This season, Ballet Theatre of Maryland presents Momentum: A Mixed Bill at Prince George’s Community College Center for Performing Arts (Largo, January 28), Maryland Hall (Annapolis, February 24 & 25), and Coppermine Pantherplex (Hampstead, March 4). At PGCC, the company will perform Edward Stewart’s Sapphire Romance, Mikhail Fokine’s Les Sylphides, and world premieres by Ashely Taylor and Roman Mykyta. At Maryland Hall and Pantherplex, Taylor and Mykyta’s works return along with three other premieres by company dancers Lindsey Bell, Karissa Kralik, and Michael West Jr.
Artistic Director Nicole Kelsch says, “Every year, Momentum is our opportunity to showcase the diverse movement ballet can bring to the stage. Les Sylphides is an early 20th-century ballet that recalls an earlier, romantic period, while Sapphire Romance evokes neoclassical ballets of the 1950s and 60s. The world premieres on the program drive the viewer even further forward into the present day, taking the audience on a journey the company is eager to share.”
The new works include Taylor’s energetic This Moment, All We Have, which uses the music of Rafael Krux to celebrate the fleeting immediacy of living. Bell’s yet untitled work explores the different categories of love understood by the Ancient Greeks. It is accompanied by Franz Schubert’s Arpeggione Sonata. Mykyta presents Ukrainian folktale Kotyhoroshko and Cappricio Espagnol with music by Rimsky-Korsakov.
Kralik’s work, By Any Other Name, is set to music by Beethoven and Massenet. It seeks to represent a wider range of romantic identities than ballet typically portrays. Ultraviolet, by West, is an abstract meditation on the interaction of nature and the cosmos. It is accompanied by the music of Nashville-based musician Timbre.
Experience Ballet Theatre of Maryland’s Momentum at PGCC (January 28), Maryland Hall (February 24 & 25), and Coppermine Pantherplex (March 4). At Maryland Hall only, audiences may also purchase a virtual streaming ticket for $30/household. For more information about all three venues, visit BalletMaryland.org/Momentum. BTM cautions that BalletMaryland.org and Eventbrite.com are the only official websites for purchasing tickets to Momentum. Ballet Theatre of Maryland is not responsible for tickets purchased through unauthorized third parties.
