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Lar Lubovitch Dance Company (founded in 1968) is a Dance company based in New York City and founded by Lar Lubovitch in the late 1960s . They have performed at Carnegie Hall , and worldwide. In 2003-04, the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company celebrated its 35th anniversary with: - the world premiere of Artemis (2003) in May 2003 at Lincoln Center. Based on Greek mythology, the dance was created in honor of the 2004 Olympic Games in Athens. - the nationwide TV broadcast of Othello (1997) by PBS in June 2003. - the world premiere of a new production of Othello in Norway in October 2003. - the world premiere of Pentimento (2004) this coming May 2004 as the featured dance during the company’s self-produced 35th anniversary season in New York City - a special anniversary tour including Great Britain and (in the US) the Jacob’s Pillow Dance Festival and - with numerous re-stagings around the world of earlier works by the company. Other recent company work includes "Elemental Brubeck" (2005) (music by Dave Brubeck), "Love Stories" (2005) (to songs sung by Kurt Elling) and "Do You Be" (2005) (to music by Meredith Monk). In 2002, the company created “…smile with my heart” (2002), a tribute to the legendary Broadway composer Richard Rodgers, and in 2001 the company presented three new dances at City Center: 1) The Wedding (2001) – the premiere of a major new production resulting from a re-imagination of Stravinsky’s Les Noces, originally choreographed by Lubovitch 25 years ago; 2) My Funny Valentine (2001) – the world premiere of a tribute to the composer Richard Rodgers on the occasion of the centennial of his birth; and 3) Men’s Stories (2000) – the restaging of the company’s big hit from the prior year. The most impressive new work created by the company in the last few years was the acclaimed evening-length version of Othello (1997) – produced by the Lubovitch company in an unprecedented 3-way collaboration with American Ballet Theatre and San Francisco Ballet. In New York, the company performs most frequently at City Center Theater (12 seasons), in addition to seasons at Avery Fisher Hall (twice), Carnegie Hall (twice), the Joyce Theater, the New York State Theater and other venues. Based in New York, the company is internationally renowned, having toured extensively throughout America (virtually all 50 states) and the rest of the world (more than 30 countries). In 1995 the company decided to increase its focus on creating new dances (and other activities) in New York (declining all invitations to tour during the past nine years). During the 27 years of touring prior to 1995, the company had been seen in live performances by more than a million people. On television it has been seen by millions more. Nowadays the company limits its performances to New York City and television, except for the special 35th anniversary tour. In recognition of its work, the company has received many awards and grants from the National Endowment for the Arts, the New York State Council on the Arts and numerous foundations. The company has appeared in the US on nationwide television as part of the PBS “Great Performances” series. The most recent broadcast, featuring Fandango (1989), was honored with an International Emmy Award. In Great Britain the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company was featured on television as part of an hour-long program produced by the BBC, in which the company performed Concerto Six Twenty-Two (1986) and North Star (1978). On June 18, 2003 the company’s co-production of Othello (as danced by San Francisco Ballet) was broadcast nationwide on “Great Performances” and watched by 900,000 people. One of this country’s most versatile, popular and widely seen choreographers, Lubovitch has not only choreographed over 100 dances for his own company, he has also allowed works of his to be included in the repertories of other select companies throughout the world, including the New York City Ballet, American Ballet Theatre, Paris Opera Ballet, Royal Danish Ballet, Stuttgart Ballet, Alvin Ailey American Dance Theater, Baryshnikov’s White Oak Dance Project and Netherlands Dance Theater. In addition to his work for stage, screen and television, Lubovitch has also made a notable contribution to the advancement of choreography in the field of ice-dancing. He has created dances for Olympic gold medalists John Curry, Peggy Fleming and Dorothy Hamill and has choreographed a full-length ice-dancing version of The Sleeping Beauty (1987), starring Olympic medalists Robin Cousins and Rosalynn Sumners. The ballet was broadcast throughout Britain and America. More recently he completed work on a TV project with Isabelle and Paul Duchesnay, who won the silver medal for France at the 1992 Olympics. The show, based on The Planets by Gustav Holst, was broadcast by the A&E TV-network in 1995 and was nominated for an International Emmy Award, a CableACE Award and a Grammy Award. In 1996 he created two new ice dances for Paul Wylie, a duet for Renee Roca & Gorsha Sur and a group piece for the Ice Theater of New York. Lubovitch made his Broadway debut in 1987 with the musical staging for the Stephen Sondheim/ James Lapine musical, Into the Woods, for which he received a Tony Award nomination. In 1992 he choreographed the “Dance of the Seven Veils” for the Broadway production of Salome, starring Al Pacino and Sheryl Lee. In 1993 he choreographed the highly-praised dance sequences for the Broadway show The Red Shoes. The final ballet from that show was subsequently performed by both American Ballet Theatre and the National Ballet of Canada. For his work on that show, he received the 1993-94 Astaire Award from the Theater Development Fund. In 1996 he created the musical staging (and two new dances) for the Tony-Award-winning Broadway revival of The King and I. Most recently he devised the musical staging for Walt Disney’s stage production of The Hunchback of Notre Dame. The musical opened in Berlin in June 1999 as the first production in the new Musical Theater on Potsdamer Platz. Born in Chicago, Lubovitch was educated at the University of Iowa and the Juilliard School in New York. His teachers at Juilliard included Antony Tudor, Jose Limon, Anna Sokolow and Martha Graham. He danced in numerous modern, ballet, jazz and ethnic companies before forming the Lar Lubovitch Dance Company in 1968. Lubovitch’s work is renowned for its musicality, rhapsodic style and sophisticated formal structures. His radiant, highly technical choreography and deeply humanistic voice have been acclaimed throughout the world. This is “dance to bask in,” said The New York Times; “The dancers of...Lar Lubovitch should be rated among the best in the world by any standard.” |
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