American Lyric Theater Announces 2016-2017 Season Featuring Three New Operas in Development

  • The Halloween Tree - Based on the Novel by Ray Bradbury

Music by Theo Popov; Libretto by Tony Asaro

  • The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing

Music by Justine F. Chen; Libretto by David Simpatico

  • Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant

Music by Evan Meier; Libretto by E.M. Lewis

American Lyric Theater (ALT) - founded by Lawrence Edelson in 2005 to build a new body of operatic repertoire by nurturing composers and librettists and providing an incubator for their collaborations - announces its 2016-2017 Season. The season begins with the InsightALT series, providing an insider's look at how new operas are made, featuring concert readings of operas in development at ALT, including The Halloween Tree, The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing, and Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant. The season concludes with the return of the critically acclaimed ALT Alumni: Composers & Librettists in Concert, celebrating the success of prominent alumni of American Lyric Theater's innovative Composer Librettist Development Program. Tickets are available at www.altnyc.org.

"This season, we are very excited to share three exciting new operas being developed under the auspices of the Composer Librettist Development Program at ALT, as well as to showcase the work of our alumni who are creating new operas for companies across the country," stated Edelson. "These operas range from an adaptation of a classic Ray Bradbury novel for family audiences, to a historical fantasia on one of the most brilliant mathematicians of the 20th Century. We are looking forward to building upon our relationships with Kaufman Music Center's Merkin Concert Hall and MasterVoices for the presentation of our InsightALT series; and to our new partnership with the Morgan Library & Museum to present our Alumni concert in Gilder Lehrman Concert Hall. Through these partnerships, more audiences than ever before will be able to get a glimpse behind the process of creating new operas, and enjoy some of the most exciting new works being written today."

"The essential contemporary opera lab." - The New Yorker 

AMERICAN LYRIC THEATER'S 2016-2017 SEASON: 

  • InsightALT

Presented by American Lyric Theater and Kaufman Music Center at Merkin Concert Hall

The InsightALT series provides an insider's look at how new operas are made. Each event features a concert reading of a new opera in development at American Lyric Theater, with guest singers from the world's leading opera houses, followed by a discussion with the composer and librettist of each work, moderated by ALT's Founder and Producing Artistic Director, Lawrence Edelson.

  • The Halloween Tree

Presented in partnership with MasterVoices

October 30, 2016 at 3pm

Location: Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center - 129 W. 67th Street, New York, NY  

Based on Ray Bradbury's classic novel that explores the origins of Halloween, composer Theo Popov and librettist Tony Asaro take us on an epic journey as a group of children search for their friend Pipkin who has mysteriously disappeared on Halloween night. Conductor: Adam Turner. Featuring: Emma Grimsley, Shirin Eskandani, Brian Wallin, Michael Kelly, and Jarrett Porter with members of MasterVoices.

  • The Life and Death(s) of Alan Turing

Presented in partnership with MasterVoices

January 12, 2017 at 7:30pm

Location: Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center - 129 W. 67th Street, New York, NY

With music by Justine F. Chen and libretto by David Simpatico, this opera is a historical-fantasia inspired by the life of the groundbreaking computer scientist, Alan Turing. Conductor: Lidiya Yankovskaya. Featuring Jonathan Michie as Alan Turing, with Keely Futterer, Elise Quagliata Andrew Bidlack, Jack Swanson,Joseph Beutel and Thomas Shivone, with members of MasterVoices.

  • Sherlock Holmes and the Case of the Fallen Giant

March 26, 2017 at 3pm

Location: Merkin Concert Hall at Kaufman Music Center - 129 W. 67th Street, New York, NY  

A mash-up honoring the classic detective stories of Sherlock Holmes in a romp through a fairy tale world to solve a mystery unlike any Holmes and Watson have encountered before. With a playful libretto by E.M Lewis and mysterious score by Evan Meier, the game's afoot! Conductor: Ari Pelto. Featuring: Sharleen Joynt, Jennifer Black, Steven Eddy, and David Kravitz.

The 2016-2017 season will conclude in April with ALT Alumni: Composers & Librettists in Concert, presented by American Lyric Theater and The Morgan Library & Museum. This concert celebrates the success of prominent alumni of American Lyric Theater's innovative Composer Librettist Development Program, singers from the country's leading opera houses perform excerpts of recently premiered operas and works in development.

  • ALT Alumni: Composers & Librettists in Concert

Presented by American Lyric Theater and The Morgan Library & Museum

April 23, 2017 at 3pm

Location: Morgan Library & Museum in the Gilder Lehrman Hall - 225 Madison Ave, New York, NY

Excerpts from JFK by David T. Little and Royce Vavrek*, After the Storm by David Hanlon and Stephanie Fleischmann*, Steal a Pencil for Me by Gerald Cohen* and Deborah Brevoort*, and The Copper Queen by Clint Borzoni* and John de los Santos.(*denotes CLDP alumni)

For more information, please visit:

AMANDA SELWYN DANCE THEATRE presents White Night 2016 - Costumes and Cocktails

Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre presents the annual White Night 2016 - Costumes and Cocktailson Thursday, January 28, 2016 at 6:30 pm at 401 East 34th Street, 2nd floor, NYC, 10016.  White Night 2016 will celebrate and honor long-time collaborator Anna-Alisa Belous and the many designs she has created for Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre. The evening will include delicious food and drink, live dance performance, live music, a fashion show, a wine auction, giveaways, and much, much more. Regular tickets are $75, and Patron tickets are $150, and are available at http://amandaselwyn.notesinmotion.org/?event_code=116. The attire will be white and black festive attire.

At White Night 2016 - Costumes and Cocktails, Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre will preview a new developing work, Refuge.  Refuge will develop into an evening-length dance theatre piece that embodies the drama of solitude, the power of connection, the quiet and the noise of the self and the other. Inspired by Francesco Clemente's Encampment, Refuge will magnify humanity through character, relationships, and motif. Selwyn will develop this work throughout 2016 and early 2017, with open rehearsals, studio performances, and work-in-progress showings at NYC public schools in partnership with our arts education arm. 

Refuge will include Six dancers; costumes, scenery, and props designed by Anna Alisa Belous; sound design by Joel Wilhelmi; projection design by Zachary Ludescher; and lighting design by Dan Ozminkowski. The choreography and production design will explore isolation and inner reflection. When seeking personal refuge, we go deep inside ourselves and begin an internal journey of transformation and enlightenment. Selwyn will translate this personal journey into a vocabulary of immediate, athletic, sensuous, and raw movement that has come to define her work. The piece will include a progressive series of solos and duets punctuated by group sections that magnify the personal experience into a shared one.

For more information, please visit: www.amandaselwyndance.org

NEW YORK THEATRE BALLET presents Keith Michael's The Nutcracker at Florence Gould Hall

New York Theatre Ballet will perform Keith Michael's The Nutcracker from December 11-13, 2015 at Florence Gould Hall, 55 East 59th Street, NYC (between Park and Madison Avenues). Performances are Friday at 12pm; Saturday at 11am, 1pm, and 3:30pm; and Sunday at 11am, 1pm, and 3:30pm. Tickets are $24 for children 12 and under and $34 for adults, and are available online at www.nytb.org, via Ticketmaster at (800) 982-2787, or in person at the Florence Gould Hall box office at (212) 355-6160. For group sales: 212-679-0401 or email groups@nytb.org.

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) returns for a fifth year of Keith Michael's The Nutcracker, an enchanting holiday ballet. From clockwork imps to a luminous owl that flies above the audience, mice dressed in polka dots and dancers dancing with huge chopsticks, this timeless re-imagined classic bursts with energy and excitement. This holiday ballet, danced to Tchaikovsky's beloved score, is set in Art Nouveau style circa 1907 with innovative choreography by long-time NYTB choreographer, Keith Michael, set design by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith, and costumes by Metropolitan Opera's Resident Costume Designer Sylvia Taalsohn Nolan. This one-hour ballet is perfect for ages 3 and up! 

PERFORMANCE SCHEDULE:

  • Friday, December 11, 2015 at 12 pm
  • Saturday, December 12, 2015 at 11am, 1pm, and 3:30pm
  • Sunday, December 13, 2015 at 11am, 1pm, and 3:30pm

For more information, visit: www.nytb.org

NYTB's BALLET SCHOOL NY announces 2015-16 training program beginning Monday, Sep 21

Ballet School NY, the official training school of New York Theatre Ballet, is pleased to announce its 2015-16 training program, beginning Monday, September 21, 2015 at NYTB's home studio, located at St. Mark's Church-in-the-Bowery, 131 E. 10th Street, 2nd Floor, New York City. Classes will be offered Monday through Saturday. Cost ranges from $1,075 to $3,940 per year, depending on the age and level of the student. An annual recital on June 11, 2016 will conclude the 2015-16 training program.

Qualified children will perform with New York Theatre Ballet throughout the year in special roles created for student dancers. The studio trains in the Cecchetti method, a technique founded by Italian ballet master Enrico Cecchetti. The school teaches dance as a total art form, developing strong technical skill and discipline. Following the Cecchetti syllabus, classes emphasize music, theatricality, gesture and style. Well-trained Cecchetti dancers have purity of line and simplicity of style, which enables them to take their place in dance companies throughout the world. For the advanced students, a once-a-week workshop is part of the curriculum. Offerings, including jazz, theater dance, modern dance, partnering, change every six weeks.

"There is always a teaching assistant in every class and we teach to the individual child," said Diana Byer, Founder and Artistic Director of NYTB. "Every child gets personal attention in each class."

The Company's 2015/2016 season will include repertory performances at the Schimmel Center Pace University (September 19-20, 2015), Danspace (October 1-3, 2015), and New York Live Arts (February 24-27, 2016). NYTB maintains its association with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall (December 20, 2015), and the Company's Once Upon A Ballet series for children will continue at Florence Gould Hall throughout the year. NYTB will also continue to offer its Free Ticket Program for families who are unable to afford to attend performances.

For registration and more information, visit www.nytb.org/ballet-school-ny.

NEW YORK THEATRE BALLET Announces 2015-16 Season

New York Theatre Ballet announces the 2015-16 season, which will include repertory performances at Schimmel Center at Pace University (September 19-20, 2015), Danspace Project (October 1-3, 2015), and New York Live Arts (February 24-27, 2016). NYTB maintains its association with the New York Pops at Carnegie Hall, and the Company's Once Upon A Ballet series for children will continue at Florence Gould Hall throughout the year. NYTB will also continue to offer its Free Ticket Program for families who are unable to afford to attend performances.

New York Theatre Ballet's 2015-16 Season includes:

· September 19-20, 2015 - Schimmel Center at Pace University

· October 1-3, 2015 - Danspace Project

· December 6, 2015 - Keith Michael's The Nutcracker at Tarrytown Music Hall

· December 11-13, 2015 - Keith Michael's The Nutcracker at Florence Gould Hall

· December 19, 2015 - Keith Michael's The Nutcracker at The Colonial Theater

· December 20, 2015 - A Charlie Brown Christmas with The New York Pops at Carnegie Hall

· February 24-27, 2016 - Glass Project at New York Live Arts

· April 10-11, 2016 - Cinderella at The Egg Center for the Performing Arts, Albany, NY

· April 17, 20156 - Cinderella at Florence Gould Hall

· April 28-29, 2016 - Legends & Visionaries at Keihin Auditorium, Tarboro, North Carolina

· May 1, 2016 - The Alice-in-Wonderland Follies at 92Y

New York Theatre Ballet at Schimmel Center at Pace University

September 19 and 20 at 7:30 (Legends & Visionaries) and September 20 at 3pm (Cinderella)

Tickets: $29 for the evening shows; $20 for Adults and $10 for Students for Cinderella

Box office: 212-346-1715; Ovation Tix 866-811-4111; www.schimmel.pace.edu

New York Theatre Ballet brings fresh insight into classic revivals paired with the modern sensibilities of both established and up-and-coming choreographers. Featured choreographers include Merce Cunningham, Nicolo Fonte, Agnes deMille,and Pam Tanowitz. Cinderella, a perennial favorite of NYTB audiences, features a dancing clock, two wacky stepsisters, and everyone's favorite rags to riches princess. This enchanting story, with choreography by Donald Mahler, set design by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith, and costumes by Resident Costume Designer of the Metropolitan Opera, Sylvia Taalson Nolan, will delight the whole family.

New York Theatre Ballet at Danspace Project; Legends & Visionaries

October 1-3, 2015

Tickets: $20, $15 for Danspace Members

Box office: 866-811-4111; www.danspaceproject.org

New York Theatre Ballet performs a mixed bill at Danspace Project featuring Two Timing, Cross Currents, and Lois Bewley's PiR2.Based on Steve Reich's Clapping Music, Two Timing is choreographed by David Parker with costume designs by Pei-Chi Su and lighting design by Serena Wong. Merce Cunningham's Cross Currents is set to music by Conlon Nancarrow with lighting design by Beverly Emmons. These performances are presented through Community ACCESS, which provides subsidized off-season rental opportunities for Danspace Project community members.

New York Theatre Ballet performs Keith Michael's The Nutcracker at Tarrytown Music Hall

December 6, 2015 at 2pm and 5pm

Box office: 877-840-0457; www.tarrytownmusichall.org

New York Theatre Ballet performs Keith Michael's The Nutcrackerat Florence Gould Hall

December 11 at 12pm, December 12 & 13 at 11am, 1pm, & 3:30pm

Tickets: $35 via www.ticketmaster.com; Group Sales: 212-679-0401 or email groups@nytb.org

New York Theatre Ballet (NYTB) returns with Keith Michael's The Nutcracker, an enchanting holiday ballet. From clockwork imps to a luminous owl that flies above the audience, mice dressed in polka dots and dancers dancing with huge chopsticks, this timeless, re-imagined classic bursts with energy and excitement. This holiday ballet, danced to Tchaikovsky's beloved score, is set in Art Nouveau style circa 1907 with innovative choreography by long-time NYTB choreographer, Keith Michael; set design by Gillian Bradshaw-Smith; and costumes by Resident Costume Designer of the Metropolitan Opera, Sylvia Nolan.  Ages 3-9. 

New York Theatre Ballet performs Keith Michael's The Nutcracker at The Colonial Theater

December 19 at 2pm and 5pm

Box office: 603-352-2033; www.thecolonial.org 

New York Theatre Ballet performs with The New York Pops in A Charlie Brown Christmas at Carnegie Hall

December 20, 2015 at 3pm

Tickets: $10, $18, and $25

Box office: 212-247-7800; www.carnegiehall.org

New York Theatre Ballet joins Steven Reineke, The New York Pops and John Bolton bringing holiday spirit to Manhattan with classic tunes from Charles M. Schulz's hit franchise.  

New York Theatre Ballet at New York Live Arts; Legends & Visionaries

February 24-27, 2016 at 7:30pm, February 27, 2016 at 2:30pm

Tickets: $30, $15 students/seniors

Box office: 212-924-0077; www.newyorklivearts.org

New York Theatre Ballet returns to New York Live Arts with its highly acclaimed Legends & Visionaries series. The program includes a world premiere choreographed by San Francisco choreographer Milissa Bradley and former New York City Ballet dancer Antonia Franceschi to live accompaniment of Piano Etudes by Philip Glass. NYTB will also present a revival of Jerome Robbins' Antique Epigraphs, which had its premiere on February 2, 1984 at the New York State Theater. The performance will feature original lighting design by Jennifer Tipton, and original costume design by Florence Kotz. The return of Richard Alston's Such Longing, with music by Frederic Chopin, will conclude the evening.

New York Theatre Ballet at The Egg Center for the Performing Arts, Albany, NY; Cinderella

April 10, 2016 at 3pm; April 11 at 10:15am (school performance)

Box office: 518-473-1845; www.theegg.org 

New York Theatre Ballet at Florence Gould Hall

April 17, 2016 at 11am, 1pm, 3:30pm

New York Theatre Ballet at Keihin Auditorium, Tarboro, North Carolina; Legends & Visionaries

April 28-29, 2016

Box office: 252-823-5166, ext. 187; www.edgecombe.edu

New York Theatre Ballet at 92Y; The Alice-in-Wonderland Follies

May 1, 2016 at 3pm

Tickets: $35 adults, $25 children

Box office: 212-415-5500; www.92y.org

New York Theatre Ballet brings The Alice-in-Wonderland Follies with choreography by Keith Michael to 92Y! Follow Alice's adventures through Wonderland as she meets some of the most beloved characters in children's literature.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts 2015-16 Season: Dance

Featuring Step Afrika!, Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company, and Moscow Festival Ballet

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts at Brooklyn College is pleased to announce its 2015-16 World Dance series. Since the inception of the dance series in 1966, more than 175 regional, national and international companies have premiered new works as a part of this series. This year's lineup includes Step Afrika! featuring stepping dancers led by the artistic director Mfoniso Akpan, Nai-Ni Chin Dance Company performing a Lunar New Year Celebration, and Moscow Festival Ballet's Romeo and Juliet / Carmen Suite.These companies reflect the artistic excellence and cultural diversity to which Brooklyn Center is dedicated. Tickets to Brooklyn Center's World Dance series range from $20-$45 and can be purchased at BrooklynCenter.org or by calling the box office at 718-951-4500 (Tue-Sat, 1pm-6pm).

Brooklyn Center will also present an annual presentation of Dance Theatre in Westchester's family-friendly The Colonial Nutcracker.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts' 2015-16 dance events include:

· Dance Theatre in Westchester's The Colonial Nutcracker

· Step Afrika!

· Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company's Lunar New Year Celebration: Year of the Monkey

· Moscow Festival Ballet's Romeo and Juliet / Carmen Suite

The Colonial Nutcracker

Sunday, December 13, 2015 at 2pm

Tickets: $18

An annual holiday favorite, Dance Theatre in Westchester performs its family-friendly, full-length version of Tchaikovsky's ballet set in wintry colonial Yorktown, complete with a red-coated mouse army, an enchanted nutcracker prince, and simultaneous narration to help young audience members enjoy this timeless classic. 

Step Afrika!

Saturday, January 23, 2016 at 2pm

Tickets: $20

Experience Step Afrika!, the world's first professional company dedicated to stepping, a unique art form born at African American fraternities and based in rich African traditions. Incorporating intricate rhythmic patterns of kicks, stomps, claps, and chants, the dancers use their bodies as instruments, creating an enthralling, high-energy performance that has been praised by The Village Voice as "a jubilation of rhythm and spirit that harks back to the essence of dancing." 

Third Annual
Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company
Lunar New Year Celebration - Year of the Monkey

Sunday, January 31, 2016 at 3pm

Tickets: $25/$12.50 (children 12 and under)

Brooklyn Center is thrilled to partner once again with the prestigious Nai-Ni Chen Dance Company in an all-new celebration of Chinese arts and culture commemorating the Year of the Monkey, a year characterized by cleverness, curiosity, and playful mischief. Thrilling choreography, traditional music, and dazzling acrobats showcase the rich traditions of one of Brooklyn's most vibrant communities at this festive, family-friendly event. 

Moscow Festival Ballet

Romeo and Juliet / Carmen Suite

Saturday, March 5, 2016 at 8pm

Tickets: $36-$45
The power of love and the finality of death collide as two of the greatest tragic masterpieces of all time are reinvented in this double-bill of one-act ballets. The program begins with a new restaging of Shakespeare's tragedy Romeo and Juliet, set to the music of Tchaikovsky and choreographed by legendary Bolshoi principal dancer Elena Radchenko. This is followed by Alberto Alonso's fiery Carmen Suite, inspired by Bizet's sensuous and spirited opera.

Visit BrooklynCenter.org for a complete season lineup.

Multibuy discounts (four or more shows) save 15% off individual ticket prices (not applicable for Alexander, Who's Not... Going to Move). Multibuyers enjoy flexible ticket exchanges and discounted parking for purchased performances. 50% discount for children ages 12 and under for select performances. Discounts also available for seniors, students, Brooklyn College faculty/staff/alumni, and groups. $10 student rush tickets available day-of-show.

Brooklyn Center for the Performing Arts

Whitman Theatre at Brooklyn College

2 train to Brooklyn College/Flatbush Avenue

Online orders: BrooklynCenter.org

Box Office: 718-951-4500, Tuesday-Saturday, 1pm-6pm

Groups of 15 or more: 718-951-4600 x3331

General Mischief Dance Theatre presents the World Premiere of Up and Away

General Mischief Dance Theatre presents the World Premiere of Up and Away - Dances for all Hours. Performances will take place on October 11 at 1pm and 6pm at the Goldman-Sonnenfeldt Family Auditorium, JCC Manhattan, 334 Amsterdam Avenue, NYC.

Tickets: $25 ($20 in advance, $15 for students and seniors, $10 for children 10 and under), available at www.BrownPaperTickets.com or by calling (212) 714-4694.

The program highlight is a collaboration with actor and sculptor Kevin Reese, who shares his talents with schools and communities across the country. Reese will be designing and making an overhead mobile that General Mischief will assemble and then elevate in the course of the dance.  Thanks to generous support from the D.C. Commission on the Arts and Humanities, the mobile he produces is going to be built in Washington, D.C. by hundreds of volunteers as part of the Atlas Arts Center's "Mobilizing Our Community" project.

The piece is set to music by flautist/composer Donna Viscuso from San Francisco. Choreographer Emily Smyth Vartanian will use some of Viscuso's songs from Vnote as well as a score Viscuso wrote with General Mischief in mind, called Milo's Ballet.  The process will be guided by creative consultant and director Amanda Friou.

General Mischief Dance Theatre is dedicated to reinforcing the power that joy and laughter have in communicating ideas. The company's mission is to create and present theatrical dance works that engage audiences emotionally, socially, and kinesthetically. Combining aerial work with more earthbound forms of movement, the company removes spatial and physical limits from theatrical dance.

The program will also include a new suite of dances, The Love Trio, featuring the music of Paul Tillotson and Suite Shel, a one-act suite of dances inspired by the poems of Shel Silverstein, choreographed by Madeline Hoak, Celine Rosenthal, and Emily Smyth Vartanian, and set to the music of Lizzie Hagstedt.   The cast includes Jane Abbott, Ellen Henry, Madeline Hoak, Wendy Lechuga, Saki Masuda, Jaisson Restrepo, Andrea Steiner, and Emily Smyth Vartanian.

"Question: What's the difference between a performance by General Mischief Dance Theatre and entertainment at a child's birthday party? Answer: Nothing. Except that the party isn't just for children, the performers are highly competent dancers, and you go to see them at a theater. And it's much better... Intelligent silliness....entertainingly performed." - Ballet-Dance

Amanda Friou is a Brooklyn based director and multidisciplinary artist whose highly theatrical and intellectually rigorous work is distinguished by the organic and inclusive process by which she develops productions. She is particularly interested in non-traditional creative collaborations. Favorite directing projects include the NY premiere of Naomi Wallace's No Such Cold Thing and a site specific production of Martha Boesing's Pimp which she also designed. She has worked nationally at ART, La Jolla, CTG, The Guthrie, Asolo Rep, Geva Theatre Center, and the University of Iowa, and in NYC for Ars Nova, NYU, HERE, and Second Stage; including assisting directors Jo Bonney, Henry Wishcamper, and Tony winner Warren Carlyle. An accomplished puppet builder, she also frequently collaborates with puppeteer Basil Twist. In 2013, her production of Avenue Q was a KCACTF honoree. Friou is a 2011 Drama League Fall Directing Fellow, and is devising a puppetry infused dance/theatre piece as one of their 2015 Resident Artists.  She is also a member of the 2015-2016 St. Ann's puppet lab where she is collaborating with puppeteer Kate Brehm on an abstract puppet show about technology and theoretical math. Proud alum of Macalester College. Member SDC. 

Donna Viscuso is an experienced performer, composer and educator who has been part of the San Francisco Bay Area music scene for over 20 years. Playing flute, alto saxophone and harmonica, Donna has performed, recorded and toured with many groups including The VNote Ensemble (formerly The Snake Trio); Jackeline Rago and The Venezuelan Music Project; Altazor; Wild Mango; the KTO project; Chelle and Friends; Violist Mimi Dye; Brazilian singer Adriana Moreno, Storyteller Diane Ferlatte and Chilean singer/songwriter Lichi Fuentes. She has composed music for several award-winning documentaries: My Home My Prison, Sex Is, and Chuck Solomon Coming of Age.  Her compositions can also be heard on the popular "Living Books" collection of educational CD-Roms including The ABC Book, Green Eggs and Ham, Harry and the Haunted House and Arthur's Reading Race. Since 2001 Donna has introduced San Francisco elementary school children to multi-cultural music experiences through the Adventures in Music (AIM) program, sponsored by the San Francisco Symphony. Donna studied music at San Francisco State University and Laney College and traveled to Venezuela to further her musical studies. While there, she performed and recorded with several renowned musicians including percussionist Alexander Livinalli and members of the Fundacion Bigott (Venezuela's Folkloric Institute). In addition she has recorded with Venezuelan musicians Aquiles Baez, Gonzalo Grau, Marco Granados, and Leo Blanco.

Emily Smyth Vartanian is a lifelong dancer and has produced dance events for over fifteen years. She loves moving, telling stories with movement, and merging different dance vocabularies to tell each story in the most effective way. Her training facilitates this multi-lingual approach; she is a graduate of the Dance Concentration in the World Arts and Cultures program at UCLA as well as a student of Ann Reinking's Broadway Theatre Project, the Diavolo Intensive workshop, and the Oakland Ballet. Her choreography has been presented nationally at venues ranging from the Freud Playhouse, Kaufman Hall, Highways Performance Space, and the House of Blues Sunset Strip in Los Angeles to Manhattan Movement and Arts, the JCC, Alvin Ailey, the Connelly Theater, Theater for the New City, The Zipper Theater, Medicine Show Theater, and the Kumble Center for the Performing Arts in New York. Her work ranges from more grounded contemporary movement and body music to the airborne styles of Lindy Hop and rope harness and bungee. As a producer, she is a graduate of multiple Commercial Theater Institute programs, including the 14-Week Program, as well as a member of the production team for the 2009 Frankie 95 Celebration at the Manhattan Center and the New York residency of Kybele Dance Theater among other projects. She takes great pride in the company's efforts to make each General Mischief performance a positive adventure for both the performers and the audience.

Paul Tillotson is an acclaimed jazz pianist and has been celebrated for many successes - from his self produced recordings to his live shows.  He's performed across America with such renowned performers as Gene Harris, Lynn Seaton, Vernel Fournier, Mike Merritt (Conan O'Brien Show), James Wormworth (Conan O'Brien Show), Lew Soloff (Blood, Sweat & Tears), Chris Minh Doky, Luther Hughes, Paul Kreibich, Matt Wilson, Aton Fig (David Letterman Show), Shawn Pelton (Saturday Night Live Band), Mark Pender, Jerry Vivinno, Red Hollaway, Jimmy Norman (The Coasters), Ernie Watts and Dispatch. Paul has performed his music in The Montreux Jazz Festival,  The Den Haag Jazz Festival,  The Jazz in the Canyon Festival, The Gene Harris Jazz Festival, Sun Valley Jazz Jamboree, The Rochester International Jazz Festival, and Levon Helm's Midnight Ramble.

For more information, please visit www.generalmischief.com.

Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre presents GREEN AFTERNOON III - East Hampton, NY

Amanda Selwyn Dance Theatre announces Green Afternoon III, a performance and cocktail reception at the home of architects Marcia Previti and Peter Gumpel in East Hampton, NY on Saturday, August 15, 2015. The evening begins at 5 p.m. with cocktails, hors d'oeuvres, and several outdoor sitting rooms featuring performance installations, with performers dancing in tree houses, on outdoor sculptures, in and around the swimming pool, in the woods, and more. A more formal performance will begin at 5:50pm and will be followed by a reception. Green Afternoon III takes place at 230 Old Stone Hwy, East Hampton, NY 11937.

Tickets are $85 ($150 for Patron Tickets) and can be purchased at https://www.eventbrite.com/e/green-afternoon-iii-tickets-17150930896

Amanda Selwyn will present an excerpt of her newest work, Renewal, an evening-length piece that unpacks the state of being made fresh or strong again - dramatizing how we re-invent ourselves again and again over time. Renewal will be composed of a series of shorts that shift the physical and visceral present movement, re-starting, reclaiming, and revitalizing our experience of it. Each short will highlight signature structures and elements in Selwyn's style including gesture, partnering, virtuosic artistry juxtaposed with pedestrian movement, humor, character, and theatricality. With Selwyn's fresh and vibrant movement language of extended limbs, physical risk, athleticism, energy, release, touch, and balance, she will activate emotional expression and offer many in-roads for audiences to make meaning for themselves.

"Amanda Selwyn is a master at illustrating the symbiosis of sound and movement, the romance of motion and emotion - she had me laughing, crying, cringing and gasping all in the short 55-minute production." - Inside New York
"Amanda Selwyn's work is masterly and emotionally expressive, she is truly gifted in the art of dance making." - NYC Dance Stuff

Dancers: Adam Robert Dickerson, Manon Halley, Robert Moore, Torrey McAnena, and Sarah Starkweather. Costume Design: Anna-Alisa Belous, Lighting Design: Dan Ozminkowski, Sound Design: Joel Wilhelmi, Rehearsal Director: Jenny Gillan.

To get to the performance site from the center of East Hampton, take Montauk Highway/Route 27 to first traffic light past windmill. Turn left onto Accabonac Highway. Drive 4 miles to stop sign at forked intersection. Cross main road and turn right onto north-most fork, Old Stone Highway. Drive 0.25 mile to #230 (mailbox on tree). Please park on main road and walk up drive to first house on right.  

For more information, please visit: www.amandaselwyndance.org