UCSB Arts & Lectures (A&L) presents Ballet Festival: Jerome Robbins, curated by Tiler Peck, 7:30 p.m. Tuesday, March 3 and Wednesday, March 4 at The Granada Theatre.
In March, the Joyce Theater’s Ballet Festival comes to Santa Barbara for a special West Coast edition.
New York City Ballet principal Peck curates and dances in this two-night tribute to the legendary choreographer Jerome Robbins.
Robbins’ groundbreaking fusion of ballet and jazz created a distinctly American style that reshaped the art form.
The program will include A Suite of Dances performed by Peck, the first woman to dance this iconic role created by Robbins for Mikhail Baryshnikov.
The two programs will feature combinations of top-tier talent from New York City Ballet, including Peck, Roman Mejia, Mira Nadon, Indiana Woodward and Chun Wai Chan; Paris Opera Ballet’s Sae Eun Park and Guillaume Diop; and Houston Ballet, A&L said.
A Related Thematic Learning Initiative Event, Dance on Film: Tiler Peck – Suspending Time, co-presented with The Granada, will be at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 18. The event is free to attend but registration is recommended here.
“Principal dancer with New York City Ballet since 2009, Tiler Peck stands among America’s most versatile and celebrated ballerinas,” according to A&L. “Her artistic journey spans from Broadway – debuting at age 11 in ‘The Music Man,’ and later starring in the Tony-nominated ‘On The Town’ – to creating the title role in Susan Stroman’s ‘Little Dancer,’ which recently had a sold out one-night only performance at the Theatre Royal Drury Lane in the U.K.”
Since her 2018 choreographic debut at the Vail Dance Festival, Peck has created works for major ballet companies including Boston Ballet, Northern Ballet, Cincinnati Ballet and BalletX.
Most recently, she choreographed her first ballet for New York City Ballet, “Concerto for Two Pianos,” which was met with rave reviews and an encore performance at their annual gala.
Tiler has been asked to choreograph a second work for New York City Ballet, premiering this spring.
Peck’s documentary presence includes Hulu’s “Ballet Now,” chronicling her groundbreaking role as the first woman to curate The Los Angeles Music Center’s BalletNOW.
Her achievements have earned her the Princess Grace Statue Award, The Dance Magazine Award, and recognition on Forbes’ 30 Under 30.
Jerome Robbins (1937-1998) is world renowned for his work as a choreographer of ballets, as well as a choreographer and director in theater, movies and television.
Although he began as a modern dancer, his start on Broadway was as a chorus dancer before joining the corps de ballet of American Ballet Theatre (ABT) in 1939, where he went on to dance principal roles in the works of Fokine, Tudor, Massine, Balanchine, Lichine and de Mille.
Robbins’ first ballet, “Fancy Free” (1944) for ABT, still in many repertories, celebrated its 50th birthday in 1994.
While embarking on his career in the theater, Robbins simultaneously created ballets for New York City Ballet, which he joined in 1949, and became an associate artistic director with George Balanchine.
In addition to his two Academy Awards, Robbins’ awards and citations include four Tony Awards, five Donaldson Awards, an Emmy Award, the Screen Directors’ Guild Award, and the New York Drama Critics Circle Award.
Robbins was a 1981 Kennedy Center Honors recipient; was awarded the Commandeur de l’Ordre des Arts et des Lettres; and a National Medal of Arts; as well as the Governor’s Arts Awards by the New York State Council on the Arts.
Some of his Broadway shows include “On the Town,” “Billion Dollar Baby, “High Button Shoes,” “West Side Story,” The King and I,” and “Fiddler on the Roof.”
In 1989, Robbins’ “Broadway” won six Tony Awards, including Best Musical and Best Director.
Tickets to Ballet Festival: Jerome Robbins are $55-$135 general public; $20 for UCSB students with current student ID; and $23 for youth ages 18 and younger.
For tickets or more information, call UCSB Arts & Lectures, 805-893-3535, or buy online at www.ArtsAndLectures.UCSB.edu; or The Granada Theatre.