Colorado Ballet is a classical ballet company based in Denver, Colorado. Comprised of two academies as well as a company, Colorado Ballet serves more than 110,000 patrons each year. The main performance venue is Ellie Caukins Opera House in downtown Denver. The Colorado Business Committee for the Arts estimates that Colorado Ballet generates $30 million in economic impact on downtown Denver. The Colorado Ballet was the recipient of 2009 Colorado Masterpieces Award. As part of the award, Colorado Ballet will tour Colorado in the 2009-2010 season as a part of American Masterpieces: Three Centuries of Artistic Genius initiative, funded by the Colorado Council on the Arts. [1]

COLORADO BALLET TICKETS EVENT DATE AVAILABILITY Colorado Ballet: The Nutcracker Tickets 12/29 Dec 29, 2024 Sun, 1:00 PM Colorado Ballet: Casanova Tickets 1/31 Jan 31, 2025 Fri, 7:30 PM Colorado Ballet: Casanova Tickets 2/1 Feb 01, 2025 Sat, 2:00 PM Colorado Ballet: Casanova Tickets 2/1 Feb 01, 2025 Sat, 7:30 PM Colorado Ballet: Casanova Tickets 2/2 Feb 02, 2025 Sun, 2:00 PM

History

In 1961, Lillian Covillo and Freidann Parker established Colorado Concert Ballet to showcase talented students they had been teaching at their ballet school. Their first production, The Nutcracker , played to sold-out houses in Denver's Bonfils Theatre. By 1978, Colorado Concert Ballet employed 16 men and women, and had achieved full professional status. The board increased the annual budget to $100,000 and refined the company’s name. In doing so, Colorado Ballet was born. In 1987 Parker and Covillo conducted a nationwide search, at their own expense, for a new artistic director. With their choice of Martin Fredmann, they changed the course of Colorado Ballet.

In the late 1980s, a lagging economy in Denver forced Colorado Ballet to look at an emerging national trend among dance companies and as a result entered into an alliance with Tampa Ballet. Through shared expenses, the alliance enabled the companies to develop an excellent artistic product with reduced financial risk. By 1990, Colorado Ballet achieved greater financial stability and community recognition, so the alliance was discontinued to better enable future growth of the Denver company. The decision reestablished Colorado Ballet as a resident company.

For eighteen years, the company grew to a well-respected regional ballet company recognized for its broad ranging repertoire. In March 2006, Gil Boggs, former principal dancer with American Ballet Theater, was hired as the new artistic director.

With an annual operating budget exceeding $6.5 million the company is the single largest presenter of dance in the Rocky Mountain region, employing more than 150 people on a either a full-time or part-time basis during the year.

Company

Colorado Ballet consists of 30 professional dancers from around the world. The Company also has an Artistic and Executive Staff including the following:

Executive Director : Jack R. Lemmon ^[2], former Executive Director for Louisville Ballet, Ballet Idaho, the Joffrey Ballet of Chicago and Tulsa Ballet

Artistic Director : Gil Boggs, former principal dancer of American Ballet Theater

General Manager : Arthur Espinoza, Jr., former Executive Director for Canyon Concert Ballet in Fort Collins

Principal Dancers
• Koichi Kubo
• Chandra Kuykendall
• Maria Mosina
• Alexei Tyukov
• Igor Vassine
• Sharon Wehner

Soloists
• Dana Benton
• Viacheslav Buchkovskiy
• Janelle Cooke
• Sayaka Karasugi

Corps de Ballet
• Cara Cooper
• Casey Dalton
• Christopher Ellis
• Travis Morrison
• Sean Omandam
• Claire Roseland
• Asuka Sasaki
• Andrew Skeels
• Kevin Gaël Thomas
• Luis Valdes
• Caitlin Valentine
• Alyssa Velasquez

The Company also includes Studio Company consisting of young dancers.

2009-2010 Season

Great Galloping Gottschalk (choreographed by Lynne Taylor-Corbett, music by Louis Moreau Gottschalk)

Rodeo (choreographed by Agnes DeMille, music by A. Copland)

Don Quixote (choreographed by Marius Petipa, music by Ludwig Minkus)

The Nutcracker (music by P.I. Tchaikovsky)

Beauty and the Beast (choreographed by Domy Reiter-Soffer, music by Seen-yee Lam)

Echoing of Trumpets (choreographed by Antony Tudor)

Celts (choreographed by Lila York)

Repertoire

Since 1961 The Nutcracker has been in the Colorado Ballet's repertoire every holiday season. Although primarily a classical ballet company, the Ballet's repertoire ranges from classical to contemporary ballets.

Ballet	Choreographer	Composer
Afternoon of a Faun	V. Nijinsky, staged by I. Youskevitch	C. Debussy
Among Silken Cords	L. Wymmer	W.A. Mozart
Apollo	G. Balanchine, staged by P.Neary	I. Stravinsky
Appalachian Spring	M. Graham, staged by T. Capuccilli, J. Herring, J. Eibler	A. Copland
A Little Love	M. Fredmann	Songs sung by Nina Simone
Beauty and the Beast	M. Fredmann	M. Ravel
Billy the Kid	E. Loring, staged by H. Sayette	A. Copland
Bruch Voilin Concerto No. 1	C. Tippet	M. Bruch
Buffalo Bill's Saloon	A. Erb	R. Jarboe, performed by Tim and Molly O'Brien
Carmina Burana	G. Gonzales, P. Renzetti, J. Wallace	C. Orff
Celts	L. York	Traditional Irish music
Centennial Suite	M. Fredmann	R. Thompson
Cinderella (3 Acts)	M. Fredmann	S. Prokofiev
Company B	P. Taylor, staged by R. Andrien	Songs recorded by The Andrews Sisters
Concerto Barocco	G. Balanchine, staged by P. Neary	J.S. Bach
Configurations	C. Goh, staged by J. Schergen	S. Barber
Coppélia	M. Fredmann	L. Delibes
Cry and Silence	M. Murdmaa	K. Sink
Diana and Actaeon (pas de deux)	A. Vaganova	C. Pugni
De Profundis	J. Lang	Arvo Pärt
Don Quixote (3 Acts)	M. Petipa/ A. Gorsky	L. Minkus
Dracula	M. Pink	P. Feeney
Dreamspace	M. Fredmann	G. Mahler, W. Piston, H. Hanson, C. Ives, S. Coleridge-Taylor, A. Hovhaness
The Dying Swan	M. Fokine, staged by N. Krassovska	C. Saint-Saens
Earth Tribe	R. Harris	D. Ross; Romanthony
Elysium	T. Korobeynikova	Meredith Monk and Kronos Quartet
Façade	F. Ashton, staged by A. Grant	W. Walton
Feast of the Gods	E. Liang	O. Respighi
Flames of Paris (solo)	J. Lang	R. Schumann
Giselle (2 Acts)	J. Perrot/J. Coralli, staged by Gil Boggs	A. Adam
The Hunchback of Notre Dame	T. Ishida	C. Pugni
The Hunchback of Notre Dame	M. Pink	P. Feeney
In the Upper Room	T. Tharp, staged by S. Washington	P. Glass
Inversion	J. Wallace	S. Barber
JamNation	D. McKayle	C. Dobrian, K. Akagi, L. Armstrong, C. Parker, D. Ellington, A.C. Jobin, D. Reinhart, S. Grapelli, J. Johnson
La Bayadere (Act II)	M. Petipa, staged by M. Stavitskaya	L. Minkus
Land Beyond Horizons	H. Garza	T. Bell
La Sylphide	A. Bournonville, staged by Z. Dubrovskaya, S. Kozadeyev	H. Lovenskjold
La Vivandiere	A. Saint-Leon, staged by P. Renzetti	C. Pugni
Le Beau Danube	L. Massine, staged by G. Verdak	J. Strauss II
Le Spectre de la Rose	M. Fokine, staged by T. Armour	C. Von Weber
Masquerade Suite	M. Fredmann	A. Khatchaturian
A Midsummer Night's Dream	C. Wheeldon	F. Mendlessohn
Miraculous Mandarin	S. Kozadayev	B. Bartok
Mon Dieu (solo)	M. Fredmann	Sung by Edith Piaf
Nine Sinatra Songs	T. Tharp, staged by S. Washington	Songs recorded by F. Sinatra
The Nutcracker (2 Acts)	M. Fredmann	P.I. Tchaikovsky
Of Blessed Memory	S. Welch	J. Cantaloube
Picture of Sedalia	P. Pucci	S. Joplin
Peter Pan	G. Conzales/ A. Thompson	L. Delibes
Pounds and Stomps	D. Varone	Songs by the Yardbirds
Rachmaninov Second	K. Uralsky	S. Rachmaninov
Raymonda (Act III)	M. Petipa, staged by M. Stavitskaya	A. Glazunov
Ricordanza	M. Fredmann	F. Liszt
Talisman (pas de deux)	M. Petipa	R. Drigo
Things Left Unsaid	A. Seiwert	F. Mendelson
The River	A. Ailey, staged by M. Chaya	D. Ellington
Rodeo	A. de Mille, staged by P. Sutherland	A. Copland
Romeo & Juliet (3 Acts)	M. Fredmann	S. Prokofiev
Rubies	G. Balanchine, staged by B. Cook	I. Stravinsky
Sachertorte	M. Fredmann	Strauss Family
Second Exposure	D. Grand Moultrie	R. Romaneiro
Serenade	G. Balanchine, staged by P. Neary	P.I. Tchaikovsky
Silent Woods (pas de deux)	M. Fredmann	A. Dvorak
The Sleeping Beauty	M. Petipa, staged by M. Daukayev, J. Labsan	P.I. Tchaikovsky
Size Nine Spirit	P. Pucci	B. Goodman
Soul of Porcelain	O. Messina	P.I. Tchaikovsky
Stars and Stripes	G. Balanchine, staged by B. Cook	J.P. Sousa
Swan Lake (4 Acts)	M. Petipa/L. Ivanov, staged by S. Kozadayev, Z. Dubroskaya, A. McKerrow, & J. Gardner	P.I. Tchaikovsky
Theme and Variations	G. Balanchine, staged by P. Neary	P.I. Tchaikovsky
Troy Game	R. North, staged by J. Moss	B. Downes
Vital Sensations	D. Moultrie	Puente, Sidestepper, R. Size/ Reprazent
Western Symphony	G. Balanchine, staged by B. Cook	H. Kay
When the Lad for Longing Sighs	M. Fredmann, J. Levinson	G. Butterworth
Where the Wild Things Are	S. Webre	R. Woolf
Who Cares?	G. Balanchine, staged by J. Fugate	G. Gershwin
Wingborne	L. Houlton	A. Dvorak
Winter Moons	P. Tate	J. Tate
Without Words	T. Shimazaki	T. Kako, R. Eno, L.M. Gottschalk, F. Mendlessohn
Yes, Virginia, Another Piano Ballet	P. Anastos	F. Chopin

References

1. Colorado Council of the Arts Press Release
2. Rocky Mountain News-Jack Lemmon/