dance, but also the greater dance community in the development of new works for these choreographers and companies." - Molly Lynch 

The choreographers invited this year are: William Soleau, Luca Veggetti, Val Caniparoli, and Christopher d’Amboise.

Val Caniparoli has contributed to the repertoires of more than 35 companies, including Pacific Northwest Ballet, Boston Ballet, Royal Winnipeg Ballet, Ballet West, Washington Ballet, Israel Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet, Singapore Dance Theatre, Atlanta Ballet, State Theatre Ballet of South Africa, Tulsa Ballet, and the San Francisco Ballet, his artistic home for over 30 years. Caniparoli has also choreographers for the Chicago Lyric Opera, San Francisco Opera and Metropolitan Opera. He has been the recipient of ten grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, an artist fellowship from the California Arts Council, and two Choo-San Goh Awards from the Choo-San Goh and H. Robert Magee Foundation. Later this year he will choreograph American Conservatory Theater’s new production of A Christmas Carol, directed by Carey Perlof. 

Christopher d’Amboise was chosen by George Balanchine to join New York City Ballet in 1978 and promoted to principal dancer in 1984. He founded Off-Center Ballet in 1988 and became the Artistic Director of Pennsylvania Ballet (1990-94) where he staged major classical repertoire, commissioned 14 ballets, and created 12 original works. He has created over 60 ballets for companies world wide including San Francisco Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, The National Ballet (Amsterdam), Royal Ballet of Flanders (Belgium), and the New York City Ballet. Recently he has created work for theater including High Society, Romeo and Juliet – the musical and Charles Strouse’s You Never Know. His play-with-dance “The Studio” has been work-shopped in Sundance and is slated for a New York premiere in 2005. He is also commissioned to do a new work for New York City Ballet in 2006. 

William Soleau has created over 70 ballets on companies around the world. He first gained recognition in 1987 for his work Universe for the Shanghai Ballet of China during its first International Shanghai Arts Festival. He also established himself while serving as resident choreographer and principal dancer for both Finis Jhung’s Chamber Ballet U.S. A. and Dennis Wayne’s DANCERS in New York City in the 80’s. His works can be seen in the repertoire of companies such as Ballet Austin, Ballet British Columbia, The Icelandic Ballet, American Ballroom Dance Theater, Ballet de Montreal, Ballet Florida, Richmond Ballet, Sarasota Ballet, State Street Ballet, and Louisville Ballet among others. He presently serves as the Executive Director of the John Butler Foundation, dedicated to preserving and protecting the master works of this influential American Choreographer.  

Luca Veggetti has worked in Europe’s most important theatres and created works for many company’s and festivals including Paris Opera, Rome Opera, Miami international festival with the Paris Opera, Ballet d’Europe in Marseille, Ballet Plus in Ekaterinburg, National Ballet of Cuba at the International Ballet Festival in La Habana, and Maison de la Danse de Lyon. He was the first Italian choreographer of the 20th century to be invited to create for the Kirov Ballet in St. Petersburg. In September 2002 he was the artistic director of a dance event in the ancient theatre of Epidaurus in Greece and created the world premiere of the ballet Emmeleia. In the coming months he will be staging Toshio Hosokawa’s latest opera Hanjo in Hamburg; choreographing a new piece for the Moriss Festival in the Hamptons with NYCB dancers; creating a new piece for the reopening of Fontainbleau near Paris with a group of dancers from the Paris Opera; and creating a new ballet for Cincinnati Ballet On the Edge of Silence. 

An ensemble of 15 dancers has been assembled for this project from BalletMet, Ballet Pacifica, Carolina Ballet, James Sewell Ballet, Nashville Ballet, National Ballet of Canada, Richmond Ballet, and State Street Ballet. 

The inaugural National Choreographers Initiative took place last July. With his strong history of presenting dance in California, Douglas C. Rankin, president of Irvine Barclay Theatre, is again glad to lend its support to this project. "Having seen last year's results, not only does the project contribute something significant to the national dance scene, but culminates in a totally engaging concert that discerning patrons truly embraced, as well as stimulating the unique partnership between Irvine Barclay Theatre, UCI, and the community.” 

The choreographers retain the right to promote and license the works they have created. Last year’s participating choreographer James Sewell took his ballet Modular into his company's (James Sewell Ballet in Minneapolis, MN) repertoire. It premiered in September 2004 with a new title, Anagram. Lynne Taylor-Corbett's Appalachia Stories was expanded into a full evening-length work titled Carolina Jamboree. It premiered with Carolina Ballet in February 2005 and was performed live with the Red Clay Ramblers. Peter Pucci restaged his dance piece, Whisper on the Wind, as part of a summer residency at the Snowy Range Summer Dance Festival, in Laramie, Wyoming. For more information about Director, Molly Lynch and NCI, please go to www.nchoreographers.org. 

Tickets for NCI Discovery performance are $28 and $22.  For information call The Barclay (949) 854-4646 or Ticketmaster (714) 740-7878. Full-time students can purchase 1/2 priced tickets at the Barclay box office with a valid student I.D. Tickets can also be ordered online at www.thebarclay.org. MasterCard, VISA, American Express, and Discover accepted.  

The theatre is located at 4242 Campus Drive at Bridge and West Peltason Roads in Irvine. 

Click links below to view previous Press Releases
2004 Press release
2006 Press release

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