World Premiere of “American Dream” at Patel Conservatory/TBPAC

An American Dream features world premiere and New York City Ballet principals, Patel Conservatory ballet dancers, jazz and orchestral musicians

TAMPA, Fla. – The world premiere of An American Dream, featuring an original ballet with music commissioned from Grammy® Award-winning composer Augusta Read Thomas and choreographed by internationally renowned Tom Gold, will be performed Sunday, May 17 at 2 p.m. in the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center’s Ferguson Hall.

For the first time, students from three different genres housed at the TBPAC’s Patel Conservatory will perform together. The nationally recognized Patel Conservatory Youth Orchestra (PCYO) and the Jazz Ensemble will play music danced to by students enrolled in the Orlando Ballet School (OBS) at the Patel Conservatory and by Orlando Ballet II dancers. Principal dancers from the New York City Ballet also will perform on the program.

“An American Dream exemplifies the forward thinking quality we provide to students here,” said Wendy Leigh, vice president of education at the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center. “In this economic climate, it is increasingly rare to have live music accompany dance groups, but to have a 22-minute piece composed exclusively for a youth orchestra by a Grammy Award-winner and Pulitzer Prize nominee, to be performed by students in a ballet school, is unprecedented!”

An American Dream contains five exciting pieces:

• Valse-Fantaisie by George Balanchine. This will be danced by advanced OBS at the Patel Conservatory students and Orlando Ballet II dancers to music performed by PCYO.
• Le Corsaire by Marius Petipa. Advanced OBS at the Patel Conservatory students will dance excerpts from this famous piece.
• Stars and Stripes. The pas de deux excerpt from this Balanchine piece, with music by John Philip Sousa, will be danced by Abi Stafford and Jared Angle, principal dancers with the New York City Ballet.
• Dream Threads. With music commissioned from Thomas and performed by PCYO, and choreography by Gold, this world premiere ballet is much anticipated. Based on the story of The Magic Thread, this is a tale of a young boy who finds a magic thread that, when pulled, propels time forward.
• Rockin’ in Rhythm. Original ballet danced by OBS at the Patel Conservatory students of all levels to music by the legendary Duke Ellington, performed by the Patel Conservatory’s Jazz Ensemble and PCYO. This piece is a world premiere created by the ballet faculty of OBS at the Patel Conservatory.

Regarding Dream Threads, Thomas said, “For a composer, it’s a joy to be able to compose ANY new piece. Writing ballet music is particularly exciting, as many composers never get to have a dance choreographed to their sounds. Dream Threads is a huge undertaking with more than 100 people working in incredible synchronization. For me, this is a thrilling occasion.”

For the young people involved, this is an amazing opportunity, Thomas said. “I’d like to be able to say that when I was 8, 11 or 14, I played a world premiere, but I can’t because I never got the chance. It’s great that the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center is doing this. I don’t know any other presenter that would commission both an orchestral premiere and a ballet simultaneously, and I feel extremely lucky to be the beneficiary of a lot of people’s efforts.”

The reason for commissioning the music stems from TBPAC’s “dedication to the creation of quality orchestral repertoire, and we have a vision to expand the scope of classical music to include other genres,” Leigh said.

In addition, two works of George Balanchine, the world’s preeminent choreographer of the 20th century and founder of the New York City Ballet and the School of American Ballet, will be performed. The pas de deux from Stars and Stripes will be danced by Abi Stafford and Jared Angle, principal dancers with the New York City Ballet. Stafford is sister of Melissa Stafford, the principal of OBS at the Patel Conservatory. Their brother, Jonathan Stafford, is also a principal dancer for New York City Ballet and on the faculty of the School of American Ballet.

For many dancers, the chance to dance to live music has become a rare opportunity. “In these difficult financial times, some professional dance companies have made the hard decision to dance to recorded music. Dance is movement to music and it is extraordinary that our students will have the chance to dance both new choreography and famous dance works to live accompaniment on a world class stage,” said Peter Stark, OBS director.

“An American Dream is a cutting-edge performance, beautifully melding the visual medium of ballet with orchestral music, and modern dance with jazz. This unique collaboration of three impressive arts programs, all housed under one roof, is noteworthy and rare,” Leigh said.

Tickets to An American Dream are $10-$20 in advance and $12-$25 the day of show, and may be purchased by calling 813.229.STAR (7827) or 800.955.1045 outside Tampa Bay, in person at the TBPAC Box Office or online at www.tbpac.org.

Patel Conservatory Youth Orchestra concerts are sponsored by St. Joseph’s Children’s Hospital of Tampa. The composition of Dream Threads by ASCAP artist Augusta Read Thomas was commissioned by the Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center for the Patel Conservatory Youth Orchestra. In tandem with this commission, Augusta Read Thomas was the Music Alive Composer-in-Residence with the TBPAC Patel Conservatory Youth Orchestra made possible through support from The ASCAP Foundation and Music Alive, a residency program of the American Symphony Orchestra League and Meet The Composer.

For more information about the Patel Conservatory, visit www.patelconservatory.org or call 813.222.1002.

Events, days, dates, times, performers and prices are subject to change without notice.

The Tampa Bay Performing Arts Center and its programs are funded in part by the State of Florida, Department of State, Division of Cultural Affairs and the Florida Arts Council, and the National Endowment for the Arts; the Arts Council of Hillsborough County and the Hillsborough County Board of County Commissioners; the Tourist Development Council/Hillsborough County; and the City of Tampa. TBPAC is a non-profit organization that relies on the continued support and generosity of the community.

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