6 minute read
Profiles
from Ballet West
JENNIFER ARCHIBALD
Choreographer, Tides Jennifer Archibald is the founder and Artistic Director of the Arch Dance Company and Program Director of ArchCore40 Dance Intensives. She is a graduate of The Alvin Ailey School. She is the first female Resident Choreographer in Cincinnati Ballet’s 40-year history. Archibald has choreographed for the Atlanta Ballet, Ailey II, Cincinnati Ballet, Ballet Memphis, Kansas City Ballet, Tulsa Ballet, Canadian Contemporary Dance Theatre, and worked commercially for Tommy Hilfiger, NIKE and MAC Cosmetics as well as chart-listed singers and actors. She will create new works for Cincinnati Ballet, Grand Rapids Ballet, Amy Seiwert’s Imagery, Ballet Nashville, Sacramento Ballet, Richmond Ballet, BalletX, National Ballet of Canada, and Ballet Austin next season. She was the Movement Director for Michael Kahn’s The Oresteia at the Shakespeare Theatre Company. Jennifer is currently on faculty at Yale School of Drama, and Columbia|Barnard College. Jennifer was awarded a Choreographic Fellow for Ailey’s New Directions Choreography Lab under the direction of Robert Battle and is a Choreographic Winnings recipient by the Joffrey Ballet.
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NICOLO FONTE
Choreographer, Faraway Close
Choreographer Nicolo Fonte has created over 50 new works for dance companies spanning the globe, garnering praise and generating excitement for his daring and theatrical approach to dance. In Hidden Seconds, one of three ballets Fonte created for Nacho Duato’s Compañia Nacional de Danza, while he was still a dancer with the company, was hailed as a breakthrough work of great impact with the poetic vision of a mature artist. Since then, companies such as The Australian Ballet, Pennsylvania Ballet, and The Dutch National Ballet, among many others, all have works of his in their repertoire. Whether made to Ravel’s brash Bolero or the quiet intricacy of a Bach violin piece, Fonte ballets have common ground: “The choreography is inventive, creating expressive original shapes built on an undercurrent of implicit human relationships” (Foyer/ Dance Europe). “What impresses the most is that his choreography is obviously the result of a personal reflexion - distinctly and unmistakably Fonte, proof of a rare quality” (Michel Odin/Danse). Well-known to Salt Lake City audiences for a stunning roster of works including Bolero, Presto, Fox on the Doorstep, The Rite of Spring and Carmina Burana, Fonte is recognized throughout the world as a choreographer equally comfortable with classical and contemporary dance forms. Mr. Fonte has been the Resident Choreographer for Ballet West since the 2012/2013 season. He also became Resident Choreographer at Oregon Ballet Theatre beginning with the 2016/2017 season.
TWYLA THARP
Choreographer, Nine Sinatra Songs Since graduating from Barnard College in 1963, Ms. Tharp has choreographed more than one hundred sixty works: one hundred twenty-nine dances, twelve television specials, six Hollywood movies, four full-length ballets, four Broadway shows and two figure skating routines. She received one Tony Award, two Emmy Awards, nineteen honorary doctorates, the Vietnam Veterans of America President’s Award, the 2004 National Medal of the Arts, the 2008 Jerome Robbins Prize, and a 2008 Kennedy Center Honor. Her many grants include the John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Fellowship. She is a member of the American Academy of Arts and Sciences, the American Philosophical Society, and an Honorary Member of the American Academy of Arts and Letters. In 1965, Ms. Tharp founded her dance company, Twyla Tharp Dance. Her dances are known for creativity, wit and technical precision coupled with a streetwise nonchalance. By combining different forms of movement – such as jazz, ballet, boxing and inventions of her own making – Ms. Tharp’s work expands the boundaries of ballet and modern dance. In addition to choreographing for her own company, she has created dances for The Joffrey Ballet, American Ballet
Theatre, The Paris Opera Ballet, The Royal Ballet, New York City Ballet, The Boston Ballet, The Australian Ballet, Hubbard Street Dance Chicago, The Martha Graham Dance Company, Miami City Ballet, Pacific Northwest Ballet, Atlanta Ballet and Royal Winnipeg Ballet. Today, ballet and dance companies around the world continue to perform Ms. Tharp’s works. Ms. Tharp’s work first appeared on Broadway in 1980 with WHEN WE WERE VERY YOUNG, followed by her collaboration with musician David Byrne on THE CATHERINE WHEEL and later by SINGIN’ IN THE RAIN. In 2002, Ms. Tharp’s dance musical MOVIN’ OUT, set to the music and lyrics of Billy Joel. Ms. Tharp later worked with Bob Dylan’s music and lyrics in THE TIMES THEY ARE A-CHANGIN’ and COME FLY AWAY, set to songs sung by Frank Sinatra. In film, Ms. Tharp has collaborated with director Milos Forman on HAIR, RAGTIME and AMADEUS. She has also worked with Taylor Hackford on WHITE NIGHTS and James Brooks on I’LL DO ANYTHING. Her television credits include choreographing SUE’S LEG for the inaugural episode of PBS’ DANCE IN AMERICA IN 1976, co-producing and directing MAKING TELEVISION DANCE, and directing THE CATHERINE WHEEL for BBC Television. Ms. Tharp co-directed the television special BARYSHNIKOV BY THARP. In 1992, Ms. Tharp published her autobiography PUSH COMES TO SHOVE. She went on to write THE CREATIVE HABIT: Learn it and Use it for Life, followed by THE COLLABORATIVE HABIT: Life Lessons for Working Together. She is currently working on a fourth book.
Today, Ms. Tharp continues to create.
Matthew Dibble
Staging, Nine Sinatra Songs
Matthew Dibble was born in Halifax, West Yorkshire, U.K. At the age of 11, he entered the Royal Ballet School White Lodge where he trained for five years followed by two years in the Royal Ballet Upper School. Upon graduating, he became a member of the Royal Ballet under the directorship of Anthony Dowell. In his five years in the company, Matthew rose to First Artist, dancing many roles including those created for him by choreographers such as Christopher Wheeldon, William Forsythe, Ashley Page, Twyla Tharp, William Tuckett, and Michael Clark. In 1999, Matthew decided to leave the Royal Ballet to become a founding member of K Ballet Company in Tokyo, Japan. He spent three years in Japan, working closely with director Tetsuya Kumakawa and choreographers such as Roland Petit. He danced many leading roles in the classics and modern classics including those by Sir Frederick Ashton. Matthew was then invited to the United States where he
began a close collaboration with famed choreographer Twyla Tharp. He became a member of her company Twyla Tharp Dance, later joining the cast of her smash hit musical “Movin’ Out” to the music of Billy Joel. He appeared in several parts including the principal roles of Eddie and James in both the Broadway production in New York and the West End production in London. In 2007, Matthew returned to Europe to join Matthew Bourne’s company, Adventures in Motion Pictures in London, dancing in the production of “The Car Man, Bizet’s Carmen Reimagined” around the United Kingdom. During this time, he also became a guest principal artist with the Scottish Ballet, worked with Benjamin Millepied and was a member of Christopher Wheeldon’s company Morphoses in New York City. Thereafter, Matthew came back to Broadway in 2010 to create the principal role of Chanos in Tharp’s new musical “Come Fly Away” which he then danced on tour around the world as well as at the Tony Awards. Two decades after first inviting Matthew to join her company, Tharp continues to create many featured works for him, including Yowzie and Beethoven Opus 130 featured during Twyla Tharp Dance’s 50th Anniversary Tour. Along with dancing, Matthew now has the great honor of staging both Benjamin Millepied and Twyla Tharp’s works in the United States and abroad, along with leading master classes and workshops for students and professionals alike. Thereafter, Matthew came back to Broadway in 2010 to create the principal role of Chanos in Tharp’s new musical “Come Fly Away” which he then danced on tour around the world as well as at the Tony Awards. Two decades after first inviting Matthew to join her company, Tharp continues to create many featured works for him, including Yowzie and Beethoven Opus 130 featured during Twyla Tharp Dance’s 50th Anniversary Tour. Along with dancing, Matthew now has the great honor of staging both Benjamin Millepied and Twyla Tharp’s works in the United States and abroad, along with leading master classes and workshops for students and professionals alike.
