KEY Magazine Fort Worth

A Night of Stars and Premieres in Fort Worth
by Don Patterson

Fort Worth's Bass Performance Hall has long served as a celestial backdrop for famous and upcoming stars in a variety of venues. On February 17 through 19 Texas Ballet Theater will add to the facility's continuing stellar display, introducing Stars & Premieres, a program featuring international dance artists, Carlos Acosta and Zhang Jian. Acosta, winner of numerous ballet competition Gold Medal Awards, has performed worldwide with companies including the Ballet Company of the New Theatre in Turin, Italy, Mexico and Venezuela. Zhang Jian is renowned as a principal with the National Ballet of China. Offering an unsurpassed repertoire that includes dozens of traditional classics, the National Ballet of China is one of the world's supreme ballet ensembles.

Stars and Premieres is a star-studded mixed repertoire program comprised of four intriguing works. Acosta and Zhang will be featured in a program segment titled Le Corsaire pas de deux, a popular classical piece. Remaining elements in the February program star cluster are creative works by Texas Ballet Theater's acclaimed artistic director, Ben Stevenson, his assistant, Tim O'Keefe, and company dancer and burgeoning choreographer, Peter Zweifel.

Ben Stevenson will present Image, his tribute to Marilyn Monroe, a work set to the music of Gustav Mahler's 10th Symphony. Stevenson's professional credits are impressive. For twenty-seven years, he nurtured Houston Ballet from a small provincial ensemble to one of the nation's largest dance companies that has performed to critical acclaim throughout the world. Stevenson explained how his ballet, Image, evolved. "I recalled a quote by Marilyn Monroe that said 'If you're nobody and you want to be somebody, then you have to be somebody else.' So that's the idea I try to relay in this piece, that it's not just Marilyn Monroe the viewer perceives, it could be many different performers. It could be Judy Garland, Mae West, or Marlene Dietrich – first as ordinary people then as those who spend their lives trying to gain and sustain an image. I try to show that quest as the piece develops," Stevenson explained.

Peter Zweifel trained at the Virginia School of the Arts and Houston Ballet's Ben Stevenson Academy where he received the Peter Sharer Award and Nuryev Scholarship. This is his second season with Texas Ballet Theater. Zweifel described his Stars and Premiere's program contribution, Absence this way– "This is my first professional choreography," he said. "It's like a contemporary ballet work but without a specific story line. I refrained from creating a specific story because I wanted to leave a little room for individual interpretation. It's a performance in different layers set to the music of two different composers, Vivaldi and Chopin. I try to render different emotions and different feelings that occur throughout the ballet," Zweifel explained.

Tim O'Keefe was awarded a scholarship to Houston Ballet Academy in 1981, joined the company one year later, and was promoted to soloist in 1985, and named a principal dancer in 1995. O'Keefe offered this description of his program segment titled Love Thing. "This is my first choreographed work also. The idea developed from a fashion show that I've been involved in for several years. I was putting together music for the show and I used songs by Tina Turner that I later thought might be great for a ballet. Love Thing is about courtships and relationships, with a very thin story line. It looks at couples and people in a transient society who are looking for a meaningful and lasting relationship. The work tries to show that some people find such a relationship and some don't. The ballet is contemporary, with a fun, fast, energetic pace in accord with the Tina Turner songs for accompaniment. It closes the show in a very upbeat way."

Stars and Premieres promises to be a rare blend of superb performers and first time choreographers. It is destined to be another jewel in the crown of excellence so well worn by Texas Ballet Theater. Renowned for its graceful and exciting performances, it remains the only fully professional ballet company in the Fort Worth/Dallas area. Texas Ballet Theater continually presents exquisite performances of full-length ballets, 20th century masterpieces, and contemporary works for nearly 100,000 people each year in Fort Worth and Dallas.

Stars and Premieres
February 17 and 18 at 8 p.m.
February 19 at 2 p.m.
Bass Performance Hall
Corner of 4th & Calhoun Streets
For Tickets, call 1-877-212-4280 or go to www.texasballettheater.org.

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