Snow Tails December 9 & 10, 2006
Snow Tails returned for its second year, this time in partnership with the City of Shaker Heights. The delightful original story by Sabatino Verlezza and Tracy Pattison tells the tale of what happens to the animals and their keeper when the zoo closes for the season. The ballet is complete with bumbling thieves, the heroic Zoo Keeper, an orphan elephant and the magical Snow Angel of the animals’ creation. The family appropriate ballet is choreographed by Artistic Director Sabatino Verlezza with Assistant Director Tracy Pattison, set to the music of Saint-Saens, highlighting selections from Carnival of the Animals. Original choreography, costumes and lighting ensure the production will be loved for years to come. The program will also include Lunar Leap, a new work by Associate Artistic Director and Kent State faculty Barbara Allegra Verlezza, with students from the Kent State Dance Program. Other favorite Verlezza Dance repertory will round out the program.
"Bastien und Bastienne" January 26 & 27, 2007
Opera Circle presents the beautiful
Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart opera he wrote at 12 years old.
Stage direction and choreography by Sabatino Verlezza.
Featuring Verlezza Dance.
3 Minutes & 30 Years March 23, 2007
The concert title is a nod to Picasso, who responded to a question asking why the value was so high for a sketch that took him a mere three minutes to make. He replied that the sketch took him "three minutes and thirty years," referring to art being the result of the artist's entire life and experience. The title also makes note of the fact that Barbara and Sabatino Verlezza have worked together in dance since 1977, thirty years, so the work for this concert is a result of that long history. Two of the works’ titles include "luna," or "lunar," the root for lunatic or crazy. Thirty years together in dance? How wonderfully crazy!
Paying homage to their mentor, this concert includes a historic work by modern-dance pioneer May O’Donnell. Suspension (1943), choreographed and performed originally as a solo by May O’Donnell to music composed by her husband, Ray Green, is considered O’Donnell’s signature piece. Barbara Allegra Verlezza had the good fortune of dancing in the work during her nine-year tenure with the O'Donnell company and was given the additional privilege of setting it on a professional company in Amsterdam in 1984 and again in 1996 on members of the Cleveland San Jose Ballet. Ms. O’Donnell’s deep belief in the education and training process for young dancers led her to also sanction the work to be reconstructed on various college and university dance programs. Ms. Verlezza is honored to set Suspension on the fine dancers of the Kent Dance Ensemble in memory of May O’Donnell, who passed away in February 2004 at 97 years old, but whose work remains timeless and relevant. This work is a must-see for anyone interested in the history of modern dance in America.
Sabatino Verlezza’s Tobi Roppo (1986) returns to Cleveland in its entirety for the first time since since 2001. The work, Verlezza’s response to a quote by a nuclear holocaust survivor, holds great relevance for our war-torn world today. The work has been long favored by critics. ”And the dance has a seriousness, a craftsmanship, and a straightforward heat…” The Village Voice. “Verlezza delivers some utterly fantastic formations…a wonderfully inventive creation -one that is truly awe-inspiring.” Backstage. “…finely detailed and beautifully crafted choreography…” The New York Times. Long-time associate Tracy Pattison, who began her relationship with the Verlezzas with Tobi Roppo in 1998, and Sabatino Alexander Verlezza, the Verlezzas’ 16-year-old son, will join Sabatino Verlezza in the six-member cast, fulfilling a lifelong wish. (Sabatino Alexander’s first appearance in Tobi Roppo was with his mother when she was five months pregnant with him.) This enduring work truly has come full circle.
Lunar Leap (2006) Barbara Allegra Verlezza’s “…most inventive…” abstract work for seven dancers and physio-balls, which was sited as one of The Plain Dealer’s Terpsichorean Highlights of 2006, joins the program in “sculptural and kinetic motion…[which] never resorts to gimmickry.” Donald Rosenberg, The Plain Dealer. The dancers meld with their props to evoke images of earth, moon, and stars.
Bella Luna (2007) will premiere as the beginning of a larger, lighter work for the company.
“Verlezza Dance seems to have hours of repertory on tap…” Victor Lucas, Cool Cleveland, and a policy of inclusion for its dancers, so don’t be surprised to see last-minute additions to the program reflecting the past three minutes and thirty years in the lives of the Verlezzas and those committed to their work, which is deeply rooted in the classical modern dance tradition.
Spring is Bach! May 5, 2007
The second annual concert of dance and music of
Bach featuring the students of The School of Verlezza Dance
and the Verlezza Dance company.
Photography and Promotional Pieces by: Tori Tedesco www.toritedesco.com
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