Segerstrom Center for the Arts Presents NATALIA OSIPOVA in the World Premiere of ISADORA

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1 CONTACT Tim Dunn (714) x4209, Laura Lanzi (714) x4371, Images and extended bios: SCFTA.org/media RELEASE DATE: Segerstrom Center for the Arts Presents NATALIA OSIPOVA in the World Premiere of ISADORA Original choreography and direction by Vladimir Varnava Veronika Part in the featured role of The Ballerina Music performed live by the Mikhailovsky Orchestra The Story of Modern Dance Revolutionary Isadora Duncan Four performances only August 10 12, 2018 Segerstrom Hall Tickets on sale now

2 ISADORA NEWS 2/7 COSTA MESA, CA Segerstrom Center for the Arts is proud to present the World Premiere of ISADORA, a new full-length work created specifically for brilliant Russian ballerina Natalia Osipova, principal dancer of the Royal Ballet, former principal dancer with both the Bolshoi and Mikhailovsky ballets and a guest artist with American Ballet Theatre. She has appeared many times at the Center, creating new works choreographed for her and performing classics with visiting companies such as the Bolshoi, Mikhailovsky and ABT. To create this work of dance-theater that will bring the immortal Isadora to life, Osipova selected the award-winning Mariinsky Theatre choreographer, Vladimir Varnava. Veronika Part will perform the featured role of The Ballerina in the cast of 20 international dancers. Duncan has been called the Mother of Modern Dance. She was beautiful and glamorous, but also one of the most controversial figures in dance history. As dancer, choreographer and teacher, she more than brought dance to a whole new level: she revolutionized the art form. Duncan is one of those extraordinary artists who dedicate their lives to their art. Yet in her journey, she also found herself surrounded by pain and tragedy. ISADORA, a co-production with Ardani Artists, follows this fascinating genius from her early career in the United States, through her loves, passions and, ultimately, her sudden and untimely death. Of this new project with the Center, Osipova said, I am very happy to return to Segerstrom Center, where I have been so warmly welcomed since the very beginning of my career. I have long wanted to bring the fascinating story and incredible artistry of Isadora Duncan to the stage, and I am excited and grateful to be able to star in a new ballet that will bring her to life once again and honor her remarkable legacy. The New York Times critic Alastair Macaulay wrote in his review of Osipova following her performance as Giselle in American Ballet Theatre s gala opening night for its summer season at the Metropolitan Opera House: Ms. Osipova has become a more startlingly singular artist. Her resources seem only to grow, yet her stage manners have become only simpler and more direct. The final ovation was ecstatic and prolonged. Osipova selected her choreographer, Vladimir Varnava, to create a work that would respect Duncan s own choreographic style while being inspired by her creative spirit and exploring new ideas and expressions. Vladimir Varnava and Konstantin Fedorov created the libretto for ISADORA. It is being set to Sergei Prokofiev s ballet Cinderella, which will be performed live by the Mikhailovsky Orchestra. Osipova selected Cinderella for the music. Prokofiev is one of her favorite composers and Cinderella a favorite

3 ISADORA NEWS 3/7 score. She has not yet performed the role, but Osipova finds the music compelling and the Cinderella theme of transformation not unlike that of Duncan and magic she performed on of the world of dance. The conductor will be Pavel Sorokin. Sets and costume design are by Galya Solodovnikova with lighting design by Konstantin Binkin. Performances of ISADORA will be will be August 10 12, 2018 in Segerstrom Hall. Tickets start at $29, and are on sale now. They may be purchased online at SCFTA.org., at the Box Office at 600 Town Center Drive in Costa Mesa, or by calling (714) For inquiries about group ticket sales for 10 or more, please call the Group Services office at (714) Free Preview Talks by writer, dancer, choreographer and educator Matthew Shaffer will be conducted one hour prior to each performance. Shaffer is a graduate of the Orange County School of the Arts, and has been a principal dancer with Giordano Dance Chicago. Isadora Duncan ( ) revolutionized the world of dance, rejecting the formal language of ballet to forge a new art form of modern movement with an emphasis on natural expression. Her life was a constant study in contrast. On the stage, she created elegant beauty. But off stage, sadness and tragedy followed her wherever she went. It is little wonder she sought to escape in dance. A California native, she left America in the late 1890s to find great acclaim in Europe as her radically new dance vocabulary enraptured audiences. Her international fame led her to the emerging Soviet Union, where she founded a successful dance school and begin her most prolific and successful period. She married the young Russian poet Sergei Yesenin. Duncan s life is a riveting study in contrasts: on the stage, she created elegant beauty; off stage, she suffered great tragedy. It is said she was happy only when she danced. Though her life may have been cut tragically short, her legacy lives on, continuing to inspire artists. Natalia Osipova recently starred as Giselle in The New York Times critic Alastair Macaulay wrote, Her technique proved stratospheric, her acting blazingly committed no dancer was more exciting than Ms. Osipova. In jumps, Ms. Osipova still bursts high into the air with astounding speed she made intense connections to every other character in Giselle s life... Osipova is a principal dancer with the Royal Ballet in London, trained at the Moscow State Academy of Choreography and, upon graduating, entered the corps de ballet of the Bolshoi Ballet, where she was promoted to principal in In 2011 she left the Bolshoi to join the Mikhailovsky Ballet as a principal. Osipova has appeared as a guest artist with companies around the world. Her awards include Golden

4 ISADORA NEWS 4/7 Masks (In the Upper Room in 2008 and La Sylphide in 2009), Critics Circle National Dance Awards (Best Female Dancer, 2007, 2010 and 2014) and a Benois de la Danse Award (Best Female Dancer, 2008). Veronika Part was a soloist with the Kirov Ballet and was one of American Ballet Theatre s most acclaimed principal dancers from 2009 to After one of her performances as Odette/Odile with ABT, The New York Times critic Alastair Macaulay wrote that her interpretation had urgency, and that the naturally heroic scale of her dancing became suspenseful. Part studied at the renowned Vaganova Ballet Academy in St. Petersburg. Among her most celebrated roles performed at the Kirov, ABT and as a guest artist with other renowned ballet companies are Nikiya in La Bayadère, the Queen of the Dryads in Don Quixote, Myrta, Moyna and Zulma in Giselle, Raymonda and Henrietta in Raymonda, the Lilac Fairy in The Sleeping Beauty and Odette-Odile in Swan Lake. She also danced roles in George Balanchine s Apollo (Terpsichore), Jewels (Emeralds and Diamonds), Symphony in C (second movement) and Serenade, and in John Neumeier s The Sounds of Empty Pages. With ABT her repertory was expansive, including Fairy Godmother in Frederick Ashton s Cinderella, Twig in James Kudelka s Cinderella, Kitri, Mercedes and the Queen of the Driads in Don Quixote, Queen of Shemakahn in The Golden Cockerel, Manon in Lady of the Camellias, the Sugar Plum Fairy in Kevin McKenzie s The Nutcracker, Clara, the Princess in Alexei Ratmansky s The Nutcracker, Raymonda, Princess Aurora and the leading role in Les Sylphides. Part created Natalia in On the Dnieper, the Lilac Fairy in Alexei Ratmansky s The Sleeping Beauty, the Blue Pas de Deux and leading roles in Dumbarton, Kaleidoscope, Triptych and Within You Without You: A Tribute to George Harrison. Vladimir Varnava, choreographer of Russia s fabled Mariinsky Theatre, leads the creative team to bring the remarkable life of Isadora Duncan to life on stage. As a dancer, he has twice received the Golden Mask, Russia s highest accolade for achievement in the arts, for Best Male Role in Ballet. In 2011, he became the youngest dancer ever to receive the Golden Mask, for his performance as Mercutio in Romeo and Juliet. In 2014 he won his second Golden Mask for his for his performance in The Passenger, a project with Maxim Didenko. Varnava has also received the Harlequin National Theater Award. Varnava studied choreography with Carolyn Carlson in her company, and made his debut as a choreographer in 2011 staging Igor Stravinsky s Pulcinella during Stravinsky Opuses, an international project held by the Music Theatre of the Republic of Karella. Jean-Christophe Maillot commissioned Varnava to choreograph Starvinsky s Le baiser de la fée for Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo. Varnava also won the young choreographers competition in Diana Vishneva s inaugural Context contemporary dance festival. He has also choreographed for such celebrated dancers as Svetlana Zakharova, Igor Kolb and Ivan Vasiliev. Varnava has created works for both the Mariinsky s Creative Workshop of Young

5 ISADORA NEWS 5/7 Choreographer and the Mariinsky Theatre itself, the Yacobson Ballet Theatre and the Perm Opera and Ballet Theatre. Galya Solodovnikova is an award-winning costume and set designer. Among her honors, she has won Russia s prestigious Golden Mask twice - for Best Work in Experiment and Best Work in Contemporary Dance for Contemporary Dance. Her works have been exhibited and performed in theaters in Moscow, London, Berlin, St. Petersburg and Edinburgh. She studied at the Central Saint Martin s College of Art and Design in London and at the Moscow State Textile University. ISADORA is presented with special underwriting from Michelle Rohé. Segerstrom Center for the Arts International Dance Series is made possible by the Audrey Steele Burnand Endowed Fund for International Dance and The Segerstrom Foundation Endowment for Great Performances. Segerstrom Center for the Arts thanks its corporate partners including Kia Motors America, Official Automotive Partner; United Airlines, Official Airline; and Omaha Steaks International, Official Fine Food Retailer. Classical KUSC and COAST Magazine are Media Partners of the International Dance Series. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is an acclaimed arts institution as well as a beautiful multi-disciplinary cultural campus. It is committed to supporting artistic excellence, offering unsurpassed experiences and to engaging the entire community in new and exciting ways through the unique power of live performance and a diverse array of inspiring arts-based education and community engagement programs. Previously called the Orange County Performing Arts Center, Segerstrom Center is Orange County s largest non-profit arts organization. In addition to its six performance venues, Segerstrom Center is also home to the American Ballet Theatre William J. Gillespie School. The Center presents a broad range of programming for audiences of all ages, including international ballet and dance, national tours of top Broadway shows, jazz and cabaret, contemporary artists, classical music performed by renowned chamber orchestras and ensembles, family-friendly programming, free performances open to the public from outdoor movie screenings to dancing on the plaza and many other special events. Segerstrom Center is a leader among the nation s performing arts centers for providing education programs designed to inspire young people through the arts. The Center s programs reach hundreds of thousands of students each year in five Southern California counties. Community engagement programs developed through the Center for Dance and Innovation and Center Without Boundaries also connect the Center more comprehensively with Orange County s many diverse communities. The CDI supports flagship artistic programming and a wide range of projects that celebrate innovation, nurture creativity and engage audiences of the future. It is home to the ABT Gillespie School and the School of Dance and Music for Children with Disabilities. The Center Without Boundaries develops partnerships with noncultural organizations to help them in their own efforts to respond to the ever-changing needs of the community. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is also proud to serve as the artistic home to three of the region s major

6 ISADORA NEWS 6/7 performing arts organizations: Pacific Symphony, Philharmonic Society of Orange County and Pacific Chorale, who contribute greatly to the artistic life of the region with annual seasons performed at Segerstrom Center for the Arts. Ardani Artists was founded in 1990 by Sergei and Gaiane Danilian, two of the most innovative producers and impresarios of performing arts in the United States and abroad. In their longtime association with Segerstrom Center for the Arts, Ardani Artists has been integral in staging the Center s 2006 Mariinsky Festival, which featured performances by the renowned Russian opera company, ballet and orchestra conducted by Valery Gergiev, as part of the Center s 20th anniversary celebration and the opening of the Renée and Henry Segerstrom Concert Hall. Ardani Artists, again in association with Segerstrom Center for the Arts, commissioned and produced the first Kings of the Dance, Tour de Force I and II with many of the greatest dancers representing the leading ballet companies in the world, Reflections, which starred seven of the top prima ballerinas dancing on the world stages today, and Diana Vishneva: Beauty in Motion, which showcased the celebrated ballerina in several works, some created specifically for her. Beauty in Motion won three Golden Mask Awards, Russia s prestigious National Theater Award: Best Ballet Event of the Season, for the production, Best Ballerina and the coveted Critics Choice Award. This was the first time in 15 years that the latter award was presented for dance. In 2011 Ardani Artists in collaboration with The Diana Vishneva Foundation produced another project Diana Vishneva: Dialogues for which received two Golden Mask National Theater Award as best Ballet production and Vishneva as Best Female Dancer. In addition to that Mauro Bigonzetti, one of seven choreographers of Reflections, received a Golden Mask Award as Best Choreographer for his ballet Cinque. In 2014, Ardani Artists celebrated its 20th Anniversary. Kings of the Dance in London s coliseum was part of a special celebration program which also included the premiere of Diana Vishneva: On the Edge (Costa Mesa, Roubaix, Monte Carlo, Moscow and St. Petersburg), Solo for Two starring Natalia Osipova and Ivan Vasiliev (Costa Mesa, Moscow, St. Petersburg), American debut of the Mikhailovsky Ballet in United States (New York, Costa Mesa), Polina Semionova & Friends (Los Angeles), Les Ballets de Monte-Carlo US Tour (Costa Mesa, New York), as well as Eifman Ballet of St. Petersburg nine-week North-American Tour in Spring-Summer of 2015.

7 ISADORA NEWS 7/7 ISADORA World Premiere Segerstrom Hall 600 Town Center Drive, Costa Mesa, CA August 10-12, 2018 Friday at 7:30 p.m. Saturday at 2 and 7:30 p.m. Sunday at 1:00 p.m. Tickets - Start at $29 In person - The Box Office Online Town Center Drive Costa Mesa, CA Open 10 a.m. 6 p.m. daily SCFTA.org Phone - (714) Open 10 a.m. 6 p.m. daily Group Sales - (714) Information provided is accurate at the time of printing, but is subject to change. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is a private, non-profit organization. Segerstrom Center for the Arts is a registered trademark. # # #