Stiefel and Stars comes to Hartford on February 14
American Ballet Theatre Principal Dancer Ethan Stiefel, star of the hit film Center Stage, brings some of America's brightest young ballet stars to The Bushnell Center for the Performing Arts' Belding Theater for a romantic Valentine's Day performance on Saturday, February 14, 2004 at 8:00 p.m. Tickets can be purchased by visiting The Bushnell Box Office, located at 166 Capitol Avenue in Hartford, or by calling (860) 987-5900. Tickets are also available online at www.bushnell.org. Ticket prices range from $28.00 to $45.00.
Stiefel and Stars represents the best in American ballet. Stiefel is joined by Amanda McKerrow, Gillian Murphy, Stella Abrera, Maria Riccetto, Sandra Brown, Sascha Radetsky, Griff Braun, John Gardner and Brittany Kate Melone. The program, which was hand-selected by Stiefel for this event, includes Act III (Aurora's Wedding) of Tchaikovsky's The Sleeping Beauty, as well as pas de deux from Romeo and Juliet and The Leaves are Fading, Lar Lubovitch's My Funny Valentine, Within You Without You, with choreography by Natalie Weir and music by George Harrison, Natalie Weir's Jabula, and Asafiev's Flames of Paris.
About Ethan Stiefel Ethan Stiefel is a Principal Dancer with American Ballet Theatre. At age 16, the Pennsylvania native became a member of the New York City Ballet where he went on to appear as a Principal Dancer. He joined American Ballet Theatre in 1997. His Ballet Theatre repertoire of full-length ballets includes Florimund (The Sleeping Beauty) Siegfried (Swan Lake), Romeo (Romeo and Juliet), Albrecht (Giselle), Lenski (Onegin), Colas (La Fille Mal Gardee), Solor (La Bayadere), Basil (Don Quixote), Franz (Coppelia), Conrad and the Slave in the full-length Le Corsaire. He appears in shorter works including Apollo, Theme and Variations, Prodigal Son and Tchaikovsky pas de deux, all by George Balanchine, Fancy Free and Other Dances, all by Jerome Robbins, Petite Mort by Jiri Kylian, Without Words by Nacho Duato, The Dream and Les Patineurs by Frederick Ashton, Push Comes to Shove and Known By Heart by Twyla Tharp. He made his debut with the Royal Ballet in Twyla Tharp's Junk Man pas de deux and has returned frequently as a guest dancing Franz in Coppelia, Solor, Colas, Albrecht, Lenski and the Prince in a new production of Sleeping Beauty. He made his debut with the Kirov Ballet in Apollo and will return in March 2004 for La Bayadere. His other guest appearances include the Zurich Ballet, the Munich Ballet, the Arena di Verona, Teatro Colon, and tours in the United States, Japan, Russia and throughout Europe. He starred in Columbia Pictures' feature film, Center Stage, directed by Nicholas Hytner and choreographed by Susan Stroman. He directs a touring concert ensemble, Stiefel and Stars. During August 2004, Mr. Stiefel will direct a new training and performance venture Martha's Vineyard, Massachusetts, Stiefel and Stars Performance Project. Mr. Stiefel's television and video credits include Le Corsaire, Variety and Virtuosity, Die Fledermaus and a documentary on his career, Born to be Wild. In April 2004, he will be seen on television as Oberon in Frederick Ashton's, The Dream, the first in the Dance in America series to be seen in high definition television. Mr. Stiefel began his dance studies in Madison, Wisconsin. His early teachers included Paul Sutherland and Ted Kivitt. He continued his studies at Marcia Dale Weary's Central Pennsylvania Youth Ballet. He was awarded a full scholarship at the School of American Ballet, where he studied under Stanley Williams. He also studied with Mikhail Baryshnikov at his School of Classical Ballet. He has received many honors for his artistry including a silver medal at the Prix de Lausanne and the Statue Award, the highest honor from the Princess Grace Foundation.