Tulsa Ballet brings its global talent to the Joyce Theater
by Mary Staub
www.encoremag.com
Not all things Midwestern are bound by their landlocked location and limited to regional reach. The Oklahoman Tulsa Ballet, founded in 1956 and now comprising dancers from 15 different countries, is one exquisite example of an organization—here, ballet company—which has achieved national, perhaps even global, significance from within its interior setting.
Featured on the cover of Pointe Magazine last March, the company has made recent appearances in Dance Magazine, the New York Times and was described as “One of the best in the world” by the Portuguese national magazine Semanario when it made its international debut in Sintra, Portugal, in 2002. The company first came to New York, to Brooklyn College’s Whitman Hall, some 26 years ago and now, August 10–15, makes its Joyce Theater debut with a spectrum of works that, again, speak for its encompassing range.
Nacho Duato’s Por Vos Muero is set to old Spanish music from the 15th and 16th centuries and pays tribute to the social importance of dance during that time. Sir Kenneth MacMillan’s light-hearted Elite Syncopations, to Scott Joplin, demands an entirely different set sensibilities. And Korean choreographer Young Soon Hue’s This Is Your Life comes with Astor Piazolla’s tango and is inspired by the television program of the same name.
Since day one, Tulsa Ballet has both preserved classical 19th and 20th century repertoire and presented works by leading contemporary choreographers. Artistic director Marcello Angelini has successfully kept with this mission since his appointment in 1995 and thus guaranteed that Tulsa’s recognition continues to grow, year after year.
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