2 residents in Ballet Theatre Company's production

“Tales of Peter Rabbit, Les Sylphides and more” Ballet Theatre Company (BTC) of West Hartford, Connecticut, presents its 15th annual spring performance season on Saturday May 4, 2013 at the Hoffman Auditorium. The featured work is the premiere of “Tales of Peter Rabbit”, a one-act ballet based on the children’s stories of Beatrix Potter. Under the artistic direction of Roman Baca, the ballet has additional choreography by Ruth Vesenka Lewis, Carolyn Paine and Kate Sulikowski. Costume design and execution is by Catherine Savino. Taylor Gordon and Aaron Atkins, who danced the lead roles in “Gwendolyn the Graceful Pig” in 2012, return to create the characters of Peter Rabbit and Mr. McGregor. Meaghan Doherty joins them in the role of Mrs. Rabbit. All three dancers dance with New York’s Exit 12 Dance Company as well as in BTC’s Nutcracker. BTC’s junior company and twenty five additional children from Ballet Theatre Academy will be performing as well. Also on the program is “Les Sylphides”. The classic “white” ballet, originally choreographed by Michel Fokine in 1909 is a romantic reverie and is considered to be the first classical ballet without a storyline. It is set to the music of Chopin. Dancing the lead roles are: Aaron Atkins, Meaghan Doherty, Lisa Fitzgerald, Taylor Gordon, Paige Grimard and Chloe Slade. Filling out the corps de ballet are eight dancers from BTC II, an ensemble of BTC’s most advanced students. The BTC II dancers will also perform “Allegro Classico”, choreographed by Tracy Dorman and set to the music of Mendelssohn. Rounding out the program is “Peaceable Kingdom”, a contemporary ballet choreographed by Ruth Vesenka Lewis. “Peaceable Kingdom” was presented as a work-in-progress at the Hill-Stead Museum in February to highlight an exhibit of bronze animal sculptures by Antoine-Louis Barye. Peaceable Kingdom features: Matisse Madden, Janet Simone Parks and Arien Wilkerson. Catherine Savino of Simsbury is the costume designer for “The Tales of Peter Rabbit”. Catherine graduated from the Fashion Institute of Technology in New York with a degree in Buying and Merchandising, and Fashion Design. In 1981, she began a successful career designing and producing children’s clothing in the garment center of New York City as well as in Asia. After moving to Connecticut, Catherine shifted her focus to the theater. She designed the costumes for Simsbury Light Opera Company’s production of The Sorcerer and Princess Ida, and has been a designer and patternmaker for Goodspeed Opera House, Hartford Ballet (American Nutcracker), Connecticut Repertory Theater and Connecticut Opera. Ms Savino was responsible for the preparation of costumes for Dance CT productions. As well as nearly fifty costumes for Peter Rabbit, Catherine designed and created the costumes for Ballet Theatre Company’s premiere production of “Les Sylphides” in 2005. Also from Simsbury, Ethan Clarisey, age 10, will be performing in “The Tales of Peter Rabbit” as a lead sparrow. This is Ethan’s second appearance with Ballet Theatre Company, previously performing in the 2012 production of “The Nutcracker”. Ballet Theatre Company is supported in part by the United Arts Campaign of the Greater Hartford Arts Council and the CT Office of the Arts, Department of Economic and Community Development, Fund for Greater Hartford, Edward C. and Ann T. Roberts Foundation, Ensworth Charitable Trust, and J. Walton Bissell Foundation. Ballet Theatre Company is a 501c-3 not-for profit organization. Performances: • Saturday May 4 at 1:00 PM • Saturday May 4 at 5:30 PM Location: Carol Autorino Center for the Arts and Humanities on the University of Saint Joseph Campus, 1678 Asylum Avenue, West Hartford , Connecticut, 06117 For tickets call 860-570-0440 or visit dancebtc.org $30, seniors - $25, children 12 and under - $20 www.dancebtc.org Press Contact: Tracy Dorman, tracy@dancebtc.org 860-570-0440 Photos: Catherine Savino fitting a costume for “Les Sylphides” on principal dancer, Lisa Fitzgerald. photo by: Tracy Dorman