Presented by Milky Way Arts & Communications Co. Ltd

<Nanjing>
Repertoire: Carmen, Pennies from Heaven
Time: 19:30, 19 May 2009
Venue:  Nanjing People's Hall

<Shanghai>
Repertoire: Carmen (accompanied by Shanghai Philharmonic Orchestra), Pennies from Heaven
Time: 19:15, 22, 23 May 2009  
Venure: Shanghai Grand Theatre
Price: RMB 880, 600, 400, 300, 200, 120
Ticket booking: +86 021 63723833, 63728702, 62721976, 62720310

<Beijing>
Repertoire: Carmen, Pennies from Heaven
Time: 19:30, 26, 27 May 2009  
Venue: Mei Lanfang Theatre, Beijing
Price: RMB VIP880,680,380,280,180,120
Ticket booking: +86 010 65516930, 65516906

Scottish Ballet
http://www.scottishballet.co.uk

Scottish Ballet is Scotland’s national dance Company. Founded by Peter Darrell and Elizabeth West as Western Theatre Ballet in Bristol in 1957, the Company moved to Glasgow in 1969 and was renamed Scottish Theatre Ballet, changing to Scottish Ballet in 1974.  

The Company performs across the UK and abroad, with strong classical technique at the root of all of its work.  Its broad repertory includes new version of the classics, seminal pieces from the 20th century modern ballet canon, signature pieces by living choreographers and new commissions.  As a truly national company, Scottish Ballet performs at theatres throughout Britain and its long history of touring internationally includes visits to Malaysia, Portugal, Ireland, Hong Kong and etc. Scottish Ballet’s many recent awards include the 2004 TMA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance in recognition of its modernisation programme and dynamic performances.

Ashley Page
Artistic Director

After graduating from the Royal Ballet School, Ashley Page joined the Royal Ballet in 1976, becoming a Principal dancer in 1984. He danced most of the leading roles in the classical repertoire and in the ballets of Ashton and MacMillan and was increasingly cast in modern works by Tetley, Alston and Bintley in a wide ranging series of parts that displayed his strong technique, and dramatic and partnering skills.

His first choreography for the Royal Ballet was A Broken Set of Rules in 1984. It was immediately apparent that an interesting and startling new voice was being heard. To understand the choreography of Ashley Page one has to examine the powerful crosscurrents at the confluence of classical ballet and Cunningham technique. The turbulence one would expect to find at such an unlikely juncture is all evident in Page’s work: in the surging dynamics; unpredictable configurations of dancers; and the sense that his choreography draws upon a diverse and limitless vocabulary of steps. Certainly the Cunningham influence is not blatantly apparent, nor is the strong danse d’ecole tradition in which Page was steeped throughout his training as a dancer. What confronts the viewer is a brilliant hybrid: exotic, dramatic and full of natural innovation. Page cites Richard Alston as an important mentor during his formative development as a creator, and he contributed three works – Carmen Arcadiae, Soldat and Currulao – to Rambert Dance Company’s repertoire between 1986 and 1990, under Alston’s directorship. His burgeoning reputation led to choreographic commissions for the Turkuaz Modern Dance Company; Second Stride; Western Australian Ballet; and significantly, the Dutch National Ballet in 1992, where his piece Touch Your Coolness To My Fevered Brow marked a looser and less classical style. There were also works made for television, including an adaptation of Soldat. The Royal Ballet commissioned many pieces, including the hugely successful Fearful Symmetries which won a Time Out Award in 1994 and an Olivier in 1995.

Page is justly famed for his collaborations with important composers and visual artists in pursuit of the philosophical ideal of the gesamtkunstwerk (total work of art). The list of contemporary music makers is an impressive one: Michael Nyman; Colin Matthews; David Lang and Michael Gordon; Orlando Gough; Bruce Gilbert and John Adams. The artists, no less so: Howard Hodgkin; Deanna Petherbridge; Jack Smith; Bruce McLean; Jon Morrell; Stephen Chambers; and most felicitously, in terms of Scottish Ballet, Antony McDonald. When Ashley Page was appointed as Artistic Director of the Company in 2002 he made a commitment to apply his considerable energy to developing the boundaries of Scottish Ballet. In an astonishingly short time he has formed a repertoire of modern classics: Ashton, Balanchine, (five works to date), Alston, Davies, Petronio, van Manen, Pastor, Robbins, Loosmore and Forsythe. His own choreography has formed an important part among the works designed to stretch the abilities of his dancers such as: Fearful Symmetries (1994); 32 Cryptograms (1996); Room Of Cooks (1997), Cheating, Lying, Stealing (1998); Acrid Avid Jam (2001); The Nutcracker (2003); Nightswimming into day (2004); The Pump Room (2005), Cinderella (2005), and most recently Pennies from Heaven (2008) as well as this, the critically acclaimed production of The Sleeping Beauty first premiered in 2007.

By 2004 critical recognition of the Company’s resurgence under Ashley Page was forthcoming from several quarters. Most notably Scottish Ballet received the TMA Award for Outstanding Achievement in Dance. The triumphant return to Edinburgh International Festival 2005 after a twenty year hiatus garnered not only praise but a coveted Herald Angel Award, as did the Fringe Festival performances of Page’s own work by two of the Company’s contemporary performers. Ashley Page was also nominated in the dance category at the South Bank Show Awards 2005 for his work with Scottish Ballet.

In 2006, the Company made its much anticipated and highly successful return to the London stage (Spring Season 2006), seven years since the Company last toured to London and for the first time under the direction of Page. In June 2006 Ashley Page was awarded OBE for services to dance in the Queen’s 80th Birthday Honours list, and in 2007, he served as a juror at the prestigious New York International Ballet Competition. So far, 2008 has seen Scottish Ballet announced the winner of the Critics’ Circle National Dance Award Company Prize for Outstanding Repertoire (Classical).

Carmen
Choreography: Richard Alston
Design: Antony McDonald
Music: Georges Bizet, adapted by Rodion Schedrin

A brand new Carmen, created on Scottish Ballet by one of the most inspiring and influential figures in British dance, Richard Alston, retells the famous story of a hot-blooded gypsy whose wild spirit lures a young officer into an obsessive love when she spurns him for the glamour of a handsome toreador with tragic results. Rodion Shchedrin’s Carmen Suite, skilfully highlights the glories of Bizet’s original score.

Pennies from Heaven
Choreography - Ashley Page
Music - various from the 1930s
Design – Antony MacDonald

Taking its cue from the music and cinema of the 1930s, Scottish Ballet’s Artistic Director, Ashley Page premieres a brand new ballet that borrows its title from Dennis Potter’s acclaimed television drama Pennies from Heaven. The work is a playful interpretation of a of a range of popular songs from the period including March Winds and April Showers and Painting the Clouds with Sunshine, with elegant designs steeped in the vintage glamour of the era by award winning designer and long term collaborator Antony McDonald (The Sleeping Beauty, Cinderella).

"It’s de-licious, it’s de-lightful it’s de-lovely...It showcases the dancers, who all make the fiendishly nippy footwork look easy-peasy, it revels in the humour, the insights and emotional depths that Page and McDonald bring to their full-length collaborations and if you don't leave grinning goofily, but blinking back a tear then heaven help you ...these Pennies are totally minted.”  The Herald 4

"Bubbling Vintage Fizz."  The Evening Times

"clever choreography, superb dancing and Antony McDonald’s stunning set and costumes...Utterly joyful, uplifting and entertaining... Pennies from Heaven is Page’s finest hour."  The Scotsman 4